Healthy eating alone will not keep our bodies in shape. Daily activity is very important to a healthy body. Our bodies are not designed for the convenience of automobiles, and air-conditioned condominiums. They were designed to build shelters, search for food, and efficiently survive feast and famine. Our bodies excel at converting fuel into energy, and storing excess energy as fat for later use. With the convenience of the supermarket, hunting for food is not the physical challenge for which our bodies were built. Our bodies need daily physical activity.

“Let's look at what happens to muscle when it isn't exercised. All of us start with muscles that are long and lean with very little fat. As we become older and more sedentary, fat slowly invades the muscle. The shape of the muscle itself changes, becoming shorter and rounder. The muscle eventually becomes so saturated with fat that it can't hold any more, and then the fat begins to accumulate outside the muscle, under the skin. When you diet, you lose fat from under the skin. Your diet has little effect on the fat inside the muscle and nothing happens to the muscle shape. It's still short and round. But you can exercise the intramuscular fat away and change the muscle back to its original long, lean shape. Men lose the roll around the middle, and women regain the waist they had in their youth.” (Quote from the web site of Fitness crusader Covert Bailey, author of the Fit or Fat series)

The Activity Level Factor is multiplied by the Basal Energy Expenditure to estimate daily calorie intake requirements. The following table presents factor guidelines based on typical lifestyles. Your mileage may vary. For most of us, life is not a straight line through this table. Simply try to find your average factor. Adjust if necessary after four weeks to suit your body’s performance. Most importantly, be active every day.

Activity Level	Factor	Typical Day	Exercise	Typical Activities
Sedentary	1.2	Stationary desk job	Little or no exercise	Reading, sitting, driving, eating
Somewhat Active	1.3	Desk job or at home all day	Exercise 1-2 days/week	Walking, sweeping, playing, sewing, ironing, typing, playing musical instruments, ballroom dancing, bowling, volleyball, golfing (with cart)
Average	1.4	Active deck job or at home all day with small children	Exercise 3 days/week	Fast walking, jogging, weight lifting, easy hiking, gardening, skateboarding, golfing (carrying clubs), softball, stair machine
Above Average (1 hr/day)	1.5	Job on feet all day	Exercise 4-5 days/week	Rollerblade, skating, aerobics, skiing, bicycling, running, basketball, tennis, ping-pong, weight training
Very Active (2 hrs/day)	1.6	Physical job	Intense exercise 6 days/week	Boxing, jump rope, swimming, climbing, martial arts
More than 2 hrs/day	1.7	Construction work or heavy labor	Daily intense exercising	Competitive amateur sports, body building, competitive running, and cycling
Professional Athlete	1.8	Athlete	Daily professional training sessions	Multiple daily sessions, marathon sports, contest prep, drills

Daily Activity Level Example

If you spend most of your day at a desk, and exercise once or twice a week by taking a brisk walk, using the table above as a reference, you would select Somewhat Active as your Daily Activity Level in the Simplebean Health Guide. If you spend most of your day on your feet, and bowl three times a week for exercise, your average Daily Activity Level would be Average.

This page is a help entry for the Free Simplebean Health Guide. To plan a healthy diet, use this MS Windows software to quickly calculate important health info such as your BMI, BEE, personalized daily calorie requirements and targets in carbs, proteins, and fats, and the target weight for your build. It is great for weight loss or maintenance. Click here for additional Help Topics.

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More about The Ultimate Fit or Fat by Covert Bailey In his late sixties, fitness’s legendary crusader Covert Bailey recommends his "Four Food Groups of Good Exercise": aerobic exercise, cross training (varying your exercise choices), wind sprints (short bursts of high-intensity activity), and weight lifting. This motivational book is intended for average people that know they should be living a more active lifestyle but have difficulty getting physical fitness into their daily routine.

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