I've been using this site on and off for about 2 months, and haven't lost much weight because I don't have much left to lose, and half the time I eat at maintenance or don't log (I REALLY like food:p). But then I got to thinking, am I actually giving myself the right stats? I've put myself as moderately active, and the counter says I then burn about 1880cals a day. Then on top of that I log exercise, and it goes up to something higher. But wait a minute. Isn't that exercise I logged already included in the 'moderate activity'? Should I be calling myself sedentary and logging everything? But that would defeat the purpose of having different levels of activity. Or on the other hand, is it that if you're generally more active, you burn more even on days when you don't do much?

Yeesh. It's too much for my little head. Can anyone clarify this?

Wow I think you read my mind, I had the same thoughts this morning...sorry I dont have an answer though, but I am curious too!!

If you're logging your exercise you need to change your profile to "sedentary". Otherwise it estimates how many calories you burn with moderate exercise without logging.

I'm 23 and a student, which means I spend a fair amount of time walking around between classes. I don't log the walking, just the trips to gym. But the exercise range for 'moderate' is so wide (like 30 minutes to 2 hours) that it would still cover my gym exercise. Also, on any day that I don't actually walk, that would mean that I should be calling myself sedentary.

Rats. I guess I better lower my activity level.

Oops, I mean I've been set as 'light activity'. Is anyone certain of what level I should be set at?

Original Post by malaika99:

Oops, I mean I've been set as 'light activity'. Is anyone certain of what level I should be set at?

If I were you, I would set as light activity to account for the walking to class, then log the gym workouts.

I have mine at sedentary, then I log my workouts and extra activities (like gardening, washing the car, and even having sex lol).  To be safe, you could always set it at sedentary then log your approximate minutes walking.

When I changed my activity level to 'light' and stopped logging things except exercise, I also really slowed down on the weightloss because I was over-estimating my calorie burn on the days when I DIDN'T work my butt off. I put it back to sedentary and went back to logging EVERYTHING active I do, because that's a much more accurate number.

I keep mine set at light activity. Adding in the activities that I do for work gets too tedious at times, so I leave it at light and add absolutely no activities whatsoever to the number. Unless, of course, I go play DDR that day, because then I might want to log my unusual bout of cardio, and I usually play for at least an hour because if I'm going to spend money to play, I'm going to get my money's worth out of it (currently don't own the games/have a home pad at home, unfortunately =().

It is especially helpful, because I can occasionally have weeks like this past one where I worked Monday-Monday, no days off, and standing on your feet all day/lifting things/walking around quite a bit adds up, but isn't quite as intensive as moderate activity, I would think. Then there will be days like today, where I don't feel like doing a damn thing because I've worked my butt off for 8 days straight, and need a rest. =) I'll probably just eat a little less today than I did the past few days, and that's fine, as I'm not as active, obviously. I might not eat less. Who knows? I try to stay in around a 500-900 cal deficit; I stay at the higher of the two deficit numbers on days like today, and eat closer to the lower deficit number on the days I'm more active. It certainly has worked for me; I've been on the site less than a month and have lost 5lbs doing exactly that.

I guess that makes sense: if I keep it on 'light' then I shouldn't log the extra exercise. Makes it a bit hit-and-miss, but then I guess this isn't a science, specially with such a wide range of people fitting into each activity level. Urgh. 1400 a day it is, then. How do people LIVE like that long-term? I'd almost rather be podgy.

(guess who didn't get enough sleep last night. what a grouch.)

I set mine to moderate and don't log exercise. Mainly because when I exercise, I use the elliptical, so instead of watching the clock, I put in my height and weight and focus more on burning calories. I burn a minimum of 600 and if I feel like going on, i do. It's easier to exercise longer like this, but I haven't messed with my activity level on here.

I figure it's a guestimate anyway.

I had the same query. i've set mine at light activity to account for just not lying in bed all day - i move around, cook dinner, walk to the bathroom - that's all pretty light! and then i log any significant amount of walking (anything over ten mins) and all my exercise. i then stay about 500 cals under my total burn rate. i'm close to my goal weight too so i'm only losing slowly but i did all that last week and lost a pound, which i was happy with. i'm weighing in again on friday so i'll see if that was a fluke or not!