The age old question!!!

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djwife03
djwife03 Posts: 333 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Activity level!!! GAHHHHHHH! Ok so I have a desk job for 8 hrs a day. I workout 5 times a week. I ride 15-20 miles on my recumbent bike(I'm on restriction recovering from surgery) and do weights. Am I still sedentary? I struggle with this......before my injury/surgery I ran, did elliptical, and did weights. I also did insanity, and have done P90x3.

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  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
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    If I were you, I'd set status to sedentary and log all activity on top of that and eat back about 50% of what you earn. Lots of people use this method.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    If you log your exercise and it gives you back calories to eat, then you are sedentary. When you are asked for activity level, they are asking for your NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis) in other words, how active are you when you're not exercising.

    That said, if you don't log your exercise then you need to calculate your TDEE and put yourself in a deficit based off of that number and not use MFPs calorie equation.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    People with desk jobs are typically sedentary. I'd set it at that, log my exercise, eat back at least some of my exercise calories (to account for any over-estimation, many people eat 25-75%), and then -- if you find yourself losing faster than expected, adjust your activity level upward (or eat more of your exercise calories back).
  • djwife03
    djwife03 Posts: 333 Member
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    I have a Fitbit to help get a better calorie burn reading than the machine but I also know that's not 100% accurate either. Today I burned 428 calories with exercise. My cals are set at 1660 with sedentary. I'm 5'11 and currently 175lbs, and I'd like to lose 10-15lbs. I can't seem to get the formula down. I am to eat 1660 cals each day regardless of exercise, correct?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    djwife03 wrote: »
    I have a Fitbit to help get a better calorie burn reading than the machine but I also know that's not 100% accurate either. Today I burned 428 calories with exercise. My cals are set at 1660 with sedentary. I'm 5'11 and currently 175lbs, and I'd like to lose 10-15lbs. I can't seem to get the formula down. I am to eat 1660 cals each day regardless of exercise, correct?

    If your calorie goal comes from MFP, that is not what you should eat regardless of exercise. You should log your activity level as your daily life (without exercise, which is probably sedentary) and then eat back at least a portion of the calories you burn through exercise. That's how MFP is designed.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    edited January 2016
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    djwife03 wrote: »
    I have a Fitbit to help get a better calorie burn reading than the machine but I also know that's not 100% accurate either. Today I burned 428 calories with exercise. My cals are set at 1660 with sedentary. I'm 5'11 and currently 175lbs, and I'd like to lose 10-15lbs. I can't seem to get the formula down. I am to eat 1660 cals each day regardless of exercise, correct?

    Your cals are set to 1660 per MFP with a sedentary setting? If that's the case, you should not be eating exactly 1660 cals each day if you're exercising too. Like janejellyroll said, you should eat back part of your exercise calories, something like 25-75% is good.
  • djwife03
    djwife03 Posts: 333 Member
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    Yes 1660 for sedentary and set to lose .5lbs a week
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    If you're set to lose 0.5lbs per week, then you're in a good spot to decide to not eat back exercise calories some days if you're not that hungry, you'll just lose a little faster but not too fast for it to be a bad thing.
  • djwife03
    djwife03 Posts: 333 Member
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    I've also heard not to log my exercise and eat the 1660....??
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    djwife03 wrote: »
    I've also heard not to log my exercise and eat the 1660....??

    It's weight loss. You're going to hear all kinds of things. MFP is designed for you to log exercise.

    However, if you do decide to use it a different way, you're free to do so. If you find yourself loosing weight too quickly, experience hunger, or get low energy, you can always change it up later. You don't have to choose your plan forever right now. The important thing is to have consistency with whatever you decide to do so you can know what to adjust if things aren't working.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    edited January 2016
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    djwife03 wrote: »
    I've also heard not to log my exercise and eat the 1660....??

    If you'd rather not log your exercise, like me, then put your numbers into this calculator instead. Then take your TDEE (what this calculator calculates) and subtract 10-20% to lose however fast you want. Eat that amount of calories every day without logging exercise.

    http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

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