Where the heck do I fit in?....

I'm wondering if the Activity Level bullet points located in account settings are meant to be all inclusive...or are they more like a " this and or that" type of thing....The reason I ask is that, it gets kind of confusing trying to figure in where I fit in.  I have a sedentary office job...but I work out every morning for 35-40 minutes (Run/Brisk uphill Walk combination) except on Sunday...where the heck do I fit in...see below:

Sedentary

• At work - you work in an office
• At home - you're usually sitting, reading, typing or working at a computer
• Exercise - you don't exercise regularly

Light Activity

• At work - you walk a lot
• At home - you keep yourself busy and move a lot
• Exercise - you participate in light exercise or take long walks

Moderate Activity

• At work - you are very active much of the day
• At home - you rarely sit and do heavy housework or gardening
• Exercise - you exercise several times a week and push yourself pretty hard

Very Active

• At work - you hold a labor-intensive job such as construction worker or bicycle messenger
• At home - you are very active with heavy lifting and other rigorous activities
• Exercise - you participate in physical sports such as jogging or mountain-biking each day

I would put your level at sedentary and then just add the exercise.

Check the activity level that best matches your lifestyle: 

Sedentary: On most days, you find yourself mainly sitting, reading, typing, or working at a computer.

Light Activity: You participate in light exercise, such as walking, for no more than 2 hours daily. -- Technically, you would fit in here...but I would put sedentary to be on the safe side.

Moderate Activity: You rarely sit during the day and do heavy housework, gardening, or dancing daily.

Very Active: You participate in physical sports such as jogging or mountain-biking each day or you hold a labor-intensive job such as a construction worker or bicycle messenger.

Thanks for the feedback...but it still seems unclear to me...See... the only thing is that to me "Light Exercise" is just that. 

For instance walking your dog...or walking a couple times around a track...I would never break a sweat doing either of those things...but technically it is moving, thus it is exercise...

But on the other hand I would consider any exercise that causes a vigorous sweat to be more than just light exercise. 

And then....the two sets of descriptions are different...(1 set is for the account settings) and the other set is for (calorie intake).  They are inconsistent, which makes figuring it out a little harder.  This is my lifestyle:

up at 4:30am (work out from 4:45 to about 5:25am) get ready for work, commute, work all day at a computer...go back towards home, check out one of my kids playing some sport...(3 kids doing 3 different things) come home and fix dinner for everyone...family interaction...and then it's bed time...around 9 pm or so...I rarely get to watch TV or sit quietly...at home...but none of these things qualify as heavy housework...so basically the only quiet time I see is at work...

I agree... it's very confusing.  I just set mine to Sedentary.  That gives me the calories I burn doing nothing (working at my computer all day, like you do).  Then I add on my exercise calories burned (hard walking up and down hills - where does that fit in?).

I read some wher else that you are to eat five hundred calories less a day if you want to loose one pound a week. that can be a combination of 300 less calories and exercise that burns 200. whatever that is. my friend and I are eating fifteen to 1700. I can eat about fifteen but she can eat 1700 because she burn 200 -300 a day in the gym. She considerse herself moderate. Her personal trainer from her gym told her that. I hope this helps. I am considered light and I do light exercise 

The safest way I've found is to put your activity level at sedentary and then add in activity from there.  You'll be surprised at what you can add in once you start browsing the activity database-- anything from heavy lifting, running, elliptical, bike riding, etc. (potentially harder, sweatier activities) to driving your car, showering, shopping and unloading your car, sex, etc (more mundane, but as you say- exercise nonetheless). 

I had myself on light activity until I realized that on days I did exercise I was then counting that activity twice.  And since I don't make it to the gym or for a walk every day, on days I didn't exercise it was inaccurate.  Now that I'm on sedentary I feel comfortable adding in all my activity, vigorous or not, knowing it's a more correct count of my calories burned for the day.

I see your lifestyle as sedentary with added exercise.  I would only change it if you have any regular  physical activity at your job or as part of your transportation.  For example, riding your bike to work, walking more than a quarter mile to the bus stop, frequent walking at work, lifting stuff. 

