Activity level
aqwersd
Posts: 5 Member
I walk between 8000 to 10,000 steps a day and I am not sure what activity level to select?
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Replies
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Light active1
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Is that including deliberate exercise or just daily life?0
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Arguably either lightly active or active. The 10K is definitely on the active side of things.
That said you would NOT also include whatever activity gets you the 8-10K in your separately metered exercise activities.
And you would monitory your trending weight over a period of 4-6 weeks and compare your results to what your logging predicts so that you can decide if your chosen activity level is reflecting reality based on your logging habits and personal makeup2 -
I walk between 8000 to 10,000 steps a day and I am not sure what activity level to select?
Is a daily activity tracker involved that is also syncing daily calorie burn to MFP?
If yes - select Sedentary even though that is obviously not true - MFP will correct it's rough estimate with your tracker's likely better estimate.4 -
spiriteagle99 wrote: »Is that including deliberate exercise or just daily life?
It’s just daily life
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I also have a question my steps between 10000-13000 are on top of my normal life activity. I have my setting on MFP the lowest due to most of my work day is sitting. I have my map my walk synced to MFP although I don't trust the calories it gives me. I have been thinking of changing my activity level to lightly active and NOT eat back the step calories. Trying to maintain at 140. Would this be a good idea0
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Lightly active.
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »Lightly active.
Thanks0 -
I also have a question my steps between 10000-13000 are on top of my normal life activity. I have my setting on MFP the lowest due to most of my work day is sitting. I have my map my walk synced to MFP although I don't trust the calories it gives me. I have been thinking of changing my activity level to lightly active and NOT eat back the step calories. Trying to maintain at 140. Would this be a good ideaRunRutheeRun wrote: »Lightly active.
?
Daily activity of 10K to 13K (without the step based activity being explicitly added anywhere else) would best be described as somewhere between the top half of active and bottom half of very active using MFP's activity factor calculations.
Whether that can be fully eaten or not depends on how close the person tracks to average values and the quality/effectiveness of their food logging.0 -
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I also have a question my steps between 10000-13000 are on top of my normal life activity. I have my setting on MFP the lowest due to most of my work day is sitting. I have my map my walk synced to MFP although I don't trust the calories it gives me. I have been thinking of changing my activity level to lightly active and NOT eat back the step calories. Trying to maintain at 140. Would this be a good ideaRunRutheeRun wrote: »Lightly active.
?
Daily activity of 10K to 13K (without the step based activity being explicitly added anywhere else) would best be described as somewhere between the top half of active and bottom half of very active using MFP's activity factor calculations.
Whether that can be fully eaten or not depends on how close the person tracks to average values and the quality/effectiveness of their food logging.
Agreed 10 to 13k is active to very active. My previous reply of lightly active was not in regards to that question.3 -
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »I also have a question my steps between 10000-13000 are on top of my normal life activity. I have my setting on MFP the lowest due to most of my work day is sitting. I have my map my walk synced to MFP although I don't trust the calories it gives me. I have been thinking of changing my activity level to lightly active and NOT eat back the step calories. Trying to maintain at 140. Would this be a good ideaRunRutheeRun wrote: »Lightly active.
?
Daily activity of 10K to 13K (without the step based activity being explicitly added anywhere else) would best be described as somewhere between the top half of active and bottom half of very active using MFP's activity factor calculations.
Whether that can be fully eaten or not depends on how close the person tracks to average values and the quality/effectiveness of their food logging.
Agreed 10 to 13k is active to very active. My previous reply of lightly active was not in regards to that question.
Thanks1 -
I also have a question my steps between 10000-13000 are on top of my normal life activity. I have my setting on MFP the lowest due to most of my work day is sitting. I have my map my walk synced to MFP although I don't trust the calories it gives me. I have been thinking of changing my activity level to lightly active and NOT eat back the step calories. Trying to maintain at 140. Would this be a good ideaRunRutheeRun wrote: »Lightly active.
?
Daily activity of 10K to 13K (without the step based activity being explicitly added anywhere else) would best be described as somewhere between the top half of active and bottom half of very active using MFP's activity factor calculations.
Whether that can be fully eaten or not depends on how close the person tracks to average values and the quality/effectiveness of their food logging.I also have a question my steps between 10000-13000 are on top of my normal life activity. I have my setting on MFP the lowest due to most of my work day is sitting. I have my map my walk synced to MFP although I don't trust the calories it gives me. I have been thinking of changing my activity level to lightly active and NOT eat back the step calories. Trying to maintain at 140. Would this be a good ideaRunRutheeRun wrote: »Lightly active.
