Are You Tracking Steps?

BadWolf_Rob

The last time I decided to try this whole healthy lifestyle change thing, I used the Pacer app on my phone and synced it to MFP. This go around I decided to try a tracker and bought a FitBit ChargeHR. Only time will tell if this makes a bigger difference in my physical activity levels.

My tracking history aside, are you actively tracking steps? If you are, is it only to count against calorie intake of are there other reasons?

-Rob

eugenelamb

So, I have a question for this one. What does tracking steps do in relation to calorie counting?

BadWolf_Rob

I know MFP takes steps tracked and adjusts your calories. So for instance I've walked 7900 steps today. They do a calculation and basically gave me about a 620 calories burned. Then I can take my target calories and subtract calories eaten, add in the burned calories from my steps, and that tells me if I'm above, below, or at my target calories.

So if I have a particularly bad day eating and am 600 calories over my goal, I would know that I'd have to walk about 4 miles to burn off the excess. On the other hand, if I'm 600 under my target for calories eaten plus I've walked 4 miles, that's unhealthy because I'm not getting enough nutrition to compensate. It's having that happy middle ground that is supposed to be the best way to go. At least from everything I've read.

Hope that makes sense.

ballisticshutterbug

I track steps, mostly to tell me how active I've been through the day. The calorie adjustment doesn't hurt, but I also know that if I do anything less than 5k a day, I'll feel like crap the next day. Dunno why that is for me, but it's something I've noticed.

BadWolf_Rob

ballisticshutterbug wrote: »

The calorie adjustment doesn't hurt, but I also know that if I do anything less than 5k a day, I'll feel like crap the next day. Dunno why that is for me, but it's something I've noticed.

That's interesting. I'll have to see if there's any correlation between activity and my physical or psychological feeling the next day. Haven't been able to hit that consistant distance myself. I have noticed though that I check those steps more often and trying to figure out a way to up them.

Zombie_Slag

Every time I try to use a step tracker (always on my phone) it ends up telling me I walked 48 miles because the coverage out here sucks and it loses my location about once an hour. I typically walk about 7 miles a day at work but I never use that in my calorie tracking. This is all from past times, just now starting to get fit again because my doc's scale showed me at 260lbs, 10lbs heavier than I've ever been.

BadWolf_Rob

You may want to try an app like Pacer Health's Pedometer and Weight Loss Coach. It uses your accelerometer instead of GPS and it's pretty accurate from my use. I know it's on Android, not duty about IOS.

ashtonkn

I ignore counting steps entirely especially since most programs then take the calories burned number and add it to how many calories you should consume for that day - something that totally defeats the purpose of losing weight by eating fewer calories than you're burning.

Instead, I focus on tracking just daily calories. If I put on weight, then I'll know that x number of calories leads to me gaining weight. If I lose weight, then I'll know that x number of calories leads to me losing weight, regardless of how many calories I'm burning through daily activities.

Zombie_Slag

I have been doing calorie tracking only as well, and I've also been rounding up on anything I can't track with 100% accuracy, like some meals my wife cooks. I'll add 100-200 cals to dinner just to be sure I'm in the clear. Still ending up with between 600 and 1000 cals left at the end of the day with a 2440c goal.

ashtonkn

Nice!

Oh man. I can only imagine 2440 calories. I'm at 2100 and am having to force down those final bites.

Best of luck!!

twatts_up

(Jumping in the convo a half of a month later)

I track my steps through my Up band. Sometimes it gives me incentive to go on an extra walk or move around a little more. I only worry about a negative calorie adjust if I walk a ton. I like my Up app bc it's nicely in sync with MFP and gives me extra goals. It'll challenge me someday to make sure I eat 25g of fiber, or to walk a little more then I have in the past couple of days. And it gives me a food score so I know my food I'm eating isn't just in my calorie goal but healthy for me too. I can usually tell when something I eat isn't the best but it's a nice at-a-glance feature.

xAmygdala

I track steps