What would my activity level be?

BeccaLynnN98
BeccaLynnN98 Posts: 13 Member
in Getting Started
So I’ve been bouncing back and forth between sedentary and lightly active since I’ve started tracking. I usually walk for about 7 minutes a day to get to work, and spend 5-6 hours on my feet, no sitting down. Lots of walking back and forth in a small building, bending down, climbing step ladders, lifting things etc. I usually end up getting 3000-5000 steps in depending on how busy I am that day. That’s five days out of the week. On weekends I usually do some sort of exercise routine, walking, running, elliptical, weights, etc for a half hour to two hours either one day out of the weekend or both. Sorry for the long backstory haha.

Replies

  • neldabg
    neldabg Posts: 1,452 Member
    edited February 2018
    First, always remember that no matter what, you can only use calculated numbers as a starting point. You must adjust according to trends you see over weeks. For me, a 5'2" young female, I'd set my activity level as sedentary. With 3000-5000 steps, I wouldn't even be at sedentary calories. I use a FitBit device, and MFP actually subtracts calories until I get somewhere between 6000-8000 steps. MFP is set such that you're supposed to eat back exercise calories. Therefore, on the weekends, you would log in your exercise and eat whatever you burned. Many people start off eating just half the estimated burns and then increase or decrease the percentage they eat back based on trends over time.Of course, you can save those extra calories and spread them out over the week if you wanted.
  • BeccaLynnN98
    BeccaLynnN98 Posts: 13 Member
    neldabg wrote: »
    First, always remember that no matter what, you can only use calculated numbers as a starting point. You must adjust according to trends you see over weeks. For me, a 5'2" young female, I'd set my activity level as sedentary. With 3000-5000 steps, I wouldn't even be at sedentary calories. I use a FitBit device, and MFP actually subtracts calories until I get somewhere between 6000-8000 steps. MFP is set such that you're supposed to eat back exercise calories. Therefore, on the weekends, you would log in your exercise and eat whatever you burned. Many people start off eating just half the estimated burns and then increase or decrease the percentage they eat back based on trends over time.Of course, you can save those extra calories and spread them out over the week if you wanted.

    Yeah I only use the step count that my phone generates which isn’t super accurate cos it’s not on me at all times. I recently ordered a Fitbit and hope that’ll get me some more accurate readings. I just didn’t know if I should base my activity level off of steps alone, considering calorie burn and physical activity comes in many forms besides steps. I probably will leave it on sedentary though.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,252 Member
    @BeccaLynnN98 based mainly on your standing up during your shift at work I would go with lightly active.

    While at work i would observe your Fitbit step count.

    I suspect that you are not getting credit for a lot of your work steps either because they are soft (no accelerometer movement = no detection) or because you don't take very many of them in a row (in order to avoid spurious recording of non step movements Fitbits and other fitness bands will often not record activity until they detect a manufacturer set number of repetitions, at which point they start recording new steps and back-credit that minimum number. But if you don't reach the minimum the band considers it a "false detection" and doesn't give you ANY credit.

    @neldabg i would have a quick double check that all your stats are setup correctly on Fitbit and MFP. The normal setup of Fitbit tends to start generating positive adjustments to MFP Sedentary somewhere between 3500 and 5000 detected steps. Not getting an adjustment till between 6000 and 8000 steps would make sense if you were setup as Lightly Active on MFP, or if there is some sort of setup issue.
  • BeccaLynnN98
    BeccaLynnN98 Posts: 13 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    @BeccaLynnN98 based mainly on your standing up during your shift at work I would go with lightly active.

    While at work i would observe your Fitbit step count.

    I suspect that you are not getting credit for a lot of your work steps either because they are soft (no accelerometer movement = no detection) or because you don't take very many of them in a row (in order to avoid spurious recording of non step movements Fitbits and other fitness bands will often not record activity until they detect a manufacturer set number of repetitions, at which point they start recording new steps and back-credit that minimum number. But if you don't reach the minimum the band considers it a "false detection" and doesn't give you ANY credit.

    @neldabg i would have a quick double check that all your stats are setup correctly on Fitbit and MFP. The normal setup of Fitbit tends to start generating positive adjustments to MFP Sedentary somewhere between 3500 and 5000 detected steps. Not getting an adjustment till between 6000 and 8000 steps would make sense if you were setup as Lightly Active on MFP, or if there is some sort of setup issue.

    Thank you! I’ll leave it on sedentary for now and then once I get my Fitbit in the mail I’ll look at what data it gives me and go from there! Right now my step count is based on what my phone says so it’s probably not the most accurate.

  • neldabg
    neldabg Posts: 1,452 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    @BeccaLynnN98 based mainly on your standing up during your shift at work I would go with lightly active.

    While at work i would observe your Fitbit step count.

    I suspect that you are not getting credit for a lot of your work steps either because they are soft (no accelerometer movement = no detection) or because you don't take very many of them in a row (in order to avoid spurious recording of non step movements Fitbits and other fitness bands will often not record activity until they detect a manufacturer set number of repetitions, at which point they start recording new steps and back-credit that minimum number. But if you don't reach the minimum the band considers it a "false detection" and doesn't give you ANY credit.

    @neldabg i would have a quick double check that all your stats are setup correctly on Fitbit and MFP. The normal setup of Fitbit tends to start generating positive adjustments to MFP Sedentary somewhere between 3500 and 5000 detected steps. Not getting an adjustment till between 6000 and 8000 steps would make sense if you were setup as Lightly Active on MFP, or if there is some sort of setup issue.

    I might not have been clear enough. While negative adjustments occur when I've just woken up and have barely taken any steps, I do indeed get adjustments throughout the day. However, MFP's adjustments are predictions based on activity levels at any point of the day. FitBit shows the actual calculation of my TDEE (shown on the x/X calories eaten tile on the website dashboard). Unless I get in 6000-8000 steps before bed, I'll have a negative adjustment below sedentary calories. This seems accurate per real life results.

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