I don’t know whether I’m lightly active or active.

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angela_boinkers
angela_boinkers Posts: 11 Member
in Getting Started
I have a desk job, and I do sit around mostly at home. I am doing couch 2 5k 3x per week, going to a regular CrossFit class 1 day and a CrossFit weightlifting class 1 day. I don’t know I’m supposed to be considering my workouts or my just my general lifestyle when calculating how many calories to eat?

Replies

  • AZAlyssa
    AZAlyssa Posts: 22 Member
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    I'd say active since you're doing some sort of exercise pretty much daily.
  • LaBellaHarris
    LaBellaHarris Posts: 63 Member
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    I'm listening to an audio course on nutrition, and the dietician in it (Roberta Anding) says anyone with a desk job and stationary hobbies (movies, puzzles, reading, etc) is sedentary or only lightly active. Active lifestyle examples she used were people who were on their feet for their work day, usually doing manual labor of some kind (landscapers, construction workers, some factory positions, etc). I err on the side of caution; besides, the difference between sedentary and moderately active isn't that many calories if you're short (the BMR formula she gave uses Ideal Body Weight For Your Height x 10 = calorie minimum, then add 30% for Sedentary lifestyle or 50% for moderately active. So, for me, that's a difference of only 220 calories, which is basically one snack :neutral: )
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited March 2022
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    MyFitnessPal does it differently to other sites which a couple of responders don't seem to realise.

    Activy and exercise are completely separate items here - your exercise isn't anything to do with your activity setting. Exercise is logged after the event on MyFitnessPal to give a variable daily eating goal (rather than rolled up into an average like other sites with a same every day goal).

    You describe a sedentary lifestyle / activity setting but you would log your running and crossfit on the days you do them to get more calories those days.

    If you prefer a same every day goal use a TDEE calculator like this one which includes both items upfront - https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

    PS - it's a really good idea to try to "fix" your sedentary lifestyle by building more movement into your everyday life. It can make a significant difference to your health as well as raising your calorie expenditure.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,453 Member
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    Check out this thread:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

    (And start at page 1, of course)
  • angela_boinkers
    angela_boinkers Posts: 11 Member
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    Thanks all!
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 878 Member
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    As others have said - MFP wants your activity level based on your life NOT including intentional exercise. So...desk job usually would be sedentary. You then log your intentional workouts to account for that energy expenditure.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,966 Member
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    AZAlyssa wrote: »
    I'd say active since you're doing some sort of exercise pretty much daily.

    MFP is designed to NOT consider your intentional exercise in setting your activity level.
  • ToadstoolBetty
    ToadstoolBetty Posts: 292 Member
    edited March 2022
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    If you set it at active you can't add your normal daily exercise each day when you do them.
    If you want to add the exercises each day that you do them then you will have to set it at sedentary.
    The level you set it at is for what your every day activity is.
    You only add calorie burns that are not part of your activity level.


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