Sedentary, lightly active, active, very active????

shadow87654
shadow87654 Posts: 7
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Hey all im not sure what to set my activity level to. I work 4 or 5 days (depending if i do overtime or not) doing 12 hour shifts in a factory (about 9-10 hours im on my feet) but on the 2-3 days at the end of the week im very much sedentary. should i just change the settings down to sedentary on the weekends or just leave in at active constantly because of my job? I obviously want the program to work as well as it can so any help would be amazing :D
Thanks in advance

Replies

  • emhill21
    emhill21 Posts: 126 Member
    I set mine on sedentary even though I am on my feet most of the day. That way it will underestimate my calorie needs so on the whole I might end up burning more than the calorie counter knows about...if that makes any sense. Also it would account for any day that I happened to not do a lot.
    Not trying to say what you should do, just what has worked for me.
  • zafferFL
    zafferFL Posts: 402
    I set mine on sedentary even though I am on my feet most of the day. That way it will underestimate my calorie needs so on the whole I might end up burning more than the calorie counter knows about...if that makes any sense. Also it would account for any day that I happened to not do a lot.


    Don't do this.

    OP what about exercise? You are at least light active based on your job.
  • mrsking218
    mrsking218 Posts: 157 Member
    I agree with Alexpapa. I think if you go to Sedentary you might not be getting enough calories based on your job. Its not good to eat too few calories - you won't be able to maintain it and your body could lower your metabolism because of it. I would put it on Lightly Active and just make sure you exercise on your sedentary days as often as you can.
  • shivaslives
    shivaslives Posts: 279 Member
    I agree. Your 4-5 days on your feet will keep your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) higher than a desk jockey even on the days when you're not working. Lightly active will be a more accurate setting for you.

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    Advice is worth exactly what you pay for it!
  • Lolli1986
    Lolli1986 Posts: 500 Member
    I am truly sedentary, and believe me, the difference between what and how I ate when I was active was completely different to how I eat now. Definitely best to set it to at least lightly sedentary.
  • 1Timothy4v8
    1Timothy4v8 Posts: 503 Member
    seeing as how you a man and you are on your feet and you mentioned over time I think you need to make sure you eat enough for those days, soo either set it for active, or come up with how much you my lose with every hour you work, I'm sure there is a way to calculate it, and eat back those calories,

    I used to do factory work and was on my feet all day 12 hour's I eat watever i wanted and lost weight, you gotto give your self enough fual
  • MeredithLee11
    MeredithLee11 Posts: 192 Member
    I'm a pharmacist and spend 12 hour shifts on my feet 3-4 days a week, and I'm mostly sedentary on my days off (unless I have errands to run). I have mine set to lightly active, and it's worked out well for me. I agree with the others though; you definitely don't want to under eat.
  • LovesGG
    LovesGG Posts: 241 Member
    @ emhill21, I also agree with Alexpapa. Remember you need calories to at least stay alive too. You want good balanced nutrition, not malnutrition. Because your body will freak out and store fat instead of losing it when it realizes it's not getting enough.
  • hongruss
    hongruss Posts: 389 Member
    Ok this is just my take on it, but people are obsessed about eating less calories BUT what they should be focusing on is how close they can get to their TDEE. Now if you figure that out your activity can serve as your deficit, no need to work in less calories or eat back, etc.

    If you work on your feet all day you are lightly active or active dependant on motion. PUT that down so that you get the "correct" calorific amount for your daily needs, now if you think that is too much throw in a lighter day on your "rest" days OR if you don't think it is enough have a spike day.

    My goal is 2700 with light active, I don't put in exercise etc as I see that as my deficit. With it set at 2700 & I'm hitting that with just a few cals to spare I am still losing a small amout of weight each week(goal is to maintain!) Now this means I have two options, Spike once a week which will bring my weekly average up or change my activity level(I have no interest in eating back w/out cals)

    All of these options take awhile to settle, so that you look whether they have worked or not. I will probably try spiking once a week as I am constantly eating now & can't envisage even more food every day, as I said just my opinion.

    Russ
  • becka63
    becka63 Posts: 712 Member
    Hmmm. I don't work so for over a year I had it set to sedentary and my goal to lose 1/2lb a week. I used to therefore log pretty much everything that I did that I didn't consider falling into a sedentary category.