?
Daily activity of 10K to 13K (without the step based activity being explicitly added anywhere else) would best be described as somewhere between the top half of active and bottom half of very active using MFP's activity factor calculations.
Whether that can be fully eaten or not depends on how close the person tracks to average values and the quality/effectiveness of their food logging.
Thanks0 -
I chose sedentary and then I use the calories awarded to me for my steps. That worked for me.2
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Wow I'm shocked by the replies. According to Livestrong, anything under 5000 is considered Sedentary. Anything between 5000 - 7499 is lightly active. Anything between 7500 - 10000 is moderately active, and anything over 10000 is considered very active. This makes sense to me as 10000 steps a day is 5 miles!
Where did the other posters read otherwise out of curiosity?
https://www.livestrong.com/article/171629-how-many-steps-per-day-to-lose-weight/2 -
I suggest you set to sedentary and sync your step tracker. MFP will make all the calorie adjustments needed. Or you can pick active and get no extra calories.2
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I generally get 8000 to 10,000 steps 6 days a week but since the rest of my day is sitting I just figured it made more sense to use the calories for my steps as I earn them. My weight loss in the first year averaged 1.4 pounds per week. That was at 1200 calories a day plus about half the step calories. I'm 61 years old tho. Now at my maintenance weight I get about 125 calories a day for my steps. It motivated me to move. I didn't read this anywhere I just felt it made sense not to count the calorie burn twice.0
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shannonprovenzano2812 wrote: »Wow I'm shocked by the replies. According to Livestrong, anything under 5000 is considered Sedentary. Anything between 5000 - 7499 is lightly active. Anything between 7500 - 10000 is moderately active, and anything over 10000 is considered very active. This makes sense to me as 10000 steps a day is 5 miles!
Where did the other posters read otherwise out of curiosity?
https://www.livestrong.com/article/171629-how-many-steps-per-day-to-lose-weight/
Many don't realize they are talking apples and oranges.
Be aware that rarely are external sites discussing activity levels using the same 4 levels as MFP which is one of the few that doesn't include exercise in them.
Most external sites are talking about the 5 TDEE levels from the good old (1919) study by Harris of BMR fame.
For instance - MFP has no Moderately Active level,
MFP has a FAQ that touches on steps for their levels - when you use their app and enable steps to adjust calories.
But even there - steps merely calculates out to a distance.
It's the distance with time and mass that gives good calorie estimates.
You could have 10K grocery store shuffle steps and not be above Lightly Active.
You could have 7K hard running steps and be into Very Active.
Most with activity trackers that sync to MFP discover positive calorie adjustments start getting added at 3-5K steps depending on distance - when set to Sedentary.
Oh, and walking any steps on apples and oranges cuts the distance drastically.3 -
You quotes livestrong, I quotes Pubmed
(i). <5000 steps/day may be used as a 'sedentary lifestyle index';
(ii). 5000-7499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered 'low active';
(iii). 7500-9999 likely includes some volitional activities (and/or elevated occupational activity demands) and might be considered 'somewhat active'; and
(iv). >or=10000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as 'active'.
Individuals who take >12500 steps/day are likely to be classified as 'highly active'.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035
In either case, you will notice that we have FIVE (5) activity categories covering 0 to some nebulous amount above 12,500 in the case of Pubmed, and 0 to 10,000 in the case of your Livestrong article.
MFP, however, has FOUR activity categories. And really, other than bragging rights, there is ZERO deep meaning to what each activity category is called. If humans were wired differently, MFP would call their activity levels: 1.25xBMR, 1.4xBMR, 1.6xBMR and 1.8xBMR, because that is all that the labels sedentary, lightly active, active and very active really translate to: the number of calories you're expected to burn if your activity level matches the label.
0-4000 sedentary
4000-8000 lightly active
8000-12000 active
12000-16000 very active
add extra exercise activity when higher.
Most people tend to actually spill over to the next higher category slightly earlier than at the top number indicated.
The type of steps, how often they occur during the day, etc, all factor in.
