All Things Activity- How Active are You?

Hi! My name is Sara Anne, here to talk all things activity!

I’m in charge of the unofficial iTrackBites Facebook Groups, along with our Head Coach Lisa Wood. If you are active on Facebook, we’ve probably chatted. Activity is a big part of my life. It’s been extremely instrumental in my weight loss journey and also in my own mental health. As a busy wife and mom, it’s my “me” time. Zumba, HIIT classes, biking, and walking are my favorites. So, let’s talk all things activity. I will cover: how to choose your activity level in your profile, how to add activity BITES in the app, and what to do with them once you’ve earned them! Let's get started!

Activity Level for your iTrackBites Profile

This is pretty important and I think a lot of people are confused on what your daily activity level actually means. Side note: the only plan where activity level will actually affect your daily BITES is Conquer Cravings. It doesn’t change daily BITES on any other BITE plan. So why does it matter if I'm not doing Conquer Cravings? Well, it matters if you are tracking a Secondary Metric. Activity level changes your Calorie allowance. This is to factor in your general daily activity/work day – what you do for 8ish hours a day, not separate, intentional activity. Most people generally fall into Sedentary or Light categories.

Here are the breakdowns:

• SEDENTARY: Spends most of day sitting at work or at home, a little slow walking, some standing and light household chores (desk job/office worker/bank teller)
• LIGHT: Mostly sedentary, standing or slow walking, but including about 30min / 1-3 days a week of further activity like bicycling, water aerobics, gardening, heavy housework, brisk walking (teacher / salesman / retail or fast food worker)
• MODERATE: Mostly walking rather than just sedentary work, plus a little vigorous additional exercise like aerobics, dancing, swimming for at least 45-60 min / 3-4 days per week (waitress / mailman / nurse / pet walker).
• HEAVY: Intensive exercise for 60 min or greater / 5-7 days per week such as cycling or running or having an intensive occupation like construction work / fitness instructor / farming / landscape worker or similar occupations.
• EXTREME: Generally, this level of activity is very difficult to achieve. Exceedingly active and/or very demanding activities like an athlete with an almost unstoppable training schedule with multiple training sessions throughout the day or having a very demanding job, such as shoveling coal or working long hours on an heavy manual labor assembly line.

How do I get Activity BITES to show up in the app?

Well, there are a couple of ways. One is to have an activity tracker linked. This is one of the extra features that come with the Pro Subscription. The other is to add the activity in the app separately, which you can do one of 2 ways.

1. Choose an exercise from the listed activities in the app and add the duration.
2. Create your own Activity if you don’t find one to use.

You can create any activity you want, customized to how difficult it is for you.

• Tap the big Green button at the bottom of the tracker page
• Tap ACTIVITY
• Tap the plus sign (white on Apple / green button on Android)
• Add duration.
• Add Intensity
  • Low--Can talk or sing. Breathing is regular. No sweating
  • Moderate--Can talk but can't sing. Breathing is often and deep. Sweating after 10 minutes.
  • High--Can talk briefly but can't sing. Breathing is rapid and deep.Sweating after 3-5 minutes.
• Save as a Favorite ( tap the heart at the top)

Something to keep in mind is all iTrackBites weight loss plans include a base level of activity equivalent to 3,000 daily steps as part of your current allowances so you won’t start earning extra Activity BITES until after passing that milestone each day.

So now I’ve earned Activity BITES…what do I do with them?

Personally, I use my activity BITES for goal setting, I don’t eat them. I give myself a number to hit each week and I try to meet them. I don’t want to equate exercise with eating more. Does that mean it’s wrong to eat them? Nope! Some feel they can eat them because they worked hard to earn them. In the grand scheme of things~ A BITE, is a BITE, is a BITE . It doesn’t matter where it comes from. With activity, what I recommend is that if you eat them, you need to be a little more mindful of how you track them. If you aren’t eating them, go for those big numbers. Here is the general recommendation for the BITE plans:

• For Conquer Cravings – If you are going to use them, it’s suggested to only use them daily (the day you earn them).
• For Carb Conscious – The suggested use is no more than half of them unless you are highly active.
• For Sugar Smart/Better Balance - The equation for calculating activity bites changed, and you get much bigger numbers but they are basically just there for fun now.

Thanks for letting me chat a bit about one of my favorite things! I hope this is somewhat helpful to anyone out there struggling to figure out what activity category they fall into! Click THIS LINK to request to join our big fun Facebook Group!Happy Tracking!