Activity level question?

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jd123de
jd123de Posts: 2
in Fitness and Exercise
So i have just started properly using the MFP app and its great but i have just relasied that when i set my BMR i put in sedentary lifestyle and have been working of that number. I currently useing MFP with P90X does this mean i should change my activity level? It had me at 1750 a day and i was thought i was doing just fine never struggeling to stay with in that goal and i am losing weight. But now i am wodering if my deficit is too big, becuase when i change the calculation to active it suggests 2370 which i think i would stuggle eating that much in a day (well healthily any way :P)


tl:dr
Basically long and short I am doing P90X so what should my activite level be?

Thanks

C

Replies

  • casey12105
    casey12105 Posts: 293
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    I've been wondering this as well. I chose sedentary because when I'm not working out, I'm mostly at the computer working. But I'm doing Insanity 6 days a week so I've been wondering if I should up it to lightly active.
  • millertime0550
    millertime0550 Posts: 2 Member
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    I took the activity level as what you were already doing throughout the day and anything extra (p90x) would increase your intake... Example... I'm a P.E. teacher so I put my lifestyle as somewhat active... it had my intake at 1450 and whatever exercise I do on top of that I get extra calories....

    Hope this helps.
  • fcrisswell
    fcrisswell Posts: 234 Member
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    I would suggest leaving your activity level alone but then add in the calories burned for your exercise. MFP will add the exercise calories to your daily calorie goal (yes you eat these). That way if you do not do P90X everyday then your calories will be adjusted accordingly those days you do work out. In your food diary there is a place to add cardiovascular exercise and you can search for that particular exercise to get an approximate calorie burn to add to your diary. Be careful though. What one person burns doing an exercise the next person may burn less or more depending on their muscle mass, etc.

    If you have an HRM you can add in your calories burned that way too.
  • JPod279
    JPod279 Posts: 722 Member
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    Your activity level is based off what you do most of the day. I have a desk job so I am sedentary even though once I pick my girls up from daycare I don't sit down for the rest of the evening. The P90x will be accounted for in your exercise log.
  • OnionJack
    OnionJack Posts: 1
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    I would say that you need to keep Sedentary if that reflects your 'overall' activity level. Just book down the P90X activities as exercise and any extra calories this provides you can use for extra food if you so wish.

    I may be wrong but I'd do it that way.
  • amuhlou
    amuhlou Posts: 693 Member
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    If you're at a desk job most of the day, you're still sedentary unfortunately. I'm in the same boat... exercise almost 6 days a week but technically am sedentary because I'm at a desk 40hrs/week.
  • reese66
    reese66 Posts: 2,920 Member
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    Depends on the rest of your day. Even though I workout nearly every day I sit for nine hrs a day at work and then I also sit to watch some tv and play on the pc so mine is set to sedentary.
  • clpolk1
    clpolk1 Posts: 27
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    I think the activity level is more of a snap shot of your normal, whole day, not just what your doing for 1 hour a day. For instance if you are a secratary and you do alot of sitting...then even though your doing P90X, your still not going to have a "low" activity level for the day. . Now if you worked for a parks department and you were moving and groovin all day plus working out, then you would have a "high" level. Does that make sense?
  • eamjohnson
    eamjohnson Posts: 18 Member
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    I agree with the previous two posters. Your daily activity level is what you are typically doing throughout the day. If you're at your computer for most of the day, then you are still living a sedentary lifestyle. You earn those extra calories whenever you work out, so if you overstate the activities you are doing throughout the day otherwise, you may have a calorie goal that is higher than what you really need -- especially if your goal is to lose weight.
  • ctrlaltdelboy
    ctrlaltdelboy Posts: 30
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    I agree with the above replies - if you are logging your P90X activities in MFP then you shouldn't count them (again) as part of your routine in terms of upgrading your routine from sedentary to active, otherwise you're counting that activity twice and MFP will be telling you to have too many calories
  • Elle408
    Elle408 Posts: 500 Member
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    Leaving it at sedentary is fine if that's what you mostly are, as long as you're logging the exercise that you do and eating back those calories!

    For instance, i am sedentary, I sit at a desk all day (12hrs+ most days) and can eat 1400 a day to lose half a pound a week. I go to the gym as often as possible and log those calories in, gaining me a good 4-500 cals extra, that would take me to 1900+ for the day, a net of 1400... meaning i'm still at a deficit but I get to eat more for my exercise.

    If I was set to active, bumping me up to 1790 a day, I wouldn't log my exercise and eat back those calories as the app already assumes that you're burning quite a few calories through activity any way, when really, you're not!
  • jd123de
    jd123de Posts: 2
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    Excellent Folks!

    Thanks for that. I had been logging my P90x stuff as cardio but when i was reading stuff today on the forums it got me thinking, Too much knowldge can be deadly in the wrong hand i think is the experision lol. As a student my life is spent mostly in the library hunched over a computer so def sedantry.

    Thanks Again for the help

    C
  • rgbrice1
    rgbrice1 Posts: 2 Member
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    I'm on day 51 of my p90x and have always had some form of deficit calculated. I am also a desk jockey and occasional gamer. I may have 1850 or 1900 as my daily intake but life is not static. I can easily go several days at 1600 to 1800 calorie intake. On weekends I may be on my feet for 8 hours in the morning at my part time job. A typical p90x workout can be rounded out at 600 calories burned, give or take. There are too many routines to calculate calorie burn per exercise with any accuracy. I am not sure if they give that same caloric burn to the cardio part of p90x. I guess it depends on how hard you bring it.
    Regardless where the numbers say you should be, be sure to drop in a bit of a deficit unless it makes you uncomfortable or starves energy from your workout. You body will tell you.
    Good luck, push play every day and bring it!

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