What is my activity level?

At the moment I've set myself to sedentary and am just logging the calories I burn during a workout, but I thought I'd ask.

Most of the day I spend at my desk, getting up and down to make phone calls, tidy the house, play with the dog etc.

When I'm studying, I'm either in lectures/tutorials, walking to and from classes and sitting in the library between them, and my university is a very hilly campus with lots of stairs.

I also use a stationary bike and burn about 1000 calories each workout, on average about 3-4 times a week.

I also work as a bartender/waitress 6-8 hours a week.

So, what would you say my activity level is?

I'm 19, 5'7 and about 140 if it makes a difference.

lightly active if you are on your feet all day.

i think

if you exercise regularly at a moderate pace it still comes under lightly active.

if you push your self hard during exercise done regularly then you would be moderately active without having to log your exercise.

You might double check your "calories burned" on your stationary bike. I ride mine 30 minutes a day, 4 days a week and each 30 minute workout is about 200 calories burned. If you do a cardio workout 3 days a week, then I believe you are in the moderate range which isn't bad at all..

i ride for an hour at anywhere between 35-40 km per hour, which is supposed to be 21-24ish mph, and cc tells me that speed/time burns about 1030 calories. is that wrong? anything i read about spinning tells me that's about right, and i hope it's true!!

Hello there,

I would change your status to lightly active definitely.

I am also 140 lbs & I am very surprised that your bike tells you that you are burning that many calories!  Unless your workouts are for about 2 hours at a very high rpm.

One thing to keep in mind is that if your bike does not ask for age and weight, then you can pretty much be sure that the reading is innacurate. As you may know, the heavier you are, the more calories you burn.

Nothing like doing the numbers! Use a few of the tools available to you to know how many calories you are really burning. Typically you need your weight, age, and a reading of your pulse (BPM). Just as a tip, the ideal fat-burning zone is going to be ~65% of your top aerobic capacity.

Keep up the good job!

One little point... you are not sedentary, it's fine to set yourself as sedentary and log your exercise separately... but you must remember that your calories need to be higher than your setting is telling you.

I think the estimate for your bike riding sounds a little high (try comparing several sites with the information and taking an average) Regardless of that you are at least lightly active. So put that in once and see what calorie target you get (you can reset it back to sedentary afterward)...

I have just realised you are 19... the calorie target calculator on this site is not suitable for you because you are under 21 (which means you are still growing and developing, internally if not upwards). Go to the young calorie counters forum and check the welcome and information thread at the top. You'll find a link in there for calculating your daily calorie targets. This is the calorie target you should aim for and you can manually alter your target to that number in your account settings.

As a guide, a closer estimation of your calorie needs would be the number you get for moderately active.

Edit to Add: it is possible that your age is the reason you are getting high estimates for the stationary bike.. as you are under 21 your metabolism is naturally higher to begin with.