cannboys's Journal, 16 Mar 21

Despite the exercise I have at the gym 6 days a week, I have classified my level as ‘low active’, as the rest of my day is 50/50 pottering around or sitting. So it’s not the same level of activity as say, working on a building site, but a whole lot more than a desk job. But there are no adequate definitions or tools provided to estimate the activity level. 

I think the light, moderate and heavy activity options don't cover everyone which makes it difficult. Really though even with RDI calculators you eventually know your own body better and tweak your calories to fit your lifestyle anyway. I think alot of people also blame the wrong RDI when they don't lose weight or they gain weight but there's alot of reasons for that to happen even in a calorie deficit. 

Slightly off topic - but if there was a simple calculator where you could show Macronutrients according to AMDRS - also based on weight, height, activity level - this would give people a better idea of what foods to combine, and automatically computes an energy input expressed as calories anyway. But understanding how much energy one actually uses is still the problem - and it differs very much from person to person. Due to respiratory issues I’ve always automatically kept my activity at the lowest, no matter what I’m doing, it’s ingrained habit. Other ‘active’ people can use heaps more energy just sitting. 

Wish I had a bright suggestion but I don't. Typically I look at what level I want as my caloric deficit, and then eat the calories accordingly. I am short, older and though active, the RDI is always too high for me. 

HCB why do you say it’s too high? 

I read somewhere that even though you may exercise most days, if you have a desk job you are low active and that you shouldn't set it higher unless you have a physical job and exercise most days or if you are a professional athlete. If you were to give a brief description similarly it would help, or ask those types of questions for guidance in choosing the correct RDI. I workout most days and do weight training and cardio. I set to low active and thats worked great for me. Another thought might be to choose RDI based on calories burned per day. But that is something very difficult for people to determine as well. I often hear, and find that this app overestimates cals burned.  

I have no complaint at all about the RDI calculator. I think it is just fine. I know my body quite well and its recommendations would work fine. But i prefer to log activities rather than targeting RDI. This way i am obviously much closer to reality.