Lightly Active or Active?

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mynewyorkad
mynewyorkad Posts: 39
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys! I have had my account set on sedentary because I am usually, well, sedentary (except for exercise). My question is for summer I work at a summer camp as a counselor, and I am rarely sitting down at all during the day, so what should I change my account to: lightly active or active?

Here is how a typical day would go at camp:
Walking to and from the "dens" to "council ring" (not far at all)
Leading 4 different activities. The activities range from creek hike, trail hike, to kayaking/archery/horses/etc. Most activities involve standing the whole time if not actually moving. Some activities are more strenuous then others.
We have lunch at the camp, but I am more taking a bite, and then helping kids with sunscreen/opening their lunch, etc.
There's a lot of singing and dancing, being silly.

Basically I am moving around for 7 hours out of my day, and then exercising at night.

What do you guys think I should change my account to? Or should I change it at all?

Replies

  • TheKitsune6
    TheKitsune6 Posts: 5,798 Member
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    I would just not change it, then add in the extra stuff when it happens :)
  • JoniBologna
    JoniBologna Posts: 653 Member
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    Wow! That sounds like a fun job. I would change your diary to active. Enjoy your summer!
  • ReneeOfTheFae
    ReneeOfTheFae Posts: 117
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    I think that lightly active would cover it. You'll be getting the calories you need, but burn extra (over the extra exercise) on days that you do more strenuous activities. Then, when summer is over, bring it back down.
    I'm so jealous! That sounds like so much fun! (except for the kid part. :P)
  • britachu
    britachu Posts: 157
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    I would change to "active" if that is what your average day looks like. I have mine set for lightly active and don't do nearly that much in a day!
  • candacecollins
    candacecollins Posts: 34
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    i would change it to lightly active. then once it gets here and u spend a day or two at that status u can change it higher if u think it is acctually alot of work, But I would at least change it to lightly active that way u dont have to log ur walks, and individual walks and activites, i would just log ur excersise and go ahead and change the activity level to incorporate the added movement.
  • TheKitsune6
    TheKitsune6 Posts: 5,798 Member
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    Just remember, if you change it to "active" or "lightly active" that means you can't add in the extra hiking or whatnot you do because you do not know how much extra exercise you are actually doing. If you want something more accurate, keep it sedentary and add the extra stuff. If you don't care about accuracy as much then change it to active and enjoy :D
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
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    Just remember, if you change it to "active" or "lightly active" that means you can't add in the extra hiking or whatnot you do because you do not know how much extra exercise you are actually doing.

    This is not correct. Read below - nowhere in the settings link does it say you don't add in your exercise calories. While that may be true on other programs, it's not true here.

    Danielle, You're one of my friends. I see you work out a lot. Now... If you remember, I had mine set on sedentary and was exercising 60 minutes 3-4x per week - and I wasn't losing! Do you remember how long I struggled? Once I set it to active AND started eating my exercise calories, the weight started to fall off!!! (I truly believe you're in the same boat. There's no reason with your activity level and your weight that you shouldn't be losing weight. You really need to feed/fuel your body!)

    Here's the link I found which changed everything:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficit


    This is just a part of it! please read the link above

    ***activity level isn't as mysterious as it sounds.

    If you have a desk job, and do very little walking throughout the day and don't really perform any sports or physical activities, then you are sedentary.

    If you do some walking every day (or at least 4 days a week) or other light activity for at least 30 minutes cumulative at least 4 times a week, you are lightly active.

    If you do 60 minutes of light activity 5 days a week or do some kind of sport that requires walking or light jogging (say swimming or mailman or warehouse employee) then you are active.

    If you do a physically demanding activity (one that makes you sweat) for 4 days a week or more and for more than 1 hour a day, you are very active (like a coach that runs drills or you play volleyball).

    When in doubt, go down 1 level, you'd rather burn more than you think than less.

    ~ ~ ~

    Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
    With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
    With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
    With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
    and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle tone, and reducing fat. This means is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode)

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