Activity Level

NovemberCharlieAlpha
NovemberCharlieAlpha Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have put myself as lightly active as I sit at my desk for a majority of the day.
However I normally aim to do at least 11,000 steps ( I have a fitbit tracker and I like to win the challenges :D ).
So should I change my activity setting or log the walking as exercise? or should I just log anything above the 11K ?? I don't want to increase my calorie intake by a huge margin by adjusting or logging incorrectly!

Opinions please

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    11,000 steps is more like active - but you need to consider the rest of your waking hours outside your job including weekends too and not just your job.

    But are you using your Fitbit to set/amend your daily calorie goal or just using it without syncing?
    (If you are getting adjustments from your Fitbit the activity setting is just going to change the size of your adjustments not the final number.)


    Assuming not a sync'd Fitbit... Walking can work either way - if it's regular then it's more simple to account for it in your activity setting. If it's irregular and varied then logging as exercise instead (not as well) might be better.

    Personally when I was working I included my commute (combination of cycle rides or walking to my station plus a lot of stairs) and my general walking around at work in my activity setting for simplicity rather than have to count steps or record up to 10 short cycle rides or walks a week. But an unusual and significant distance walked for purposeful exercise (which took me beyond the level accounted for) I would add as exercise.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited January 2020
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I would put my activity level as sedentary and then link my Fitbit to see automatic calorie adjustments for anything above sedentary.

    Why wouldn't someone pick an activity level closer to reality so that the adjustments would be smaller rather than very large from sedentary levels to active levels?
    Wouldn't calorie budgeting be more difficult with large daily adjustments?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I would put my activity level as sedentary and then link my Fitbit to see automatic calorie adjustments for anything above sedentary.

    Why wouldn't someone pick an activity level closer to reality so that the adjustments would be smaller rather than very large from sedentary levels to active levels?
    Wouldn't calorie budgeting be more difficult with large daily adjustments?

    I suggested that because her life is sedentary. If she is regularly seeing large positive adjustments and finds that challenging, then she can change the activity level. I personally would rather see positive adjustments than big negative adjustments when I failed to make my extra steps, which is why I suggested that.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I would put my activity level as sedentary and then link my Fitbit to see automatic calorie adjustments for anything above sedentary.

    Why wouldn't someone pick an activity level closer to reality so that the adjustments would be smaller rather than very large from sedentary levels to active levels?
    Wouldn't calorie budgeting be more difficult with large daily adjustments?

    I suggested that because her life is sedentary. If she is regularly seeing large positive adjustments and finds that challenging, then she can change the activity level. I personally would rather see positive adjustments than big negative adjustments when I failed to make my extra steps, which is why I suggested that.

    Her job is a desk job but she isn't anywhere close to sedentary activity setting with 11,000 steps.

    I see your logic of positive rather than negative adjustments though.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I would put my activity level as sedentary and then link my Fitbit to see automatic calorie adjustments for anything above sedentary.

    Why wouldn't someone pick an activity level closer to reality so that the adjustments would be smaller rather than very large from sedentary levels to active levels?
    Wouldn't calorie budgeting be more difficult with large daily adjustments?

    I suggested that because her life is sedentary. If she is regularly seeing large positive adjustments and finds that challenging, then she can change the activity level. I personally would rather see positive adjustments than big negative adjustments when I failed to make my extra steps, which is why I suggested that.

    Her job is a desk job but she isn't anywhere close to sedentary activity setting with 11,000 steps.

    I see your logic of positive rather than negative adjustments though.

    I was considering that they were 11,000 steps she says she "normally aims" to do, so in my mind they're more like intentional exercise. At the end of the day, she should pick whichever works best for her (seeing a larger positive adjustment on the days when she meets her goal or seeing a larger negative adjustment on the days when she doesn't). It will wind up at the same place overall.
  • lx1x
    lx1x Posts: 38,330 Member
    I have a Fitbit...been on sedentary from start.. I let the tracker do the rest.. it's linked with mfp.

    Avg 10k steps a day .. desk job..
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    I'd personally base your activity level on your average weekly step count.

    I'm "Sedentary" as far as job is concerned but get an average of 8500 steps per day because I usually walk 6km communting to/from work. I set myself to Lightly Active so that I don't get huge adjustments and so I'm not over-eating on days when I get a lift or am at home.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I would put my activity level as sedentary and then link my Fitbit to see automatic calorie adjustments for anything above sedentary.

