Can I eat a little more if I walk more?

talor72

I just want to check my calculations, I am 5 foot 4 and 42 yr old weighing 219 pounds now. I would like to lose approx 1.5 pound average per week (allowing for fluctuations) I am doing a one mile walk twice a day taking around 20mins per mile, I cannot seem to work out how many calories I should eat per day and whether I should ignore any exercise calories burned. I think I have lost more than 19 pounds but I am retaining due to t.o.m at the moment!

lcooper327

If you've lost 19 lbs just keep doing whatever you're doing because it seems to be working. How much time did that take you? I wouldn't count the mile walks as exercise as the pace is very slow.

talor72

Slow? Oh bother, I thought 20 min per mile was a reasonable pace, how many minutes should a mile take if I want to consider it exercise, since my reason for walking is to get my daily exercise in I need to go at a fast enough speed for it to count

alysme

I wouldn't count it - My fitbit gave me an extra 200 cals for walking 5 miles and an hour body pump class.

DemoraFairy

I walk about a 15 minute mile, and usually get about 500-700 calories back a day from my Fitbit. I tend to walk 12,000 - 20,000 steps on weekdays (a lot less on weekends). But a Fitbit will give you calories back regardless of how fast you're walking as long as you do enough steps (but you'll get more calories back if you walk faster). If you want to know how much to eat I'd recommend getting a Fitbit, they tend to be quite accurate with calories burnt.

Sued0nim

I am 5'8, 160 and my MFP settings are set to sedentary

I need to walk between 2500-4000 steps (up to 2 miles) to achieve sedentary

If I walk 10,000 steps (5 miles) I earn approximately 350-450 additional calories over my MFP settings

Yes you can eat them back and I do (I also eat back workout calories) and over time judging my actual weight loss it works for my body

hellbettybrat

I walk for exercise every day. I think as long as your heart is working hard and you are pushing yourself your fitness will improve. I think you should not stay at 1 mile - you should try to increase it each time you go out. I walk to and from work and go out on my luch break, an average of about 5 miles each day. It's two miles to work and it takes me 25 minutes. It's working for me.

talor72

Thanks, I was thinking of allowing myself around 100 calories extra for the two mile walk, guess I can only try it and see if it works or not for me

PAV8888

You seem to be doing quite well! Congratulations on your progress so far! Are you currently losing more or less than 1.5lbs a week?

A 20 minute mile translates to 3 mph. Walking at 3mph is a 3.5 MET activity. Since it lasts for more than 10 minutes per session it qualifies as part of your 300 minutes of moderate exercise a week under the WHO Exercise guidelines.

As a "rule of thumb", walking @ 100 to 105 steps a minute achieves 3+ MET and meets the guidelines for "moderate" exercise.

The current US guidelines for healthy living suggest moving around the equivalent of 10,000 steps a day. To achieve weight loss, the suggestion is to increase that to 12,000+ steps a day.

I discuss "Step Eat Back" in this post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/PAV8888/view/step-eat-back-742293

Essentially I suggest that you eat back your walking exercise calories once you exceed 6,000 steps a day.

talor72

That's interesting, I may try and up my walks a bit then so I get my 10,000 steps in a day - discounting my first weeks weight loss which was above average due to water loss I suspect, I am just over 1.5 pounds a week weight loss though it's not linear, so some weeks I see a lovely big drop and then I seem to flatline for a fortnight , I am fine with this tho as there's normally a reason I can spot

higgins8283801

I hit maintenance and lost the entire time by eating my earned fitbit calories. I get calories from walking, regardless of pace.
It didn't matter how slow or fast I was, and it worked for me.

If you lost 19lbs so far it seems to be working for you too.

PAV8888

if you have to deal with water retention on a regular basis, it sometimes pays to graph your weight changes using websites such as www.trenweight.com, or www.weightGrapher.com. !

Machka9

I walk so I can eat a little tiny bit more.

A brisk 30 min walk = about 100 cal.
A brisk 60 min walk = about 200 cal.

And then I might eat half that amount back. Maybe.

If I do 30 min, like I did today, it just eases things up a bit so I can have an extra 50 cal if I feel I need it.