    After a plateau of a few months and trying lots of different things to kick start my weightloss, I decided to reset my activity, choosing lightly active and to only log running, gardening (where I am digging) and walking if I walk for more than 45 minutes at a time. I'd noticed that although I got a good calorie burn for lots of activities, I was never getting my heart rate up into the aerobic zone for a lot of my activities, so I reasoned they could become part of my lifestyle. I was also getting hung up on rest days with only 1390 kcals to play with, generally at the weekend would make me log things that probably weren't exercise for me at my current level of fitness and weight.

    Changing my activity level only gave me an extra 120kcals per day, but I find that is ample to cover rest days, and over the week I probably burn those calories in unaccounted for activities. I've been doing this for 2 weeks now and I've lost over 1/2lb, which is actually a very good loss for me. I'm just glad to be seeing the scale move!

    So maybe for such a small amount of calories, you don't have to switch it back to sedentary for the weekend, because I'm sure in the job you've described on here, you burn more than the difference between sedentary and lightly active per day. The amount will be different for every one, but why not have a look and see how many calories it gives sedentary and how many it gives for lightly active.
  • shadow87654
    shadow87654 Posts: 7
    Thank you all for your feedback was a great help :happy:
  • shadow87654
    shadow87654 Posts: 7
    ive been going to the gym twice a week. my routine is usually 30 mins interval on treadmill, 20 mins interval on the bike, 20 mins on cross trainer then a few weights just to finish up on
  • shadow87654
    shadow87654 Posts: 7
    I set mine on sedentary even though I am on my feet most of the day. That way it will underestimate my calorie needs so on the whole I might end up burning more than the calorie counter knows about...if that makes any sense. Also it would account for any day that I happened to not do a lot.


    Don't do this.

    OP what about exercise? You are at least light active based on your job.

    ive been going to the gym twice a week. my routine is usually 30 mins interval on treadmill, 20 mins interval on the bike, 20 mins on cross trainer then a few weights just to finish up on
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    I recommend sedentary for everyone and logging every movement you do :p
  • zafferFL
    zafferFL Posts: 402
    I recommend sedentary for everyone and logging every movement you do :p

    This, but the exact opposite.
  • zafferFL
    zafferFL Posts: 402
    I set mine on sedentary even though I am on my feet most of the day. That way it will underestimate my calorie needs so on the whole I might end up burning more than the calorie counter knows about...if that makes any sense. Also it would account for any day that I happened to not do a lot.


    Don't do this.

    OP what about exercise? You are at least light active based on your job.

    I would say with a physical job and this exercise you are active

    ive been going to the gym twice a week. my routine is usually 30 mins interval on treadmill, 20 mins interval on the bike, 20 mins on cross trainer then a few weights just to finish up on
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,965 Member
    I was going to set mine to sedentary but when I did, MFP gave me a calorie goal less than my BMR.... so I changed it to lightly active.
  • shadow87654
    shadow87654 Posts: 7
    Thank you very much alexpapa u have been of great help
  • Meggles63
    Meggles63 Posts: 916 Member
    Ok this is just my take on it, but people are obsessed about eating less calories BUT what they should be focusing on is how close they can get to their TDEE. Now if you figure that out your activity can serve as your deficit, no need to work in less calories or eat back, etc.

    If you work on your feet all day you are lightly active or active dependant on motion. PUT that down so that you get the "correct" calorific amount for your daily needs, now if you think that is too much throw in a lighter day on your "rest" days OR if you don't think it is enough have a spike day.

    My goal is 2700 with light active, I don't put in exercise etc as I see that as my deficit. With it set at 2700 & I'm hitting that with just a few cals to spare I am still losing a small amout of weight each week(goal is to maintain!) Now this means I have two options, Spike once a week which will bring my weekly average up or change my activity level(I have no interest in eating back w/out cals)

    All of these options take awhile to settle, so that you look whether they have worked or not. I will probably try spiking once a week as I am constantly eating now & can't envisage even more food every day, as I said just my opinion.

    Russ
    ^^^This. I have, in fact, set my level to "very active" because that's the only way I could get MFP to even come close to my TDEE. I still have to add in exercise cals. to hit it, too. Sometimes, you just have to tweak the system.
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