Define: Activity level

Man, for as long as I've been here, I've been very confused about this, and I've pondered it, but I want to get a straight up answer. :D

Warning: Mildly dumb answer ahead.

Okay, so. Activity level can really determine how much food you eat. Very important to make sure you're not undereating or overeating. So, my question is, when you're concluding your activity level.. does it matter what activity you're doing, and what about stretching/small breaks?

Let me give a few examples of what I'm trying to ask:

1. Lets say I do 1 hour of yoga. Would I eat as much food as I would if I was doing running or any other cardio for an hour?

2. Let's say I'm doing my exercise and I need to take 40 second breaks to hydrate and towel off.. and I take maybe 3-8 breaks during my "60 minute" workout. Would I need to reduce my total minutes of my workout to figure out my overall workout time? Would it be necessary to do so in order to figure out my activity level?

3. Let's say I do a 5-10 minute stretch/warm-up and a 5 minute cool down. Would you subtract that from your workout time to determine your activity level?

I'm sorry if this question comes across confusing, right now this is the only way I can explain it. (Gimme a day or two, and I can probably rewrite it in a simple, easy-to-understand manner. XD) I'm asking because it can really confuse me whe n I'm using the handy dandy kid's BMI calculator to determine my intake for the day, and although I know I worked out, there's parts where I'm not jumping up and down or I'm not doing a high impact exercise so I'm not sure if I should eat the higher amount or the lower amount.

As I'm getting closer to my goal (and it's at a really stable healthy weight so my body is going to be like "oh but this is a good spot too") I want to make sure I'm not eating too much or eating too little so I can have a nice healthy, fairly consistent, deficit. I realize it's kind of a challenge to determine 100% how much I'm burning to figure out how much to eat without a heart rate monitor, but this is the only thing I got right now because I'm broke. XD

Yeah. Holy cow, is that a long post or what? I hope someone can help enlighten me so I'm never confused about this ever again. :D

Eating is not, and never should be, a maths exam.    Your body is not a machine or a pocket calculator.  It's a good deal more adaptable and flexible .   If you're doing approximately half an hour to one hour of any kind of exercise a day.... i.e. where you are slightly out of breath but able to hold a conversation still... you'd be moderately active as a good working average.  

Start with that calorie intake rather than trying to number-crunch your needs to several decimal places.   (Obsession is a horribly soul-destroying condition)  You don't need a heart-rate monitor.  With a steady average you'll maintain your weight no problem within 3 or 4lbs of where you are now.   Some days you'll naturally not feel quite so hungry... so eat slightly less.  Some days you'll naturally feel more hungry... so eat slightly more.   If your weight goes up more than 4lbs, trim back the portions a little until it's back to normal.  That's how to treat it.  

Long-term weight-control includes learning that calorie-counting is a good servant but a bad master.   And it also includes learning how to develop good habits, enjoy what you eat, feel relaxed, listen to your body & trust your own judgement. 

I was hoping I'd get a reply from you gi-jane. :D

You're right. I think I'm just over-analyzing stuff (I swear I've been doing that for just about everything these days!), and it would be in my best interests to relax and listen to my body and such. I was just genuinely confused about activity levels because it almost seems as if everyone has their own definition on what's exercise and what's really.. not.

Thanks for enlightening me on this! I'll defiantly take your advice to heart. :)

Food's there to be enjoyed as well as keep us healthy.  Exercise is there to make us feel good and keep our bodies in good shape.    And then there are the other thousands of wonderful things things that combine to make.... LIFE!  You've not to forget to live it because you're too busy looking at the bathroom scales.   You do have to keep an eye on diet and exercise as you go but if you cut the strings a little, relax more and fly solo for a while, you'll get the confidence you sound like you need that you can actually do this without being chained to a calorie-counter.

GI Jane - I LOVE your advice! I just want to say that, I have so much respect for you :)