Fitness level for runner?
danniej312
Posts: 24 Member
I run daily, 30+ minutes (except Sundays) and I’m slowly getting into strength training and cross training (like 10 minutes 3-5 times a week) for my first Spartan race in December.
Other than that, I am sedentary as I’m a stay at home mother and don’t really go anywhere. Would you consider my fitness level to be Sedentary, Lightly Active, or Active? I want to make sure I have MFP calculating calories correctly.
Other than that, I am sedentary as I’m a stay at home mother and don’t really go anywhere. Would you consider my fitness level to be Sedentary, Lightly Active, or Active? I want to make sure I have MFP calculating calories correctly.
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Replies
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I would put active. Lightly active is more like easy yoga, short walks a couple of times a day, etc.0
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You have misunderstood MFP then.
Or where are you finding reference to "Fitness Levels"?
Reread those activity levels as MFP describes them - they have nothing to do with exercise at all - rather ONLY daily life.
I see a kid - you are Lightly-Active even if a 40 hr desk job.
Mom and Sedentary don't go together, unless you have nanny and a maid and you sit around and watch TV and the kiddo on the couch all day.
Sedentary is couch potato 7 days a week, outside of exercise.
To use MFP properly compared to all other sites - you add exercise when you really do it.
Log your runs accurately for TOTAL average pace and time (not pace you eventually got up to).
Log lifting as Weights if 5-15 reps and sets and rests 2-4 min and heavy for you to be very difficult by weight.
Log as Circuit if 15-20 reps and rests up to 1 min and on to next muscle group.
Cross training is calisthenics, usually less than 1 min between activities and many reps, perhaps light or no weights.
Again be honest with the time - if rests turn into 5-8 min because of kiddo, don't count that, only normal rests.
That's how you get MFP to have best estimate.
MFP is trying to teach life lesson about weight management.
You do more, you eat more.
You do less, you eat less.
In a diet, a little less in both cases.9 -
Wow that sounded aggressive.7
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Wasn't at all - just wanted to share some facts. There is no emotion except curiosity of where reference came from.
Might want to reread it and let me know what part is aggressive.9 -
At the top of the various forums you will find pinned various "sticky threads" which contains loads of really good information.
As the ever helpful @heybales mentions you have misunderstood the basic set up questions that this site asks you. You aren't alone in that! It badly needs revising to drag it into the 21st century with a properly guided set up.
Go back to your set up and goals and keep in mind the whole time that the daily activity setting and exercise are completely separate and distinct entities on here. It should then make sense and explain why your daily calorie goal is for a non exercise day so that your goal becomes + exercise cals on a day when you do work out to give you a variable daily food allowance. But that variable allowance still maintains the chosen calorie deficit (chosen by selecting your weekly rate of loss). An analogy would be you put more fuel in your car's fuel tank on days when you drive further.
As your exercise volume ramps up towards your Spartan race ambition it becomes even more important to fuel your training properly.2 -
Wasn't at all - just wanted to share some facts. There is no emotion except curiosity of where reference came from.
Might want to reread it and let me know what part is aggressive.
Yes it was informative, I just read it with a tone that seemed a little harsh. But if you say it wasn’t then I believe you:)3 -
danniej312 wrote: »I run daily, 30+ minutes (except Sundays) and I’m slowly getting into strength training and cross training (like 10 minutes 3-5 times a week) for my first Spartan race in December.
Other than that, I am sedentary as I’m a stay at home mother and don’t really go anywhere. Would you consider my fitness level to be Sedentary, Lightly Active, or Active? I want to make sure I have MFP calculating calories correctly.
I'd say that if you plan to use and eat back exercise calorie estimates, use sedentary. If not, use lightly active.
Also understand that these are estimates and a starting point. Adjust as needed based on weight gain/loss, and energy levels.1 -
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TavistockToad wrote: »
It was good advice. I guess I just read it aggressively haha0 -
You have misunderstood MFP then.
Or where are you finding reference to "Fitness Levels"?
Reread those activity levels as MFP describes them - they have nothing to do with exercise at all - rather ONLY daily life.
I see a kid - you are Lightly-Active even if a 40 hr desk job.
Mom and Sedentary don't go together, unless you have nanny and a maid and you sit around and watch TV and the kiddo on the couch all day.
Sedentary is couch potato 7 days a week, outside of exercise.
To use MFP properly compared to all other sites - you add exercise when you really do it.
Log your runs accurately for TOTAL average pace and time (not pace you eventually got up to).
Log lifting as Weights if 5-15 reps and sets and rests 2-4 min and heavy for you to be very difficult by weight.
Log as Circuit if 15-20 reps and rests up to 1 min and on to next muscle group.
Cross training is calisthenics, usually less than 1 min between activities and many reps, perhaps light or no weights.
Again be honest with the time - if rests turn into 5-8 min because of kiddo, don't count that, only normal rests.
That's how you get MFP to have best estimate.
MFP is trying to teach life lesson about weight management.
You do more, you eat more.
You do less, you eat less.
In a diet, a little less in both cases.
^^^^0 -
For example, I'm picking up on my running. Minimum 15K per week. I weight train twice a week and swim twice a week, 1 km each time.
I'm set as sedentary as I sit on my *puppy* at work all day and don't do a hell of a lot outside of intentional exercise. My Garmin might give me a couple hundred extra calories a day (aside from exercise) but some does I get squat. It will be better once the snow is gone.
MFP gives me credit for my exercise separate from my daily activities and I eat most of those calories as well (I knock the weight part in half).0 -
danniej312 wrote: »Other than that, I am sedentary as I’m a stay at home mother and don’t really go anywhere.
Maybe my memory is failing in my old age but when my wife was a SAHM I wouldn't have called her sedentary, kids can keep you going the whole day long!
I run 4 x weekly, swim 3 or 4x weekly, ride, strength train etc as a wannabe triathlete and have my activity level set at sedentary as I usually eat back (at least a portion of) my exercise calories.
MFP gives us a relatively limited range of choices. if you set your activity level at anything other than sedentary be cautious about eating back your exercise calories (assuming one of your goals is weight loss). All I can suggest is it may take a little trial and error.
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While normally true, my six year old is in school and my other child is only 9 months and doesn’t walk yet and we typically nap together in the middle of the day.0 -
So you have a household with 2 kids you take care of.
This isn't about the 6 hrs during the day - this is about the 16-18 hrs you are awake.
And weekends.
Go check out old threads in the Fitbit group - working moms, sometimes not moms, discovered that even with desk job and commute, they got adjustments above sedentary when hitting 3500-4500 steps. They had more than that before even being inspired to walk more by the device.
I wasn't joking about needing a nanny and maid to NOT obtain that level of activity doing normal household things a family requires.
You may think you aren't doing that much in comparison to I don't know what - but many people have no idea how sedentary sedentary really is - 7 days a week.
Shoot - some people's weekend activities blows them out of the water for an average.2
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