Do you count calories burned from the pedometer?

Options
filemanager
filemanager Posts: 22 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have a pedometer that tells me how many steps walked (which I don't really care about), distance walked, and calories burned.

Should I put the calories burned in MFP as 'exercise', or no?

Replies

  • Andiebeanluvsu
    Andiebeanluvsu Posts: 105 Member
    Options
    It depends on what your settings are for MFP. I have a fitbit and I sync it with MFP. I have my activity level set as sedentary so I don't accidentally "double dip" those calories, so to speak.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Options
    With your activity level at sedentary, your calories are set at 120% of your BMR to account for normal daily motions such as walking around your house ... going to the bathroom .. digesting food. If you're not walking a significantly greater distance now than before, there probably isn't a benefit from logging those calories as exercise.
  • chele402
    chele402 Posts: 128 Member
    Options
    I'm hoping to get one for Christmas and I plan to not add to it but continue to challenge myself to hit numbers higher and higher.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    Options
    I personally only count exercise miles where I'm getting my heart rate up and keeping it sustained...for example the 4 miles of fast interval walking I did this morning. Anything else like walking around the grocery store or a mall is just a bonus burn. :)
  • ozzieb75
    ozzieb75 Posts: 1
    Options
    I have a fit bit and it is synced to mfp but when I do zumba or elliptical, I don't add those exercises too. Should I be adding those calories that I burned as exercise in mfp or just use what my fitbit syncs?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Options
    ozzieb75 wrote: »
    I have a fit bit and it is synced to mfp but when I do zumba or elliptical, I don't add those exercises too. Should I be adding those calories that I burned as exercise in mfp or just use what my fitbit syncs?

    Totally up to you. If you log an exercise it will ask for start time/duration/calorie burn. It uses this information to overwrite fitbit's estimate for the time period you say you worked out.
    filemanager wrote: »
    I have a pedometer that tells me how many steps walked (which I don't really care about), distance walked, and calories burned.

    Should I put the calories burned in MFP as 'exercise', or no?


    This is tricky. While a lot of people use fitbits to get calories for moving more than what MFP thinks they will, the programs talk to each other to determine what is extra and what is not.

    How does your pedometer report calories? (Is your BMR included or not)
    Does it know your height, weight, age?
    How many steps are you taking and what is your activity level set at on MFP?

  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
    Options
    I don't count them because it's constantly adding up calories no matter what you're doing...even sleeping. I use a heart rate monitor to calculate calories running and when I lift weights and do 30 Day Shred I don't have a clue. I underestimate by a lot to be safe.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Options
    0somuchbetter0 wrote: »
    I don't count them because it's constantly adding up calories no matter what you're doing...even sleeping. I use a heart rate monitor to calculate calories running and when I lift weights and do 30 Day Shred I don't have a clue. I underestimate by a lot to be safe.

    That would be your BMR. You burn calories while your asleep. For example: my bmr 1468 = 15.2 calories per 15 mins of inactivity.

    The adjustments from say a Fitbit work by taking your overall calorie burn - MFP estimated calorie burn to determine if it takes or adds calories.

    MFP Calorie Burn = BMR + estimated daily activity + logged exercise
    Fitbit Calorie Burn = BMR + tracked daily activity + logged exercise calories

    An example would be:

    Fitbit : 1468 + 581(tracked daily activity) + 0 (exercise) = 2049
    MFP : 1468 + 377 (estimated daily activity) + 0 (exercise) = 1845
    So my daily activity for that day was high enough to get me an extra 204 calories

Categories