    Why wouldn't someone pick an activity level closer to reality so that the adjustments would be smaller rather than very large from sedentary levels to active levels?
    Wouldn't calorie budgeting be more difficult with large daily adjustments?

    There is also the issue of delayed adjustment with more active activity levels. Not sure if it changed, but when I used to log here about a year or so ago, higher activity levels gave me high predictive adjustments that went back down by the next day even with predictive adjustments turned off on Fitbit, so leaving it on sedentary was more accurate.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    As you can see there are a couple of different approaches to this.

    The only way to really get it right is to pick a method and try to be consistent with it until you can measure your actual loss against your anticipated loss. This will tell you if you need to be eating more or less.

    The different approaches are really just management styles and there again you need to figure out what works best for you.

    While you are figuring things out the thing to really watch out for is low energy/fatigue. That may be a sign you are eating too little.

    You don't need all the answers today. Finding out what works will involve some trial and error.
  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I would put my activity level as sedentary and then link my Fitbit to see automatic calorie adjustments for anything above sedentary.

    Why wouldn't someone pick an activity level closer to reality so that the adjustments would be smaller rather than very large from sedentary levels to active levels?
    Wouldn't calorie budgeting be more difficult with large daily adjustments?

    Because there are days I'm a lump and its better, psychologically, for me to see calories added on good days than taken away on bad ones.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,224 Member
    I fully suggest to most people starting out to set to sedentary, eat their complete adjustment and evaluate in 4-6 weeks using their weight trend (and specifically if using Fitbit, trendweigh.com)

    That said, after a couple of months of doing that and ending up with large adjustments, I switched to very active on MFP with negative adjustments enabled. While perfectly capable of moving less than 2k steps in a day, I usually aim for and average more than 16k and doing so just gave me smaller absolute value adjustments (and larger late night adjustments that don't affect me as much given I go to sleep well after midnight)
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    edited January 2020
    sijomial wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I would put my activity level as sedentary and then link my Fitbit to see automatic calorie adjustments for anything above sedentary.

    Why wouldn't someone pick an activity level closer to reality so that the adjustments would be smaller rather than very large from sedentary levels to active levels?
    Wouldn't calorie budgeting be more difficult with large daily adjustments?

    I don't do this because I hate the fact that I start the day with a huge negative adjustment and then, once I stop being as active in the evenings I lose calories as the night progresses. It makes it a challenge to try and work out how many calories I will lose to try and balance the books at midnight. Sedentary means these adjustments are small and easier to work out. I just add or subtract extra food to what I prelog if my exercise levels are less than or more than usual. You just have to do whichever approach works best for you.
  • bex1086
    bex1086 Posts: 85 Member
    I set mine to active based on the fact that I do a lot of exercise.

    My average week looks like this:
    Monday: Get up, get 2 kids ready, out the door ready for the one mile walk to school. Walk the mile back then hit the gym for a Stronglifts session with light cardio to follow for up to an hour. Back home, sort lunch, get toddler down for his nap then either potter, sit or nap for an hour and a half. Walk the mile to school and back then have a sit down before I start dinner. Then I go to work as a waitress for 5 and a half hours.

    Tuesday: School run again then either gym for an hour, a walk, do daily errands or I sit in soft play for a bit. Back home, potter/sit/nap, back to school. Bit later I'm out the door with the eldest for a swimming lesson, I sit and watch for half an hour. Back home then chip in with the bedtimes.

    Wednesday: Exactly the same as Monday.

    Thursday: Same as Tuesday.

    Friday: Same as Monday and Wednesday but usually I don't go to work.

    Saturday and Sunday are more relaxed, we might go for a walk, I might take one of the kids swimming, I tend to go to the gym for an hour and I also work 6 hours on one of the days. Sometimes I'll walk the half mile to work then half a mile back.

    I average about 16000 steps in a day. My cardio if I'm using the treadmill will be counted in this though. If I'm using a cross trainer I don't move my arms so my watch won't count the steps.

    Last year I set my level to lightly active which seemed to work. I wasn't walking half as much but I was at the gym 3 days a week.

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