Activity level for remodeling/handyman?

RiseHigher
RiseHigher Posts: 64 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all, what activity level is best for someone who does remodeling/handyman work?

Previously I just had MFP set to sedentary and then sync activity with my Fitbit. However activity trackers (Fitbit, Garmin) report my calories too low in part because it will incorrectly say I'm sedentary. For example I just spent an hour building heavy wood utility shelving and my Garmin's "MOVE" bar was activated the whole time, as it would for someone sitting around. This is while I was cutting 2x4's, sanding down plywood and constructing the shelving unit. LOL. I am only 5ft 3/female so construction materials can be somewhat heavy to move for me too.

I also exercise a lot outside of what I do but I am logging that separately.

Thank you!

Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Your activity level is lightly active, BUT if you are using an activity tracker, it should be listed as sedentary, with negative calorie adjustments enabled. Additionally, the exercise should be logged through the tracker, to avoid double dipping.
  • RiseHigher
    RiseHigher Posts: 64 Member
    Well that's why I wrote that activity trackers don't track the activities that I do well. I had it previously set to sedentary as you described and linked to the tracker but as I said I'm moving away from that as it was inaccurate and too low.

    Today I finished the large wooden shelving unit, it took about 3 hours and the Garmin "Move" bar was telling me to "move" while I was cutting and moving 2x4's and plywood sheets and constructing it. This has also happened before while running electrical wiring through a basement, doing chimney repair on a roof and so on. It bases it on the steps you take and that's about it.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    RiseHigher wrote: »
    Well that's why I wrote that activity trackers don't track the activities that I do well. I had it previously set to sedentary as you described and linked to the tracker but as I said I'm moving away from that as it was inaccurate and too low.

    Today I finished the large wooden shelving unit, it took about 3 hours and the Garmin "Move" bar was telling me to "move" while I was cutting and moving 2x4's and plywood sheets and constructing it. This has also happened before while running electrical wiring through a basement, doing chimney repair on a roof and so on. It bases it on the steps you take and that's about it.
    Sounds frustrating is what. What happens to your calories when you bump them up to the next level of activity?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I know very little about activity trackers. I used a Fitbit a few years ago for a short time and ran into the same issue. We were building raised garden beds, which involved moving/cutting/etc a bunch of heavy lumber for hours on end. I think the Fitbit logged something like 3500 steps all day. And that may have been accurate but I was very active within those steps, if that makes sense.

    It could be that using the Garmin might just not be a good fit for your lifestyle. Have you been losing or maintaining so far? You might consider using your overall TDEE as a basis for your calories and then just subtract 250 or so from that number to get your daily goal.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    Take the extra weight loss (in lb/week) you weren't expecting and multiply that by 500. That is how many more calories/day you should eat to hit your goal compared to your current average (take a 4-6 week range for both weight loss and calories eaten). Then, adjust your activity level on MFP up until MFP goal matches what you calculated (or just set it manually which is easier and makes more sense).
  • RiseHigher
    RiseHigher Posts: 64 Member
    I'm using TDEE because I'm tired of tracker inaccuracy. This goes all the way back to the Bodymedia FIT, which actually had me eating TOO MUCH and I gained with it. I did lose with Fitbit, but slower than predicted, and I was exhausted all the time and felt bad. I moved my calorie level up to FitBit's maintenance level, had way more energy, started losing weight faster, was starving all the time and even my resting heart rate went up like 10 beats per minute. Maybe this is TMI but I lost my period with Fitbit and that was the last straw. I stopped using it and just ate whatever and stopped tracking for like a week, felt starving all the time, until it finally settled down, then my cycle came back too. I gained but now, I feel back to normal somewhat.

    I am seriously so done with trackers.

    MFP sets my calorie level to 1200 for both the sedentary and lightly active categories. When I had a foot injury and couldn't exercise at all I ate 1200 calories and lost 1.2 lbs a week when the trackers said I shouldn't be losing any. I lost like 17 lbs this way.

    So fine, if MFP puts 1200 calories and I ate back my exercise calories I'd be OK with a 1.2 lb loss per week (but I'm not sedentary anymore). However MFP's exercise calories seem so inflated.

    I for real think I'm going to make my own app to calculate my calories daily. Because the other thing is the remodeling is project-based, so although I do it frequently, there are times that I don't as well.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    So, then use science and simple math to adjust for your personal results rather than jumping from fancy device to fancy device when none of them are perfect. Even if you make your own tracker and pull numbers out of thin air for exercise they will be wrong (MFP uses MET for exercise which is the best we have outside of heart rate monitors for estimating calorie burn).

    If MFP set your goal at 1200 calories for a 5'3" woman who is probably 120lb (based on your photo), then it sounds like you had a goal to aggressive (over 1lb/week). Even if I go with 140lb you don't get down to 1200 calories with MFP unless you set your goal to over 1lb/week.

    I'm honestly not even sure why you are trying to lose weight (based on the photo you have up you don't have 20lb to lose). What are your goals and expectations?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    nordlead2005 wrote: »
    So, then use science and simple math to adjust for your personal results rather than jumping from fancy device to fancy device when none of them are perfect. Even if you make your own tracker and pull numbers out of thin air for exercise they will be wrong (MFP uses MET for exercise which is the best we have outside of heart rate monitors for estimating calorie burn).

    If MFP set your goal at 1200 calories for a 5'3" woman who is probably 120lb (based on your photo), then it sounds like you had a goal to aggressive (over 1lb/week). Even if I go with 140lb you don't get down to 1200 calories with MFP unless you set your goal to over 1lb/week.

    I'm honestly not even sure why you are trying to lose weight (based on the photo you have up you don't have 20lb to lose). What are your goals and expectations?

    This pretty much sums up my thoughts as well.

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