How to choose Activity Level on My Fitness Pal

Dear Dr. Feigenbaum,

If I am currently doing a four day or three day program sans GPP, how should I choose my activity level on My Fitness Pal? I’m a college student who sits around most of the day. I get about 8,000 steps in daily because I walk to school, but other than that my only volitional caloric expenditure comes from doing BBM Templates. Shall I pick Not Very Active or Lightly Active on the My Fitness Pal app? My goal as of now is to lose a pound of bodyweight per week.

Sincerely Yours,

Eddie Mun

I wouldn’t use any particular activity level via MFP to determine your caloric intake. Thus, I don’t think this matters at all.

Hey Jordan, is this also your position towards the NIH body weight planner (Body Weight Planner - NIDDK)? I planned to use this calculator to get a rough starting point when I start gaining weight again but don’t know how to estimate the Physical Activity Level parameter.

That is not my position for the NIH BW planner, which I believe is a bit more accurate in terms of projected calorie needs (though it’s still a guess). I would pick an activity level slightly lower than what you estimate it to be.