It *IS* easier to just connect a smart pedometer... especially since MFP by default actually expects you to log exercise activity separately. Smart pedometers take step variability and timing into better account and issue an adjustment to what MFP expects you to burn.3 -
I'm going to be Devil's advocate
Your Fitbit may or may not track stairs. If it does not, MFP gives you calories based on number of steps over flat ground carrying nothing. If you spend those steps climbing the side of a mountain with a 20lb pack. . .well. You figure it out.
In any case, if you try to add a few calories to your total calories for the day for that 20lb pack? (I do, not because I want to eat them, but because I like looking at the totals. YMMV.) MFP recalculates so your totals are all fracked up.
Yeah. Have fun with that. If I weren't so addicted to seeing my Fitbit steps in MFP and my MFP food in Fitbit, I would turn off the darn link.2 -
I set to 0 and bought a pedometer that calculates it for me. I have an Apple Watch now, but my old Fitbit zip was $35 on ebay, talks to MFP, and ups my calories with exercise.0
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I know this isn't a recent post but I've just bought a fitbit and have been wondering about activity levels as the extra calories I seem to get are too high. I work in a school so no strenuous activity just mostly walking around, between 6000 and 8000 steps a day ( at work ). I'm currently set at lightly active but as I'm using the fitbit should I change it? I get 1350 calories a day on mfp but the adjustment has given just over 500 extra with over 12000 steps today including a 1 hour walk.0
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I know this isn't a recent post but I've just bought a fitbit and have been wondering about activity levels as the extra calories I seem to get are too high. I work in a school so no strenuous activity just mostly walking around, between 6000 and 8000 steps a day ( at work ). I'm currently set at lightly active but as I'm using the fitbit should I change it? I get 1350 calories a day on mfp but the adjustment has given just over 500 extra with over 12000 steps today including a 1 hour walk.
Your question confuses me.
6000 to 8000 steps corresponds to the top end of MFP lightly active (more or less) and any adjustments from lightly active will be small.
12000 steps, however, corresponds to the top end of MFP ACTIVE (more or less) and while any adjustments from MFP ACTIVE would be small, the adjustment from "lightly active" would be bigger... because by the end of the day you were not "lightly" active.
When using MFP by itstelf you are supposed to add deliberate activities like your walk separately.
While I do not recommend that you do that when it comes to steady state cardio activities such as walking and running if you are using a Fitbit, IF you done so, i.e. if you had added that hour walk as a separate exercise in addition to MFP's lightly active setting, your final adjustment would have been much smaller.
The reason to not add the walk separately has to do with the way that Fitbit and MFP integrate. A manual exercise on MFP will transfer over and over-write what Fitbit detects during that time period thus "polluting" your Fitbit data. While you can compensate for that by then deleting the imported exercise on the Fitbit web site, this requires a degree of manual intervention for marginal benefit2 -
I know this isn't a recent post but I've just bought a fitbit and have been wondering about activity levels as the extra calories I seem to get are too high. I work in a school so no strenuous activity just mostly walking around, between 6000 and 8000 steps a day ( at work ). I'm currently set at lightly active but as I'm using the fitbit should I change it? I get 1350 calories a day on mfp but the adjustment has given just over 500 extra with over 12000 steps today including a 1 hour walk.
Why do you know they "are too high"?
Once you've had a few days you'll know about what the daily eating level is rough and close enough - the adjustments being big or small won't matter since the end of the day ends up being exactly the same anyway.
Most people in a diet need to plan their day anyway - eating off the cuff usually doesn't work as well, and so depending on those adjustments during the day can be fraught with issues, they are mainly useful at night to know how big or small dinner or snacks need to be depending on parts of the day.
The main reason for picking Sedentary and just taking the bigger adjustments has to do with the end of day adjustments you see the next morning, and being a teacher possibly getting to bed early - could effect you more.
The Fitbit group has a FAQ, the 2nd section describes that effect if curious.0 -
I know this isn't a recent post but I've just bought a fitbit and have been wondering about activity levels as the extra calories I seem to get are too high. I work in a school so no strenuous activity just mostly walking around, between 6000 and 8000 steps a day ( at work ). I'm currently set at lightly active but as I'm using the fitbit should I change it? I get 1350 calories a day on mfp but the adjustment has given just over 500 extra with over 12000 steps today including a 1 hour walk.
I work in a school, too. I'm set for sedentary, however because my Fitbit lies I can't use MFP as a neat system, so it's ultimately irrelevant for me. Data from using my Fitbit and MFP during my weight loss gave me a rough idea of step correlation to caloric needs, and I'm refining it from there.2
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