Before I started work, I exercised daily.  However, once I got a job at a department store, my calorie burn soared through the roof.  I walked briskly, rode my bike to work, lifted stuff and had to learn a lot of new skills.  I worked out less but my calorie needs were still very high.

I think all of you guys might be on to something....Now I did as Iamacommitmento said at first...and set myself to sedentary...and just added in activities...and that is fine except for one thing:  when you are trying to calculate how many calories you should be limiting yourself to when trying to lose weight...if you use the sedentary level on the calorie tool....it gives you only 1200 calories...(if you have an aggressive date)....but if you are exercising...it would seem that what angelaoshua is saying might be the better option...because...let me tell you....1200 calories is just not cutting it for me...I am sitting during the day...but I have a rigorous day..and I am not having enough energy to make it..... 

Off topic -- but you look great being a mother of 5!

Thanks!...these kids run me ragged!...I've been to 3 sporting events this week already!  and that Wrestling match...(I went to today) was enough to give any mother a heart attack...I was soo scared that some kid was going to get hurt.. afterwards it was quite funny...I can only imagine my facial expressions...it seemed as if they were breaking every rule in the "Mother's Handbook of Things You Don't Let Your Kids Do"  LOL

Original Post by ladykcp:

I think all of you guys might be on to something....Now I did as Iamacommitmento said at first...and set myself to sedentary...and just added in activities...and that is fine except for one thing:  when you are trying to calculate how many calories you should be limiting yourself to when trying to lose weight...if you use the sedentary level on the calorie tool....it gives you only 1200 calories...(if you have an aggressive date)....but if you are exercising...it would seem that what angelaoshua is saying might be the better option...because...let me tell you....1200 calories is just not cutting it for me...I am sitting during the day...but I have a rigorous day..and I am not having enough energy to make it..... 

OK let me see if I've got this straight.. so if you set your activity level to sedentary it puts your daily calorie alotment at 1200.  (Which I'm guessing is set to the default of a 500 calorie deficit?  Which means your daily burn is estimated around 1700 without any exercise added in.  Is that right?) 

It's good that you don't want to eat below 1200-- you shouldn't.  1200 is the minimum calories for an adult woman. 

Given that, I have a few suggestions/comments..
1) 1200 is the calories you are allowed if you do no exercise, which it sounds like you do.  So add in your exercise and see where that gets you.  Then subtract 500 from that number and that's your daily allowance.  Depending on how much activity you do, it could be significantly more.  If 1200 doesn't feel like enough to get through the day then make sure to exercise so you know you can eat more. 
2) If you don't get exercise in on any given day, don't forget that it's OK to go over the 1200 allowance.. it just means you might lose less that week.  Keeping to a 500cal/day deficit should get you a 1lb loss per week.  But if you don't mind having less of a deficit (and thereby slower loss), then why worry about it?  Loss is loss, right?  Just as long as you don't go over your Calories burned for the day, you should still be losing something.  And, depending on how far over you go, you can always try to make up for it the next day, too, by exercising a bit more.  (But, again, don't make up for it by eating less than 1200!)

Hopefully that helps?

I would not worry too much about accuracy--I don't. Keep to the formula -- burn more than you take in. 

ladykcp - try this site www.phord.com/cc (it was created by a cc member)

I'm pretty much the same as you, and I use light activity, and don't log exercise. Especially when you are looking at the calorie target tool, that is what works best for me.

If it helps, you are not the first, nor the last, to be confused by this.

Good Idea mmmxxxiii!...I don't suppose I can go wrong with that formula...and it has worked in the past. 

and amethystgirl it does feel good to know that I am not the only one who is stumped by the tools.  I mean a person wants to be able to incorporate everything the site has to offer...but it is not easy figuring some of this stuff out.  I am sure it's no one's fault in particular...I kind of liken it to writing a Standard Operating Procedure....sometimes you don't know if the procedure will work smoothly until you have a group of different people to use it...and then a little while down the line is when you realize that maybe something could have been explained a little better or worded differently.

But all of you guys are great...it's good to have people willing to jump in and help you out, no matter what the problem is...and no one made me feel like dummy...because I didn't know...that helps too...I love this site.