Stay at home mom--activity level?

Christismylife
Christismylife Posts: 93 Member
edited November 7 in Health and Weight Loss
Just curious...what would you think would be the activity level for a stay at home mom like me? I have lost most of the weight I wanted to lose (less than ten lbs. to goal weight), but I am trying to figure out how many calories I should be eating to lose the final pounds while also toning up. I have four young boys and stay at home full time with them. I do eat my exercise calories, so I am trying to figure out if I would be considered sedentary or lightly active. Typical days include cooking, cleaning, laundry, homeschooling, playing, etc... Any ideas?

Replies

  • Mommy2two_2
    Mommy2two_2 Posts: 33 Member
    Not sedentry! I burn 1800-1900 on lazy days being mom of two. My normal days I burn 2400-2500. That's housework, and two 20-30 min walks.
  • Alisontheice
    Alisontheice Posts: 9,611 Member
    I only have one boy I stay home with but I think I put lightly active. I walk him to and from school most days and then do my stuff so I figured I was more than sedentary.
  • lovekohl
    lovekohl Posts: 111 Member
    Personally, I like to go with Sedentary and then try to log just about anything that goes above and beyond normal daily activity. That also gives me a bit of wiggle room if I underestimate my calorie intake since I'm not very good about weighing and measuring my food. I would guess lightly active would be ok, too. It might just take some trial and error to figure it out. GL!
  • sargessexyone
    sargessexyone Posts: 494 Member
    Not sedentry! I burn 1800-1900 on lazy days being mom of two. My normal days I burn 2400-2500. That's housework, and two 20-30 min walks.

    This is pretty much the same for me. I put active and it matches what my fitbit comes up with.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    I have mine listed at lightly active. I started with sedentary and logged activity, but after looking the the number lightly active came out to be about the same.
  • 37lbs_to_go
    37lbs_to_go Posts: 61 Member
    I'm a SAHM with 2 small kids, work out 5 days a week, and live on a small farm. I count myself as "moderately active" and don't log any extras besides workouts. I would say lightly or moderately active if you work out. Sedentary is someone with a desk job 8-10 hours a day.
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    I can't imagine you being sedentary with four boys. You are at least "Lightly Active".
  • choirangel08
    choirangel08 Posts: 13 Member
    Sedentary am trying to figure out the same thing. I have a3 year old daughter and a newborn son, I put S but I can't imagine there with walking around my newborn chasing after my 3 year old and doing housework. I'm also nursing my son and I just don't understand what to do I have been under my calorie goal all week and they are saying I should lose two pounds each week for the next 5 weeks because of it and today I weighed myself and I lost nothing. I am currently set at light activity.
  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited April 2015
    Also a sahm here-through active weight loss and now maintenance I always figure sedentary/little exercise. I didn't exercise at all during my weight loss phase and now that I'm in maintenance I do a little, but nothing that's burning large amounts of calories (walking a couple miles a week and right now I'm doing a squats challenge). I had no problem losing/hitting a stall by going this route.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Lightly active.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    I'm set as lightly active and I still get adjustments from my Fitbit on days I don't do any workouts. So my guess is somewhere between lightly active and whatever the next step up is. Oh and I have 2 sons (3 yrs and 10 months).
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    choirangel08 wrote: »
    Sedentary am trying to figure out the same thing. I have a3 year old daughter and a newborn son, I put S but I can't imagine there with walking around my newborn chasing after my 3 year old and doing housework. I'm also nursing my son and I just don't understand what to do I have been under my calorie goal all week and they are saying I should lose two pounds each week for the next 5 weeks because of it and today I weighed myself and I lost nothing. I am currently set at light activity.

    if you are breast feeding you need to consult with your doctor about how many calories you should be eating
  • ArkMom35
    ArkMom35 Posts: 225 Member
    I'm a SAHM of four as well and I'm set at lightly active. I average around 20k steps a day, including exercise, so I wonder if I could bump up to active. I highly doubt any mom is sedentary lol.
  • ArkMom35
    ArkMom35 Posts: 225 Member
    choirangel08 wrote: »
    Sedentary am trying to figure out the same thing. I have a3 year old daughter and a newborn son, I put S but I can't imagine there with walking around my newborn chasing after my 3 year old and doing housework. I'm also nursing my son and I just don't understand what to do I have been under my calorie goal all week and they are saying I should lose two pounds each week for the next 5 weeks because of it and today I weighed myself and I lost nothing. I am currently set at light activity.

