Activity level

ciclismolizzy wrote: »

I'm sure it's been asked before but can't see any that fit my circumstances.

I have a job where I'm on my feet for 6 hours of the day walking at about 2mph. My tracker tells me my calorie burn is well into the 1000's! This is before any exercise.

Any suggestions as to what level I should set at? I'm finding my current (lightly active) leaves me hungry!

What tracker? I say leave it at sedentary and use your tracker to determine your real burn? Also your tracker may be telling you calories burned throughout the day that you would have used regardless of whether your did anything or not.

The issue isn't whether your current activity level leaves you hungry, but whether you are losing weight at the rate you want. The body wants to hang onto weight, so you will be hungry while losing. What you want to do is mitigate the hunger, leaving it at a manageable level, and lose at a sustainable rate (I suggest no more than 1 lb. per week unless you have at least 50 lb. to lose, and no more than 1.5 unless you have more than 75 lb. to lose).

The way to do that: choose an activity level that seems appropriate, log carefully, and meet your goal calories. After a month (it takes a while for fluctuations to even out), compare your actual weight loss with your planned loss. If you are losing more than you intended, your activity level is too low; raise it. If you are losing less than you intended, your activity level is too high; lower it. If you're just right, then leave it where it is.

Technically, of course, losing too little could be caused by logging inaccuracies, which plague even registered dietitians, rather than an inappropriate activity level. But it's much easier to change the activity level than it is to improve your logging!