Just starting out but have a question on the Burn Meter thingy.

I get the Eat Meter part as it just keep a running total of my consumed calories right?.  Where I'm confused is the Burn Meter.  I used the Tools section to calculate my profile which included a selection of my general activity level.  I selected Light Activity: "You participate in light exercise, such as walking, for no more than 2 hours daily."  That seemed the about right since I now take long walks or ride my bike almost every day for about an hour as part of my plan.  So I guess this selection increased the calculated value what I would normally burn than if I selected Sedentary.  Finally the question: Now when I add a new activity, it ups my estimated burned calories value but I'm adding activites that are included anyway?  Of course the whole point of what I'm doing is to simply loose about 40 lbs by tracking what I eat versus what I burn so that I can create a deficit.  But do I need to do anything special with the two "Meters" on my account page or just simply track my calories and weigh in once a week?

Thanks!

Bug

I also have my profile set at light activity, but any extra "real" exercise that I do

I go ahead and enter on my activity log.   I take the normal stuff I do, like grocery shopping and housework, and don't add that.  That is just what I consider my light activity.   So my exercise that I track will bump up my burn meter for the day. Hope this helps.

yeah the burn meter kind of confuses me too. ive only been doing this for about a week. i selected sedentary. so should i be adding evrey little thing i do, like driving, playing my children, housework, groceries etc????

Original Post by lisathoreson:

I also have my profile set at light activity, but any extra "real" exercise that I do

I go ahead and enter on my activity log.   I take the normal stuff I do, like grocery shopping and housework, and don't add that.  That is just what I consider my light activity.   So my exercise that I track will bump up my burn meter for the day. Hope this helps.

So you only log what is above and beyond the description of light activity which CC defines as not more than 2 hours per day of light exercise?  So by that I would never log any of my hour rides?  Define "real" exercise.  My body feels tired after walking for over an hour but does not exceed their limit of 2 hours per day so I don't log that?  If I log or not it doesn't change anything right?   

Sedentary doesn't actually mean sedentary. It takes into account general activities such as grocery shopping, sitting at your desk job, making dinner, etc.

I have mine set on sedentary and I log all my exercise, i.e. walking for an hour, swimming, workouts etc., but I don't enter things like shopping, cooking, etc...because it already takes that into account.

Remember though, the burn meter is not an exact science, so you will need to play trial and error to see what works for you.

I have a very reasonable weight loss goal and tend to keep my eat meter about 400-600 under what I burn, give or take, and it has been working for me, even if I am occasionally eating pizza or ice cream!

I have mine set at sedentary because my 40 hour a week job is a desk job.  At home in the evenings I am not active.  However, I work at a book store about 3 days a week and I also go to Curves - on those days I add these to the Activity Log - which increases my Burn Meter for the day, and consequently I have to eat more on those days.

So, in answer to your question......the problem I see with adding your "regular" exercise as your normal activity level is this:  What if you don't do it every day?

Also, for me, I LOVE adding activities in a day just to see what my burn level is.  But, then, I really enjoy all the logging associated with this website.  It helps me to realize, also, on days I just come to my desk job and go home to be careful about how much I eat.

Do what you feel comfortable with, but know that you should not add the exercise if that's what you set your activity level to in Tools.

Mine is set at sedentary,  but I log anything that gets me out of breath or a little fatigued. Yes sedentary takes some things into an account, but running after kids, and frantically cleaning before someone comes over is not. I do not log typing, cooking...but if I have to wash the dogs or my car, or anything that is not done Every day I log it.

If this is not how it should be I would appreciate the input, but that is how I understood it.

Best wishes to everyone!

i was told that sedentary is th basic calories you burn whilst lying in bed or watching tv, and so anything you do is a plus. say per hour doing nothing, you burn 60 cals.... and your hour's walk burns 300... it will take 300 and subtract what you would burn (60) to give you your calories for the day...

activity (300ph) - base rate (60) = extra calories burnt (240 on top of what your rate was before)

im quite an active person but i set my level to sedentary and add everything on top. this includes my office job, which burns an extra 40cals per hour than my base rate, exercise, and household tasks that are longer than 5 mins. doing this helped me to establish exactly how much i need to be eating to lose weight efficiently.

The way I understand it is that as you increase you activity your metabolism increases thus burning more calories while you just participate in the activities of daily living.  Thus a person who has a light or moderate activity level will burn more even on "rest" days because you are more fit (more muscle mass, better CV capability etc) than someone who is sedentary.  Once you have determined your base burn level keep it there and add your exercise as you go.  You will have to play with this as you go.