    Some women don't lose weight when breastfeeding, I never did. But you definitely need to eat an extra amount of calories when breastfeeding else you will lose your supply.
  • ar9179
    ar9179 Posts: 374 Member
    Lightly active. If you are moving around during the course of the day, even just standing, that is lightly active. Don't short-change yourself, hahaha!
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    I'm a SAHM and I have mine set to lightly active.
  • Maries_wine_calories
    Maries_wine_calories Posts: 152 Member
    ArkMom35 wrote: »
    I'm a SAHM of four as well and I'm set at lightly active. I average around 20k steps a day, including exercise, so I wonder if I could bump up to active. I highly doubt any mom is sedentary lol.

    For sure you're consistently in the "Active" category with that many steps. I also usually get in over 15K on work days and my fitbit will tell me I burned between 2400-2500+ calories for the day. I've been maintaining my weight for two months now with MFP set to Active, although I tend to follow 5/2 where I pay attention to less active day's off.
  • Maries_wine_calories
    Maries_wine_calories Posts: 152 Member
    Christismylife wrote: »
    Just curious...what would you think would be the activity level for a stay at home mom like me? I have lost most of the weight I wanted to lose (less than ten lbs. to goal weight), but I am trying to figure out how many calories I should be eating to lose the final pounds while also toning up. I have four young boys and stay at home full time with them. I do eat my exercise calories, so I am trying to figure out if I would be considered sedentary or lightly active. Typical days include cooking, cleaning, laundry, homeschooling, playing, etc... Any ideas?

    Do you have stairs in your house? How are you acquiring exercise calories (HRM/fitbit)? I think you should set MFP to active based on your current weight and eat less (only 1/3 max) of your exercise calories to adapt/compensate for less active days, if a Mom of 4 even has that LOL.
  • aimeelav
    aimeelav Posts: 26 Member
    I'm a SAHM of 5 and I put "lightly active" I have been losing at a slow but steady rate on 1600 cals.
  • HeySwoleSister
    HeySwoleSister Posts: 1,938 Member
    My kids are older so I'm more sedentary (lots of driving them around, etc) but when they were little? Lightly active to active, certainly. (Especially because I HATED using a stroller and usually wore or carried my kids instead.)
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    I am not a SAHM but work in an office at a desk and I still manage to average 10k without exercise so I suspect as a mom you would get more than that...and I am at lightly active.

    too bad you don't have an activity tracker or at least a pedometer to track it..some phones have an app to track steps might try that for a few days...would be a pain to take the phone everywhere but if you strap it on it would work.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Christismylife wrote: »
    Just curious...what would you think would be the activity level for a stay at home mom like me? I have lost most of the weight I wanted to lose (less than ten lbs. to goal weight), but I am trying to figure out how many calories I should be eating to lose the final pounds while also toning up. I have four young boys and stay at home full time with them. I do eat my exercise calories, so I am trying to figure out if I would be considered sedentary or lightly active. Typical days include cooking, cleaning, laundry, homeschooling, playing, etc... Any ideas?

    You might try lightly active or active if you are really on your feet most of the day.
    I'm a homeschooling SAHM but more sedentary. My only child is a teenager.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
    Lightly active, and I log excersize as well.
  • choirangel08
    choirangel08 Posts: 13 Member
    Ok, now that I am on a real computer I can add to my post. For some reason my phone wouldn't let me. I have been under my goal calories everyday for the past week and a half and haven't lost a thing, when it says I should be losing almost 2 lbs a week. I am only trying to lose at least 1lb. I lost 25 lbs within 6 weeks, mostly the baby weight, but now nothing. My cheap little walmart pedometer says I only get about 3k steps a day, but I just don't feel like that is right. I am wondering if either I am eating to much, currently on Lightly Active but maybe I should be lower, or if I am not eating enough. I read on a website that that 1oz of milk burns 20 calories, so maybe my body is needing more. I hate this guessing game, I wish loseing weight was a simple formula for everyone, lol.

This discussion has been closed.

Categories