What is considered Sedentary on MFP? Lightly active?

soccerkon26
soccerkon26 Posts: 596 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
How many steps per day is considered sedentary and lightly active? I had my settings at sedentary but I walk over 5,000 steps per day (not counting my workout) and I heard that might be lightly active?

Replies

  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    5000 steps is generally considered the line between sedentary and lightly active. My advice is to try one for 4 weeks, and then evaluate your results at that point.
  • GothyFaery
    GothyFaery Posts: 762 Member
    Sedentary is about 4000-6000 steps per day in my experience. Lightly active for me is 8000-10,000 steps. If you're logging your workout separately, you would not include it in your daily activity. I would say you are much closer to sedentary than lightly active and when in doubt, it's best to go lower.
  • jessupbrady
    jessupbrady Posts: 508 Member
    You might want to read SarahUk's post on setting your calorie and macro targets.

    Not sure how you tracked your steps - but that is not a lot of activity. Not sure if you logged accurately the whole day or not.

    As mentioned in the post: "Factors to consider are whether you have kids that you are running around after, whether you do a lot of cooking/housework, whether you go out dancing or shopping a lot... I have a desk job and am a lazy bish outside the gym and my activity level, based on actual weight loss, would have to be set at a higher than Lightly Active setting to equate to my actual NEAT"

    However, I'd recommend you read the article.
    You can always create a custom setting and adjust based on your progress from your own logging history.
  • oneloopygirl
    oneloopygirl Posts: 151 Member
    I don't log my steps. I only log my workouts. I have a desk job, so I consider myself sedentary for MFP. MFP gives me a target and I know on days where I'm running more doing laundry, chasing after the little man more, etc., I can go a little over that and be okay. I log my workouts and don't eat back all those calories, just some. You can always adjust the calorie targets, etc as mentioned. There's no absolutes in weight loss other than you lose if calories in < calories out. Figuring out what works for you to achieve that is the trick...
  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
    If you're trying to lose weight and aren't sure, always go for the less active setting. It's just a starting point anyway -- it's easy enough to adjust your calories up if you start losing too fast.
  • loratliff
    loratliff Posts: 283 Member
    Even though I'm active, like oneloopygirl, I still keep my settings on "Sedentary" and simply eat back exercise calories when I want/need to.
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