The physical activity level (PAL) is a way to express a person's daily physical activity as a number and is used to estimate their total energy expenditure. In combination with the basal metabolic rate, it can be used to compute the amount of food energy a person needs to consume to maintain a particular lifestyle.

Definition

The physical activity level is defined for a non-pregnant, non-lactating adult as that person's total energy expenditure (TEE) in a 24-hour period, divided by his or her basal metabolic rate (BMR): The level of physical activity can also be estimated based on a list of the physical activities a person performs from day to day. Each activity is connected to a number, the physical activity ratio. The physical activity level is then the time-weighted average of the physical activity ratios.

Examples

The following table shows indicative numbers for the Physical activity level for several lifestyles: