Help! Sedentary or Lightly Active??

cmpettit · September 2011

Ok so when I first started this I was sure I was sedentary. Mostly because I work at a desk job (even though I am up and down frequently, I wouldn't consider it enough to justify using "lightly active" in my profile) and outside of work I did the basic home thing, light cooking and cleaning, hanging out on the couch and generally relaxing. If I went swimming or managed the energy for a workout I would log it separately.

Fast forward several months and I have lost a bit of weight doing nothing more than the above and strictly watching my intake. NOW, I am on week 4 with no weight loss (I am convinced I am either on a plateau and have to change things up or my scale is broken) For the last 2 weeks I have been doing cardio workouts 3/4 times a week for 30-40 mins. I was quite proud of myself for that, however stepping on the scale this morning, the darn thing still wont budge.

I have been thinking that I may need to re-evaluate my calorie goals because I may not be taking in enough or my body has gotten used to where it was at?? Is there a way to accurately discern between Sedentary or Lightly Active and see what the most up-to-date calorie goals SHOULD be? Right now I am using Sedentary in my profile and MFP says I should be at 1300 calories (which is tough, so I usually aim for 1350) However, if I change my active level, my daily calories go up quite a bit. Im just not sure what is right and I want to get off this darn plateau. Is my new exercise routine enough to justify changing it from Sedentary to Lightly Active even if I don't do it everyday? ANY IDEAS WOULD BE AMAZING!

jessica_mom343 · September 2011

Change it for a week to lightly active and see what happens. A week won't hurting anything.

Jessica

whatwentwrong · September 2011

well, it's not like your weight loss happens according to what MFP calculates :P like jessica said, experiment with changing to lightly active and eating some extra calories and see what happens!

tmiqueen · September 2011

Without being able to view your diary, I can't give a lot of input except this:
1) Make sure you're getting enough water.
2) Make sure that even if you're staying within your calories that the calories you're taking in are more lean meats and veggies than anything else. It is possible to "starve" yourself, even if you stay within your calorie range, if you're eating nothing but processed crap.
3) Make sure that you aren't going too far under your calorie goal. If you're going below 1200, it can cause you to go into starvation mode and your weight loss will stall.
4) If all of that doesn't work, get your thyroid checked out and have some blood workup done to make sure there isn't an underlying medical condition that is preventing your weight loss.

LauraMarie37 · September 2011

Also, how many pounds per week are you set to lose, and how close are you to your goal weight? A lot of people advocate for lowering your pounds lost per week to only -1 (or maybe even -0.5) when you get into a "healthy" BMI.

Maybe try changing the components of what you eat? More protein? More veggies? More fiber? More water?

Plateaus suck...but you'll get through it!

MikeSEA · September 2011

I would guess you could also stand to change up your workout. Our bodies like to adapt to what we put it through on a regular basis, and they become more efficient at performing the same tasks.

PaPenguin · September 2011

I beleive the activity levels of sedentary, lightly active, active, etc. only have to do with your general daily activities like whether you are a desk jockey, a famer, a mail carrier etc. Then when you do exercise you just add that activity to calculate the additional calories burned in addition to your normal daily life. I don't know how bumping up your calories intake will cause you to lose weight. It's really just math. If you consume less than what you burn, you'll lose weight.

Victoria2448 · September 2011

Ok so when I first started this I was sure I was sedentary. Mostly because I work at a desk job (even though I am up and down frequently, I wouldn't consider it enough to justify using "lightly active" in my profile) and outside of work I did the basic home thing, light cooking and cleaning, hanging out on the couch and generally relaxing. If I went swimming or managed the energy for a workout I would log it separately.

Fast forward several months and I have lost a bit of weight doing nothing more than the above and strictly watching my intake. NOW, I am on week 4 with no weight loss (I am convinced I am either on a plateau and have to change things up or my scale is broken) For the last 2 weeks I have been doing cardio workouts 3/4 times a week for 30-40 mins. I was quite proud of myself for that, however stepping on the scale this morning, the darn thing still wont budge.

I have been thinking that I may need to re-evaluate my calorie goals because I may not be taking in enough or my body has gotten used to where it was at?? Is there a way to accurately discern between Sedentary or Lightly Active and see what the most up-to-date calorie goals SHOULD be? Right now I am using Sedentary in my profile and MFP says I should be at 1300 calories (which is tough, so I usually aim for 1350) However, if I change my active level, my daily calories go up quite a bit. Im just not sure what is right and I want to get off this darn plateau. Is my new exercise routine enough to justify changing it from Sedentary to Lightly Active even if I don't do it everyday? ANY IDEAS WOULD BE AMAZING!

At 167 lbs your basal metabolic rate is roughly 1670 cals. That is what your body needs to simply function, breath,grow hair pump blood. You need even more than that to fuel your body. If you have been eating only 1300 cals for quite some time you are most likely in starvation mode. 9 times out of 10 a plateau is caused by diet.

My suggestion is to add strength training every other day instead of all that cardio. Build your muscles to boost your metabolism. If you have been doing the same cardio routine time to change it and add some intensity.

Eat every 2-3 hours. Divide your cals among 5-6 meals a day. Make sure you get adequate protein,healthy unrefineed carbs, healthy fats, water and sleep.

How's that for a start?

cmpettit · September 2011

If plateaus are caused mostly by diets then I definetly want to shake up my calories somehow. I drink ALOT of water... more than 10 glasses a day. I could use help making sure I get enough sleep. Thank you all for the feedback! Please keep the ideas coming. Has anyone heard of "zigzagging" and do you know what that could accomplish? Oh, and if I did change my profile to Lightly Active, would I still need to log my exercise calories or would it then assume that was included?

rissaface · September 2011

At 167 lbs your basal metabolic rate is roughly 1670 cals. That is what your body needs to simply function, breath,grow hair pump blood. You need even more than that to fuel your body. If you have been eating only 1300 cals for quite some time you are most likely in starvation mode. 9 times out of 10 a plateau is caused by diet.

My suggestion is to add strength training every other day instead of all that cardio. Build your muscles to boost your metabolism. If you have been doing the same cardio routine time to change it and add some intensity.

Eat every 2-3 hours. Divide your cals among 5-6 meals a day. Make sure you get adequate protein,healthy unrefineed carbs, healthy fats, water and sleep.

How's that for a start?

I say go for that one ^^. Makes perfect sense to me.

KiyaK · September 2011

I would say don't change your activity level. Although you are adding in workouts, that only accounts for 30-40 minutes of your day. The activity level is more for your general activity throughout the day. To change that setting, you would need to go from a desk job to waitressing or something like that. You would have to be more active all day long.

Help! Sedentary or Lightly Active??

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