Difference between Sedentary and Lightly Active

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smiles4jo
smiles4jo Posts: 202 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I currently have my profile set to Sedentary, as per the recommendation for someone with a desk job. However, my step count is usually around 12,000 steps/day, which I'm thinking actually puts me more in the Lightly Active category.

I was just playing around with the settings and changing from Sedentary to Lightly Active changed my calories from 1,200 to 1,230. I do have the negative adjustments set for the days I'm not so active.

So, I guess I have 2 questions:

1. Is that right? I would have expected a larger difference between the two.

2. Should I even bother to change it or just left Fitbit do its thing from Sedentary (usually adding around 500-600 calories/day)? I usually only eat about 100-200 of those calories anyway.

Thanks!

Replies

  • reevess113
    reevess113 Posts: 29 Member
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    I went through the same analysis - desk job, 10,000 steps per day and decided to just leave it at sedentary and not beat myself up for going over a little. I do log a lot of my exercise though, just not all the steps.
  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
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    How has your loss Ben going so far? I think I'd go with option 2. But eat back 300 ish calories.

    Happy eating :smile:
  • smiles4jo
    smiles4jo Posts: 202 Member
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    chandanista wrote: »
    How has your loss Ben going so far? I think I'd go with option 2. But eat back 300 ish calories.

    Happy eating :smile:

    I've lost 22 lbs in about 11.5 weeks, so pretty much right on target, but it does seem to be slower over the last few weeks, so not sure I want to be eating more.

  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    You're talking a difference of 30 calories here. I would just leave it as is since you have your Fitbit synced to your account.
  • Jonna13
    Jonna13 Posts: 288 Member
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    I have my account set to lightly active and Fitbit still gives me an extra 300-500 calories a day to eat. I eat most if not all my extra Fitbit calories back and consistently lose 1-2lbs per week.
  • smiles4jo
    smiles4jo Posts: 202 Member
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    I_Will_End_You wrote: »
    You're talking a difference of 30 calories here. I would just leave it as is since you have your Fitbit synced to your account.

    Is that right though? I would have expected a larger difference, no?

    For reference, I'm female, 5'6", CW 191, GW 140 and have it set to 2 lbs/week.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    If you are using a fitness tracker you are suppose to leave it at sedentary and eat back the adjustment.

    but if you are truly curious

    Per this article
    1) <5000 steps.d (sedentary);
    2) 5000-7499 steps.d (low active);
    3) 7500-9999 steps.d (somewhat active);
    4) > or =10,000-12,499 steps.d (active); and
    5) > or =12,500 steps.d (highly active)

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035
  • smiles4jo
    smiles4jo Posts: 202 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    If you are using a fitness tracker you are suppose to leave it at sedentary and eat back the adjustment.

    Great! Thank you!
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    If you are using a fitness tracker you are suppose to leave it at sedentary and eat back the adjustment.

    but if you are truly curious

    Per this article
    1) <5000 steps.d (sedentary);
    2) 5000-7499 steps.d (low active);
    3) 7500-9999 steps.d (somewhat active);
    4) > or =10,000-12,499 steps.d (active); and
    5) > or =12,500 steps.d (highly active)

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035

    Fascinating. I would never have described myself as "active" on the basis of 10,000-12,500 incidental steps alone.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    CollieFit wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    If you are using a fitness tracker you are suppose to leave it at sedentary and eat back the adjustment.

    but if you are truly curious

    Per this article
    1) <5000 steps.d (sedentary);
    2) 5000-7499 steps.d (low active);
    3) 7500-9999 steps.d (somewhat active);
    4) > or =10,000-12,499 steps.d (active); and
    5) > or =12,500 steps.d (highly active)

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035

    Fascinating. I would never have described myself as "active" on the basis of 10,000-12,500 incidental steps alone.

    considering most people fall into the sedentary I would.

    Desk jobs are killers...I have to purposefully get up frequently and move around the office. I have a fitness tracker that buzzes me every 15mins of inactivity...so I get at least into low active during winter.

    Summer easily highly active with all the stuff I do like gardening or taking recycling back on foot rather than in a vehicle (due to cold)
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    Most BMR / TDEE calculators use these categories:

    sedentary (little or no exercise)
    lightly active (light exercise or sports 1-3 days per week)
    moderately active (moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days per week)
    very active (hard exercise or sports 6-7 days per week)
    super active (very hard exercise or sports and a physical job or 2x daily training

    I always thought the categories are not only about the amount of time spent exercising, but also about the intensity of the exercise?
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    CollieFit wrote: »
    Most BMR / TDEE calculators use these categories:

    sedentary (little or no exercise)
    lightly active (light exercise or sports 1-3 days per week)
    moderately active (moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days per week)
    very active (hard exercise or sports 6-7 days per week)
    super active (very hard exercise or sports and a physical job or 2x daily training

    I always thought the categories are not only about the amount of time spent exercising, but also about the intensity of the exercise?

    For MFP the activity level should be reflective without exercise....MFP runs from the NEAT perspective not TDEE.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    smiles4jo wrote: »
    I currently have my profile set to Sedentary, as per the recommendation for someone with a desk job. However, my step count is usually around 12,000 steps/day, which I'm thinking actually puts me more in the Lightly Active category.

    I was just playing around with the settings and changing from Sedentary to Lightly Active changed my calories from 1,200 to 1,230. I do have the negative adjustments set for the days I'm not so active.

    So, I guess I have 2 questions:

    1. Is that right? I would have expected a larger difference between the two.

    2. Should I even bother to change it or just left Fitbit do its thing from Sedentary (usually adding around 500-600 calories/day)? I usually only eat about 100-200 of those calories anyway.

    Thanks!

    It's likely because 1200 is simply as low as MFP will go so by hitting sedentary and whatever your desired rate of loss rate was, MFP simply took you to the floor. Now you are putting light active so the target of 1230 is likely more accurately reflective of your goals at your activity level.

    When I changed my settings to light active because I was losing too fast, I got an extra couple hundred calories....my guess is that your "true" target based on sedentary and your rate of loss goals was probably closer to 1,000 calories but MFP hits the floor at 1200 to avoid issues with VLCDs.
  • smiles4jo
    smiles4jo Posts: 202 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    smiles4jo wrote: »
    I currently have my profile set to Sedentary, as per the recommendation for someone with a desk job. However, my step count is usually around 12,000 steps/day, which I'm thinking actually puts me more in the Lightly Active category.

    I was just playing around with the settings and changing from Sedentary to Lightly Active changed my calories from 1,200 to 1,230. I do have the negative adjustments set for the days I'm not so active.

    So, I guess I have 2 questions:

    1. Is that right? I would have expected a larger difference between the two.

    2. Should I even bother to change it or just left Fitbit do its thing from Sedentary (usually adding around 500-600 calories/day)? I usually only eat about 100-200 of those calories anyway.

    Thanks!

    It's likely because 1200 is simply as low as MFP will go so by hitting sedentary and whatever your desired rate of loss rate was, MFP simply took you to the floor. Now you are putting light active so the target of 1230 is likely more accurately reflective of your goals at your activity level.

    When I changed my settings to light active because I was losing too fast, I got an extra couple hundred calories....my guess is that your "true" target based on sedentary and your rate of loss goals was probably closer to 1,000 calories but MFP hits the floor at 1200 to avoid issues with VLCDs.

    This makes perfect sense! Thank you!

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