Question from a Newbie :-P. It's an easy one!

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SkinnyEmLee
SkinnyEmLee Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! First off, I'm new on here, so I would love some My Fitness Pals to have for motivation! So, please friend me & I promise to be motivating in return :). Haha. Anyways, my question is that I usually workout everyday, but aside from that I am a Grad student. So, I do some walking around but also a lot of sitting in class and while doing homework. Should I set my activity level at sedimentary or lightly active?

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  • ymcahutch
    ymcahutch Posts: 8
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    I would say sedintary to be on the safe side.
  • briabner
    briabner Posts: 427 Member
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    I would figure out how much time you actually sit in class compared to how much "light activity" you do in a day. For instance you sit in class for 8 hours but are only up walking around for 4 hours = I would then set it to sedintary (sp?)
  • ikeinmass
    ikeinmass Posts: 17
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    Sedintary for sure.
  • nicole716
    nicole716 Posts: 43 Member
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    I would probably set it as lightly active. :smile: I'm in high school, so i do a lot of sitting throughout the day, but i do a lot of walking from class to class as well (since my school is HUGE! we have 3,000 students haha) if you feel like you walk a decent amount uring the day, then it should probably be lightly active. :happy:
  • aejbx4x7s
    aejbx4x7s Posts: 111
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    I'm kinda in the same boat. I decided to set my activity level at sedentary and then add in exercise. So, in addition to my workout, I will log any time I do a lot of walking, I log my morning bike commute, if I clean a lot one day, etc. I'm pretty new here, too - feel free to add me as a friend and welcome!

    Best of luck!
  • ak_in_ak
    ak_in_ak Posts: 657 Member
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    Lightly active will give you more calories. Do you feel like you are getting your heart rate up and you need more calories?
  • cjjones007
    cjjones007 Posts: 602
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    I would probably set it as lightly active. :smile: I'm in high school, so i do a lot of sitting throughout the day, but i do a lot of walking from class to class as well (since my school is HUGE! we have 3,000 students haha) if you feel like you walk a decent amount uring the day, then it should probably be lightly active. :happy:

    I've set mine to sedentary because between driving and working I spend a solid 9 hours a day with my backside in a chair...
    However; according to my doctor, anyone who spends 6.5 hours a day or less sitting should set "lightly active"... (NOTE: this does not count workout time)...
  • mikeyml
    mikeyml Posts: 568 Member
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    Hi everyone! First off, I'm new on here, so I would love some My Fitness Pals to have for motivation! So, please friend me & I promise to be motivating in return :). Haha. Anyways, my question is that I usually workout everyday, but aside from that I am a Grad student. So, I do some walking around but also a lot of sitting in class and while doing homework. Should I set my activity level at sedimentary or lightly active?

    I would choose sedentary because it's so much easier to estimate calories burned from exercise that way. If you overestimate your calories burned by picking the wrong one, then you might not lose weight or could possibly even gain.

    Plus, some days you probably sit for longer than others (more classes in a particular day) and eating extra calories on those days isn't going to help your goals. Unless you only spend 3-6 hours sitting a day (including driving, at night, in class) then I would use sedentary and then add exercise calories from your workouts.

    P.S. Are you getting a grad degree in something relating to geology? I smiled at "sedimentary."

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