Eating calories from steps walked

mamahope2020

Hello!! I have an app on my phone that tracks my daily steps. My goal is 10,000 but I usually take about 6,000 steps. I am a female, 5'9", I have around 100 lbs to lose overall. I weigh 267 and am trying to lose 1.5 lbs per week. In order to lose 1.5 lbs per week my daily calorie limit is 2040. My question is .....should I allow my phone to sync these daily steps and eat those extra calories every day? My first instinct is no, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this and could offer advice? Other than walking around a lot at work, I currently am not getting any extra exercise.

20yearsyounger

I wouldn't sync them. Not from 6000 steps. Treat it as a hidden bonus.

cwolfman13

Your activity level that you select when setting up MFP is going to include quite a bit of that...even a sedentary setting accounts for up to about 5,000 steps per day. If anything I'd just adjust my activity level to reflect my actual daily activity and those steps.

Expatmommy79

I would say no.

On days where you do purposeful walking - like power walking or treadmill then I might add those back.

I get about 180 calories for 10,000 steps...

mamahope2020

Thanks everyone. I do have my activity level set to lightly active, so that should cover 10,000 steps. It's interesting that you get 180 calories for 10,000 steps. Yesterday I got 435 calories for 8458 steps.

biscuitnow

I always get around 400 calories for 10 000 steps. I have my activity level set to sedentary since it tends to differ a lot from day to day, so I feel free to eat some of those calories back if I'm hungry.

jesse1952

I track my steps also. I have a daily goal of doing 10,500. MFP does adjust the amount of calories you can eat that day.

blues4miles

MFP has something called negative calorie adjustment if you sync them. It will remove calories from your day if you don't get your minimum steps in. I prefer to set to sedentary and add activity to be on the safe side. But then, I don't eat my exercise calories. I eat at TDEE - 20%. So Total Daily Energy Expenditure minus 20%. My BMR is ~1650 but my TDEE as sedentary is ~1950. So I eat at 80% of 1950.

StaciMarie1974

It will depend on your activity level setting. Here's an example.

Lets say based on your stats (this is hypothetical, I don't know your stats) sedentary would burn 2500 and lightly active would burn 2800. If you tell MFP you're lightly active it will base your daily calories on 2800, tell you to eat 2050 for 1.5 pounds per week. If you're actually sedentary and eat 2050, then your deficit is only 450 for almost 1 pound per week.

The key is to set your activity level accurately. You could sync your phone step counter, just to get a better idea if your activity level is reasonable. If you sync and the step adjustment is almost always 0, it means you're not as active as you set your level to be, so you're not burning as much as MFP expects. If you're usually earning some small adjustment, your level is set accurately. If you often earn a big adjustment your activity level is set too low.

You can of course also judge by results. If you're accurately logging/eating at MFP's recommended amount and lose weight about 1.5 pounds per week your activity level is set correctly. Slower means your activity level may be too high. Of course, you would need 1-3 months of data to judge from weight loss results.

mamahope2020

Good point, Stacimarie. I'm just now starting my journey (literally today!!) so it will be a while until I see results.

jeepinshawn

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

It will depend on your activity level setting. Here's an example.

Lets say based on your stats (this is hypothetical, I don't know your stats) sedentary would burn 2500 and lightly active would burn 2800. If you tell MFP you're lightly active it will base your daily calories on 2800, tell you to eat 2050 for 1.5 pounds per week. If you're actually sedentary and eat 2050, then your deficit is only 450 for almost 1 pound per week.

The key is to set your activity level accurately. You could sync your phone step counter, just to get a better idea if your activity level is reasonable. If you sync and the step adjustment is almost always 0, it means you're not as active as you set your level to be, so you're not burning as much as MFP expects. If you're usually earning some small adjustment, your level is set accurately. If you often earn a big adjustment your activity level is set too low.

You can of course also judge by results. If you're accurately logging/eating at MFP's recommended amount and lose weight about 1.5 pounds per week your activity level is set correctly. Slower means your activity level may be too high. Of course, you would need 1-3 months of data to judge from weight loss results.

