Sedentary? Or not?

If I walk/exercise for an hour almost every day (I'm trying for EVERY day, but there are exceptions), but am otherwise mostly sitting on my rear end all day, does that make me sedentary or lightly active? I've done 790 minutes of exercise this month already.

Calorie counter says that my burn is just under 2000 calories a day, and I'm trying to eat 15-1600, which should leave me with a reasonable deficit. The thing is, I'm gaining weight slowly but steadily since I increased my exercise, and it's getting frustrating because my diet was working just fine until Christmas! I'm 5'6", 38yo, and a hair under 203 pounds as of this morning.

I am had the same dilemma when I signed up last April.  I am also sitting on my rear most of the day.  I put myself as sedentary and just log in my walks (if 30 minutes or longer) and my exercising.  My thinking is, I would rather burn more calories in a day and not know it, then use the setting as lightly active and think I am burning more calorie then I am. It only takes me an extra 1 minute or less a day to enter my activities.

I JUST did the same thing. I had put myself as lightly active because I do about 45 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of weights every day, but besides that I'm at work on my computer...

So I changed it to sedentary and I log in my exercise, and my calorie intake went down from 1300 - 1200 a day...I'm a little bummed cause I was doing fine with 1300.

"So I changed it to sedentary and I log in my exercise, and my calorie intake went down from 1300 - 1200 a day...I'm a little bummed cause I was doing fine with 1300."

Then don't change it!! There are probably cals you are burning that you don't log, and NEVER argue with success!!

Best of luck!

Original Post by ceils444:

I JUST did the same thing. I had put myself as lightly active because I do about 45 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of weights every day, but besides that I'm at work on my computer...

So I changed it to sedentary and I log in my exercise, and my calorie intake went down from 1300 - 1200 a day...I'm a little bummed cause I was doing fine with 1300.

Yes, you should keep eating 1300. The reason CC downgraded your calorie intake is because the site bases calories on your activity level--it doesn't know how much you're burning when it calculates how much you should eat. Which means that if you're burning the same amount (sedentary+exercise equals roughly your light burn) you should certainly keep eating more.