The FastDay Forum

I had another look at my progress tracker today. I'm not sure I've selected the most appropriate option.

These are the options...

So, I'm an x-ray tech. I am on my feet for 7 hours at work every day. I walk my dog 1-2 times per day (walks are generally either 20 or 60 minutes). My question is, light or moderate?

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Tracieknits]

That's a good question, and the reason I've never filled it in myself. I get 10K steps/day using my fitbit. I am often on the treadmill for 2 miles per day, getting up a respectable speed and heartrate.

So light to moderate, but 7 days a week? I don't know where I fit in either.

Maybe @Carorees would know?

I would pick light. It may not be true, but the worst thing that happens is that you end up with a bigger calorie deficit than anticipated.

METS for walking the dog is about 3.0, for a comparison of standing versus sitting in an office work setting METS is 1.8 to 2.3 while standing and 1.3 to 1.8 while sitting (which gives a difference of about 0.5 comparing sedentary sit-down jobs to standing jobs). For sitting down watching the television at home METS is about 1.0.

So comparing the differences between what you are talking about and a sedentary lifestyle:

Standing 7 hours per day: 0.5 * 7 = 3.5
Walking the dog for one hour per day: (3.0 - 1.0) * 1 = 2.0

The TDEE for sedentary is (I think, you can check) about 120% of BMR. So, figure sedentary TDEE averages a METS of 1.2 (as a reference, sitting quietly is 1.0 and sleeping is 0.9). If you take 1.2 times 24 hours you get 28.8. Add the 3.5 for standing 7 hours and the 2.0 for walking the dog for an hour and you get to 34.3, which is an average of 1.43. Take your BMR first by 1.20 and then by 1.43 and then compare those numbers to what you get by selecting "sedentary" or "light" or "moderate" and that might help you decide.

Hope this helps!

ETA: @kencc had this post which was helpful, a snip from the relevant part:

One of the issues is that the Mifflin-St Jeor equation gives a reasonably accurate BMR for an 'average' person but tends to over-estimate BMR for over-weight people with a body fat percentage greater than, say, 30%. For those with a high BF%, it's usually found that the Katch-McArdle equation gives a lower but more accurate BMR figure than Mifflin.

I'm pretty sure the BMR calculation on this site is Mifflin-St. Jeor, so you might want to factor that into your figures, maybe search for the Katch-McArdle equation and see how different it is.

Wow! That is an impressive calculation! I should have been more clear, I don't stand all day at work, I am walking most of that time, or lifting patients etc. Still, I think light is the way to go.

If you track your calories and weight for awhile you can get a better idea what your actual TDEE is vs. the estimate given by whatever calculator. I'm currently trying that on MFP, but some of my guesses for calories are so wild, I'm not sure how accurate it will be.