For those of you who have an “active” lifestyle according to different calorie calculators, what do you do?

[vincentleo]

I’m curious about this one. How do you know if you have a active life style?

For those of you who have a active lifestyle like how do you know? Do you walk a certain amount of steps everyday? How often do you exercise for how long?

I strength train 4 times a week. I do cardio 2-3 times a day. Inclined treadmill at 5 km/h 2 times a week and once a week I take a walk and walk at least at 6 km/h almost 5 km.
I walk at least 11 000-12 000 steps a day(cardio included).

I don’t dare consider myself as someone that does moderate workout. I chose light activity level because im scared I will exaggerate my calories but I wonder what really active people do to be so active.

 

[ncfelix]

@vincentleo Since the apps don’t define what the activity levels mean I always pick sedentary.

 

[vincentleo]

@ncfelix So when you are in a deficit you could technically have a very active lifestyle and still eat calories like you were sedentary? How do you have the energy?

 

[ncfelix]

@vincentleo I just work hard and do my best. I’m not a physique athlete or fitness model so it’s not like being shredded is paying my bills.

 

[cg23]

@vincentleo Honestly, if you have to ask if you’re active or not, chances are you’re not active. Just pick the more conservative number… the worst that will happen is you will be pleasantly surprised. Better than dashed expectations.

 

[alexeib]

@vincentleo I do bodyweight and light weight circuits. I had back surgery in September and I’m pretty scared of hurting myself again, so I’ve decided to abandon the weights I used to do, like barbells and stuff.

I also try to run at least 2 miles a week. I’m trying to build myself up to running a 5K sometime in the fall.

 

[jakubb]

@vincentleo I had a job that involved walking ~8 miles (12.8km) a day and through trial and error it seemed like my maintenance calories were between "lightly active" and "moderately active" estimates on the calculators. When I was lifting 3x a week for strength on top of that it was slightly above "moderately active."

The calories burned from walking are really bodyweight dependent and that makes it add up a lot. Like if you're 260lbs (117kg) and keeping a good pace, eight miles of walking burns almost 900 calories.

 

[pawprint]

@vincentleo To address the XY problem of what to input in the calorie calculators: yeah, activity modifiers are fraught. But they're estimations to get you started, so don't worry about them too much. Rather, you probably want to adjust your calories based on observed results. More about this in https://www.strongerbyscience.com/diet/#energy-intake including some discussion about activity modifiers.

As for the people that put "active", I don't get it man. I'm pretty sedentary outside the gym. Like, I walk the dog a little bit as necessary, but otherwise I just have a desk job and stuff. I've seen posts around Reddit with people who work active jobs (e.g., physical labor), walk multiple miles with their dogs every day, play sports, hike for fun, commute by bike, shit like that. And just reading those posts is exhausting, lol.

 

[dawn16]

@vincentleo Typically I read the little description decide on which one I think I am then pick one spot lower.