running in place
March 11, 2012 8:04 AM Subscribe
Question about what, in medical/nutritional terms, constitutes a sedentary lifestyle versus one with "moderate" activity. I don't know where I fall.
I never know whether to report, for nutritional purposes, that I have a "sedentary" lifestyle, or that I have a "moderate activity" lifestyle as defined by 3 sessions of exercise a week.
I'm certain I don't lead a sedentary lifestyle, because I don't have a car. I walk a minimum of two miles a day just getting to and then doing my job. (It's a speed of about 2.5 mph. I calculated my usual distances and speed using Google Maps.) Although my job is a desk job, I need to get out and run daily errands to local courthouses and registries, and it may involve more than one trip. It always involves toting 10-15 pounds of papers and various crap on the way.
This is the base for my daily activity -- if I need to go to other locations, personally or for work, it's all on foot. Weekends are a little lighter, but the distances I need to travel to run my shopping errands are not too much shorter.
Mind you, I actively enjoy this arrangement, but afterwards I don't put on Nikes and go exercise. I walk my dog 2 or 3 times a day, but she's little and just wants to root around outside, so the exercise for me is mainly carrying her up and down two flights of stairs. When the weather is nicer, I'll take longer walks for the hell of it, but that's not in season yet.
As it happens, I have been losing weight slowly but consistently on my Nutrisystem diet, and I am down over 20 pounds since December. That means I'm doing something right, but I do not confuse this with actually being all that active. I just don't know how to quantify my level of daily activity.
I never know whether to report, for nutritional purposes, that I have a "sedentary" lifestyle, or that I have a "moderate activity" lifestyle as defined by 3 sessions of exercise a week.
I'm certain I don't lead a sedentary lifestyle, because I don't have a car. I walk a minimum of two miles a day just getting to and then doing my job. (It's a speed of about 2.5 mph. I calculated my usual distances and speed using Google Maps.) Although my job is a desk job, I need to get out and run daily errands to local courthouses and registries, and it may involve more than one trip. It always involves toting 10-15 pounds of papers and various crap on the way.
This is the base for my daily activity -- if I need to go to other locations, personally or for work, it's all on foot. Weekends are a little lighter, but the distances I need to travel to run my shopping errands are not too much shorter.
Mind you, I actively enjoy this arrangement, but afterwards I don't put on Nikes and go exercise. I walk my dog 2 or 3 times a day, but she's little and just wants to root around outside, so the exercise for me is mainly carrying her up and down two flights of stairs. When the weather is nicer, I'll take longer walks for the hell of it, but that's not in season yet.
As it happens, I have been losing weight slowly but consistently on my Nutrisystem diet, and I am down over 20 pounds since December. That means I'm doing something right, but I do not confuse this with actually being all that active. I just don't know how to quantify my level of daily activity.
Walking 2 miles a day is not sedentary. Walking no miles a day is sedentary.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:11 AM on March 11, 2012 [7 favorites]
posted by DarlingBri at 8:11 AM on March 11, 2012 [7 favorites]
Agreed - exercise is exercise. Your body doesn't care if you're doing it at Planet Fitness or doing it to get to work each morning.
posted by Golfhaus at 8:34 AM on March 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Golfhaus at 8:34 AM on March 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
My nutritionist, who used to work in a hospital, notes that most of those calorie consumption tables, along with the activity profiles, are based on hospital patients. To them, sendentary means 'literally does not get out of bed, may need to be rolled over by nurses to avoid bed sores', while lightly active means 'gets up and goes to bathroom, occasionally walks over to nurse's station to harass head nurse about something'.
Since most people use those charts to figure out how many calories to consume to lose weight, the fact that they under-assess their activity levels and thus eat less generally works out in their favor, so nobody really notices or cares that the tables don't really correspond to reality in any meaningful way.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:55 AM on March 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
Since most people use those charts to figure out how many calories to consume to lose weight, the fact that they under-assess their activity levels and thus eat less generally works out in their favor, so nobody really notices or cares that the tables don't really correspond to reality in any meaningful way.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:55 AM on March 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
I'm taking a nutrition class right now and here are the profiles that our software uses. Most people tend to way overestimate their activity levels. It looks like you might be at Low Active based on these descriptions.
