What activity level would you suggest?

ladybug4233
ladybug4233 Posts: 217 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
OK. I have been on here for a little over a year and a half. I lost 30 pounds but gained a few back so I am trying to loose 5 pounds again. I am a SAHM who gets 12,000-14,000 steps a day. A lot of times it is around 12,500. This is without exercise. I do take a walk to get some of these steps but don't record it or count it as exercise. I get that at the gym 4-5 times a week. So my question is what activity level do you think I fall under. I had lightly active and bumped it up to active. Should I keep it there?

Thanks for the help,
Candie

Replies

  • ladybug4233
    ladybug4233 Posts: 217 Member
    Thanks for the response. I have seen different numbers here on this board so just not sure. I have seen some people think 12,000 steps is very active.
  • lx1x
    lx1x Posts: 38,330 Member
    Keep it..

    Do you have tracker ? Fitbit etc..

    I have mine in sedentary since the beginning.. it's been working for me.. ymmv
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    It depends also if you are planning to add exercise calories. My prior has always been to use sedentary, add for workouts, then eyeball the steps and add a little more (100-200kcals) to account for them when they're high. I have the Garmin watch now, which throws in extra calories based on activity. IT IS OFTEN WRONG AND TOO HIGH. Fitbit has the same problem. Anyway, the bottom line is your weight trend.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    ladybug4233 wrote: »
    OK. I have been on here for a little over a year and a half. I lost 30 pounds but gained a few back so I am trying to loose 5 pounds again. I am a SAHM who gets 12,000-14,000 steps a day. A lot of times it is around 12,500. This is without exercise. I do take a walk to get some of these steps but don't record it or count it as exercise. I get that at the gym 4-5 times a week. So my question is what activity level do you think I fall under. I had lightly active and bumped it up to active. Should I keep it there?

    Thanks for the help,
    Candie

    Ditto to active recommendation - Lightly Active usually up to 7k steps max, and that's when many of the "steps" are very small around house.

    But if you have steps - do you have tracker?

    In which case whole point of guessing doesn't need to be done.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,236 Member
    edited September 2019
    I am one of the people who believes that around 12,500 steps you are at a level where you're straddling the active/very active setting on MFP. Assuming your body tracks close to the mean. Assuming your step counter is accurate in the way it detects and is not too far off in terms of your stride and distance covered. Assuming your calories in accounting is accurate.

    There is no need to worry about your activity level too much if you are using a tracker that is spitting out a TDEE number that can be synchronized with MFP. If you're more active than the level you select you will get a positive adjustment. If you prove to be less active per the tracker than the level that you select on MFP, then you will get a negative adjustment.

    There is no real need to peg the activity level to a T if you are selecting a reasonable loss goal (say 0.5 to 1lb a week).... you start tracking and you observe your estimated deficit and how your weight trend changes over 4-6 weeks. If there is a significant divergence you take it into account and adjust your goals accordingly. If there isn't... you carry on :smiley:

    If you are consistently ending your day with a positive adjustment when set to active and your weight trend change reflects that... then I would seriously consider switching to very active! Otherwise, and with a goal to lose a bit, starting from active seems reasonable!
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    Your activity level isn't set in stone.

    Set it where you think it should be and if that turns out to be too high high or too low based on the results you're seeing then change it up or down accordingly.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Choose to remain with the active setting or switch to very active - eat back your gym exercise calories (as they are nothing to do with the activity setting).

    Adjust your base calorie goal based on results after a month. That adjustment can be a manual adjustment if you need to fine tune rather than the rather blunt instrument of changing activity settings.
  • samhennings
    samhennings Posts: 441 Member
    ladybug4233 wrote: »
    OK. I have been on here for a little over a year and a half. I lost 30 pounds but gained a few back so I am trying to loose 5 pounds again. I am a SAHM who gets 12,000-14,000 steps a day. A lot of times it is around 12,500. This is without exercise. I do take a walk to get some of these steps but don't record it or count it as exercise. I get that at the gym 4-5 times a week. So my question is what activity level do you think I fall under. I had lightly active and bumped it up to active. Should I keep it there?

    Thanks for the help,
    Candie

    Sounds like Active to me, but ultimately the whole process is one of refinement.

    You select active, you see how it goes, and if the weight coming off isnt how much you expect then you adjust things...

    The calculations here are pretty good, but none are perfect, so its all about keeping track of things over time and tweaking your settings/calculations/habits to keep things on track.

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