Great explanation of how this works! The only thing I would add is that you need to have negative calories enabled if your activity level is anything other than sedentary. That way you don't over eat. I would sync your step counter, I have my fitbit sync'd and 10K steps usually nets me about 457 calories.

pchca

I went thru this struggle for almost a month. What works for me is not syncing MFP to any activity tracker (I have a Fitbit). I set MFP to sedentary, and usually log 12k steps a day. I eat 1200-1400 calories a day, regardless of how many steps I take. Have similar stats as you and that's what works for me. I lose about 2lbs a week

lemonlionheart

mamahope2020 wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I do have my activity level set to lightly active, so that should cover 10,000 steps. It's interesting that you get 180 calories for 10,000 steps. Yesterday I got 435 calories for 8458 steps.

That sounds pretty high. I estimate about 150 calories for 10000 steps, but since they say that anything up to 5000 is 'sedentary' I only log steps that go above that (e.g if I do 12000 steps I'll log 7000).

trjjoy

Please read this article.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ladyhawk00/view/activity-level-and-logging-exercise-125513

''What you log should be ANYthing that burns significantly (100-200+) more calories than are accounted for in your Activity Level setting. This means logging a 10 minute walk, light cleaning for 30 minutes, cooking for 45 minutes, etc., IS appropriate for a Sedentary Activity Level. Someone set at Active or Very Active, and some Lightly Active, generally shouldn't log them, because those “little” things are already accounted for and a fit person burns far less calories for the same activity. For someone who is very sedentary (often those who are obese or morbidly obese but not always), just walking to the mailbox, doing dishes or laundry, or a trip to the grocery store IS a strenuous activity that burns significant calories – and those calories aren't accounted for at a Sedentary Activity Level. ''

Maxematics

This is exactly why I set myself to Sedentary and let my Fitbit do the rest. I know I'm active, but I never want to change my activity level since days can vary.

sarahq81

I set mine to sedentary and add them manually if the walk is an hour or more. I only get 1200 cals so I need them to eat 3 decent meals!!

brendak76

I don't have my steps enabled because it drove me crazy to have my calories change on a daily/hourly basis. Instead I set my activity level to lightly active. I don't add my 30 minute walk to and from work, walking around the school (I work at a high school), light yoga, or daily cleaning and chores. I consider that all part of the lightly active lifestyle. However, I do add back all exercise calories I burn at the gym for running and weights and more intense and intentional exercise.

Marcus_2015

I say no...not at all. Walking is great but this should be built in to your basic activity level.

Even from regular exercise you should not eat all of your calories back... This science is very fuzzy... There are significant errors in every estimation.

If you have enough energy and are not super hungry, there is no reason to eat back to make a magic number... Especially if you have a lot of weight to lose. I weightlift and on those days I eat more, but not one for one...

After a few weeks, if you lose more than two pounds per week, adjust your calories up.

R

Maxematics

brendak76 wrote: »

I don't have my steps enabled because it drove me crazy to have my calories change on a daily/hourly basis.

I didn't like that either. Changing the Fitbit food plan from Personalized to Sedentary fixes this. My calories used to bounce up and down before I changed it and now I get nothing but steady increases since I'm set as sedentary everywhere but I'm quite the opposite.

QuilterInVA

We normally get in steps with normal daily activity. That is not exercise, that's living. Exercise is steps intentionally taken that aren't a part of normal daily activity. You really don't burn much walking.

AngelinaB_

I am using them but only if I get reslly hungry. Sometimes I eat them all. The fact I am gaining all those calories if I walk is a great motivator to do my steps. I have been very sedentary due to an injury for the past two years so it's working great for me. I am feeling great and the normal lose rate for me is about one pound per week even though I set this to two. I don't want it to be more than one tho it's working and I am more into building healthy relationships with food and a change of lifetime than "dieting". Try and see what works for you. Cheers,