setting for "lightly active" or "sedentary" if stay at home

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isobel2010
isobel2010 Posts: 26
in Health and Weight Loss
What do you use if you are a stay at home mom, but, do LOTS of running around/errands all day long? I put sedentary, but, I don't sit down much during the day!

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  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
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    If you don't sit down much, your are NOT sedentary.
  • pjrisher
    pjrisher Posts: 152
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    What I recently did was switched my setting from 'lightly active' to 'sedentary' and have recorded everything. I have 6 hour labs Mon-Thurs where I run around a tonnnn and I just record it as exercise. If you're set to sedentary you can record what you did day-by-day.
  • ccckwalk
    ccckwalk Posts: 262
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    I am a stay at home momma too. I know you are not sedetary!!! :) You may go in and see if it makes a difference between those settings. I am not sure that it makes much of a differnece. Anyway! Welcome and good luck on your journey! If you want to add a mommy feel free to add me! I love having friends that are in my same situation. We may understand eachother better!! Anyway...enjoy your evening!
  • dlaplume2
    dlaplume2 Posts: 1,658 Member
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    I think sedentary. The reason is even though you are not sitting on the couch eating Bon Bons, lets face it how much of your running around that you do actually gets your heart rate up? I am a mom of 5 kids. I stayed at home for the most part until about 3 years ago. You do laundry, dishes, sweeping, mopping, etc that your body gets used to doing on a daily basis. You don't really get your heart rate up and pumping folding clothes.
    People who have a job outside of the house do the same chores when they get home, and don't count the dishes and stuff too.

    The other things you can add, like taking the kids for a walk, going hiking, swimming, pushing the stroller around, count that stuff as activity, because you don't do it everyday.

    Hope I help without sounding descriminatory.
  • Coyla
    Coyla Posts: 444 Member
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    This confuses me as well. I have mine set as "lightly active." My job is off and on. Some days, I'm up and down, picking things up, putting things away, bending down, walking, cleaning, etc. On some days, it's more lax.

    My home life is the same. Some days I'm on my feet, up and down, most of the day, cooking, cleaning, washing dishes. But I also have sit-on-my-butt days as well, maybe three(?) days a week.

    My workouts are pretty strong. I usually do 6 days a week, 45 minutes to 1.5 hours each day.
  • butterfly0126
    butterfly0126 Posts: 16
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    I stay home with 4 little ones and i put "Active" There are days i rarely sit and there are a few days i get breaks (maybe an hour or 2 the most) I chose active because all we do as stay at home moms, cooking, cleaning, errands, chasing kids around, school activities, ect, ect, ect.......

    My husband had a hard time believing in the beginning all i did in a day and use to say that i probably got to sit around and get naps everyday! I WISH!!! Once i had my twins 20 months ago all that went out the window. I know he gets it now cause if i leave him with the kids he can last the most of 2 hours then he's calling!!! lol
  • sundance2032
    sundance2032 Posts: 376 Member
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    Hi, I am a stay at home mom also, I set mine as light, there is not to much difference between that and sedentary if you look at the cal intake (at least there was not for me), but if it is stuff you do most of the week your body knows that you are going to do and accounts for it. (thats how it was explained to me) I would not put it as sedentary log everything you do, you will end up over eating and gaining weight.

    Good luck to you
  • amybus
    amybus Posts: 8 Member
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    I'm not a stay at home mom anymore but I used to be. I have a desk job now, that is sedentary. Stay at home mom is not, even if your body is used to it, you're still moving and you require more calories to get through the day than someone like me who gets a good finger workout on the keyboard but not much else while at work.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    I don't count ANYTHING that I do on a daily basis as exercise. I work on my feet 5 days a week (for 5-9 hours a day -- my schedule varies), but I don't count that as exercise since I KNOW my body is used to doing it. I also don't count my daily cleaning towards my exercise. I DO, however, count things I don't always do towards it (I clean my floors on my hands and knees once a month - I count that. I also push mow my lawn once a week with a mower that is like moving a tank -- I count that).

    I was a stay at home mom for 10 yrs. I would have called myself lightly active because to me, sedentary is someone who works at a desk and doesn't go to the gym at all. Basically, someone who doesn't get much exercise AT ALL.
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
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    I think sedentary. The reason is even though you are not sitting on the couch eating Bon Bons, lets face it how much of your running around that you do actually gets your heart rate up?

    Did you know that your heart works harder when you are standing than when you are sitting? Your heartrate doesn't need to get into "fitness" ranges in order for you to burn more calories, you just need to stand up and/or move.
    I was a stay at home mom for 10 yrs. I would have called myself lightly active because to me, sedentary is someone who works at a desk and doesn't go to the gym at all. Basically, someone who doesn't get much exercise AT ALL.

    This!

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