Activity level settings in MFP

browneyes1520
browneyes1520 Posts: 94 Member
in Motivation and Support
I've been part of MFP for a while now but one thing has always confused me about the setting for determining your calorie goals. When asked to pick an activity level I am never sure what to put. The options are sedentary, lightly active defined as a good part of the day on your feet, active defined as a good part of the day doing something physically active, or very active defined as most of the day doing heavy physical activity. For me, I exercise 5-6 days a week for anywhere from 30-60 minutes. I am a mostly stay at home mom but I do work a desk job 2 days a week. I have no idea which activity level I fit in so I have just always put sedentary despite exercising almost every day. What do others think?

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited September 2016
    Exercise isn't part of your activity setting.

    Irrelevant - "I exercise 5-6 days a week for anywhere from 30-60 minutes"
    Relevant - "I am a mostly stay at home mom but I do work a desk job 2 days a week"

    If you think about it - increasing your activity setting (which gives you more calories) because of exercise and then logging your exercise and getting extra calories again would be counting them twice.
  • browneyes1520
    browneyes1520 Posts: 94 Member
    That is a good point though while I do log the exercise I do I don't eat the extra calories I get from it. I guess I have the setting correctly set to sedentary.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    browneyes1520 wrote: »
    That is a good point though while I do log the exercise I do I don't eat the extra calories I get from it. I guess I have the setting correctly set to sedentary.

    If you aren't going to follow the MFP method then you shouldn't use MFP to set your calorie goal.
    Go to a TDEE calculator instead.

    In the end it's just a suggested start point. After a month or so you should start to see a weight trend emerge - that's the data you need so make adjustments based on results not calculations.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,935 Member
    I find the settings to be way too low for me. I've always answered that "Sedentary/lightly active" thing honestly. Then I eat back the calories from exercise - all of them. I still have to bump up that activity level thing one whole level to get enough calories.

    Track for a month using one or the other, eat back your exercise calories. Measure your food using a food scale - all of it. Adjust if necessary. We all have a slightly different lifestyle and you have to run the experiment yourself.
  • maidengirl_
    maidengirl_ Posts: 284 Member
    I found the activity settings to be too low for me to realistically stick to. If I didn't count any exercise I do for the day, I would be considered "sedentary" because I sit down at work all day and there's no way around it. It gave me a 1200 calorie goal at 2 lbs per week loss. I changed my activity level to "Active" with a 1.5 per week loss and I got between 1500-1700. I have lost 42 pounds with my settings being in "active". Play around with the app and set a goal that works for you. Trial and error :)

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