Activity Log. Can I get some in put?

I know this question has been talked about a lot.

I just don't know what to put. I had it on Sedentary for a long time and would just add in all my exercise and activities. That made my burn at about 1700 (with no exercise added in).

Recently I upped my activity level to Light Activity, which raised my burn meter up to 2000.

So do I still add in all my exercise?

Normal day (recently):

I work in an office and sit on my bum for 8 hrs. Then I catch a bus and sit for about 25 minutes both ways. I walk from the bus stop (about 3 blocks to my house, and about 2 blocks from my job).

When I get home, feed the cats, maybe do some light cleaning and work out for about 35-65 minutes (about 30 minutes cardio moderate to vigorous effort) and the rest is light activities:  floor exercises, Stretching, sometimes some weights (that part isn’t as light) ect.

Then I usually cook dinner, food prep and all on my feet time is about 20-30 minutes. Then I watch some tv or play video games with the boy for a total of about two. Than I set up some stuff for work the next day and go to bed.

On the weekends I am more active throughout the day, and sometimes through the night, but five days a week is pretty much the above. I take 1 day off my exercise a week-- two if something comes up.

So what do I log and what don’t I log to keep my meter at light Activity, OR do you think I should switch back to Sedentary?

Thoughts?

I keep mine at sedentary, and only log exercise/long walks.

2-3 blocks isn't enough for me. I tend to only log if it's upwards of a mile or so, but you can log it if you feel it's something that gets your heart rate up.

I also log my exercise seperately, and tend to do it by my heart rate monitor (ex: friday night was 63 minutes and 584 calories).

I only log my exercise, and not even the stretching or some of the floor exercises. Just the cardio and weights when I do at least 10 mins.

So should I go back down to Sedentary and add in my exercise like normal?

I stick with sedentary because I, like you, am in an office on my butt most of the day. If I was walking around more, running errands, etc,. more often, I'd move it to light.

It's up to you. What do you feel is most honest ?

After reading this tread and others I finally found out why I was not getting the results I wanted.   I had my profile set on light activity and added and exercise I did for the day.  I now have mine set on sedentary and add any activity.  This lowered my CC food intake to 1850 max from 2250.   Also activity is more realistic.  If light activity includes exercise then you shouldn't add it.

This worked for me

Try walking very leisurely with an iPOD of your favorite tunes

Start with 5 minutes walking (and an accompanying itunes playlist at least 5 minutes long of your favorite tunes) - also strongly encourage you to get a heart rate monitor (I like www.polarusa.com) and track your rate (need to learn how to do this, not difficult).  Best wishes, keep the faith.

i stay at sedentary because i too am sit at work and for lots of home tasks, but i also have days, or periods of days, where I am fairly active. if those string out long enough, i realize my sedentary burn meter is too low, because i loose weight faster than i should, so what i've started doing is i stay at sedentary on work days and log anything light thats more than 20 minutes, and everything more than light activity, even if its fifteen minutes. 

on more active days, i knock it up to light activity and dont log the first few hours of light, flow of the day type of activity, but any periods of more moderate or vigorous activity, like moving stuff or a good walk or a work out gets logged. this seems to have helped my rate of loss and rate of deficit line up a little better. 

then for days like today, i go back down to sedentary. 

i think the idea is, the more active you are, the higher your metabolism, due to lean muscle mass, so you burn more calories just doing nothing. your furnace runs hotter, so to speak. i think my furnace is just a bit above sedentary most of the time, hence my adding little things when i'm metered for sedentary, as i'm actually probably someplace between the two right now as far as my resting metabolic burn rate. 

but since i dont know how to make it register at a number between the two, most of the time, i manipulate the meter by leaving it at sedentary and logging in general flow of the day stuff to get the numbers to be a bit more realistic (based on my rate of loss), as a general principle. I'm still playing with it. 

hope that makes sense.