Sedentary
The sedentary activity level includes activities of daily living, without additional exercise. These activities include housework, grocery shopping, walking the dog, walking to the bus, mowing the lawn, and gardening. Unless you do at least 30 minutes per day of intentional exercise, this level is for you!
Low Active
The low active activity level includes activities of daily living plus exercise that is equal to walking for 30 minutes at 4 miles per hour every day. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 120 additional Calories. Exercises with less intensity (METS) will need to be performed longer to burn the same amount of Calories. Likewise, exercises with more intensity can be performed for less time to achieve the same goal. Most office workers and white-collar professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors, teachers, drivers, lab technicians, musicians, and housewives with mechanical appliances) are in this category. This activity level includes eight hours of sleep and 16 hours of sitting or standing. Three of the 16 hours must include light activity (e.g., walking, laundry, golf, and ping-pong), and one hour must be of moderate activity (e.g., tennis, dancing, brisk walk, and aerobics).
Active
The active activity level includes activities of daily living plus exercise that is equal to walking for 1 hour 45 minutes at 4 miles per hour every day. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 410 additional Calories. Those who fall in this category include most people who work in light industry; the electrical, carpentry, and building trades (excluding heavy laborers); farm workers; commercial fishermen; and housewives without mechanical appliances.
Very Active
The very active activity level includes activities of daily living plus exercise that is equal to walking for 4 hours 15 minutes at 4 miles per hour every day. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 1000 additional Calories. Examples: Full-time athletes, unskilled laborers, some agricultural laborers (especially "peasant" farmers), military on active duty, some miners, and steelworkers.
posted by wilky at 10:41 AM on March 11, 2012 [5 favorites]
Sedentary
The sedentary activity level includes activities of daily living, without additional exercise. These activities include housework, grocery shopping, walking the dog, walking to the bus, mowing the lawn, and gardening. Unless you do at least 30 minutes per day of intentional exercise, this level is for you!
Low Active
The low active activity level includes activities of daily living plus exercise that is equal to walking for 30 minutes at 4 miles per hour every day. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 120 additional Calories. Exercises with less intensity (METS) will need to be performed longer to burn the same amount of Calories. Likewise, exercises with more intensity can be performed for less time to achieve the same goal. Most office workers and white-collar professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors, teachers, drivers, lab technicians, musicians, and housewives with mechanical appliances) are in this category. This activity level includes eight hours of sleep and 16 hours of sitting or standing. Three of the 16 hours must include light activity (e.g., walking, laundry, golf, and ping-pong), and one hour must be of moderate activity (e.g., tennis, dancing, brisk walk, and aerobics).
Active
The active activity level includes activities of daily living plus exercise that is equal to walking for 1 hour 45 minutes at 4 miles per hour every day. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 410 additional Calories. Those who fall in this category include most people who work in light industry; the electrical, carpentry, and building trades (excluding heavy laborers); farm workers; commercial fishermen; and housewives without mechanical appliances.
Very Active
The very active activity level includes activities of daily living plus exercise that is equal to walking for 4 hours 15 minutes at 4 miles per hour every day. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 1000 additional Calories. Examples: Full-time athletes, unskilled laborers, some agricultural laborers (especially "peasant" farmers), military on active duty, some miners, and steelworkers.
posted by wilky at 10:41 AM on March 11, 2012 [5 favorites]
Honestly those measurements are pretty arbitrary, they are meant to be general guidelines and not for someone to get too obsessive about. You pick something that you think describes you, hold it for 2 weeks, see if that caloric level produces 0.5-2lbs/week weight loss. If it does, hooray. If it doesn't, drop by 200 calories. If you gain weight, drop by 500 calories. If you're losing too fast, increase by 200 calories. The only way to optimize caloric intake is through trial-and-error, unless you use something like a BodyMedia that is actually attached to your body and measuring caloric burn through a variety of different methods.
It is also important to note that most caloric calculators overestimate caloric burn, most people I know, especially women, find they usually need to eat a little less than what the calculators say to achieve a healthy weight loss rate.
posted by Anonymous at 10:03 AM on March 12, 2012
It is also important to note that most caloric calculators overestimate caloric burn, most people I know, especially women, find they usually need to eat a little less than what the calculators say to achieve a healthy weight loss rate.
posted by Anonymous at 10:03 AM on March 12, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Geppp at 8:10 AM on March 11, 2012