20000 steps calories?

AndyKiu
AndyKiu Posts: 6 Member
edited December 1 in Health and Weight Loss
hi, i have been wondering how many kcal i burn by walking 20k steps
i'm 6 feet and 170 pounds.

by using the iphone motion, Fitbit says that by walking 20-25k steps a day my daily intake should be around 3-4k (wich i found incredibly innacurate) meanwhile myfitness pal says 2900-3k

wich one is correct?
does walking at 4mph for one hours really burns around 300 kcal?
«1

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    I average around a 2300 calorie burn on Fitbit with my avg steps being around 12k. Basing my intake around my Fitbit burn has resulted in the loss I should expect (example: in Feb where my average burn was 2200, I lost 0.7 lbs per week eating 1871). I'm 5'4.5" and in the low 120's (121.3 lbs this morning/121.9 trending).

    Accuracy varies person to person, but for me Fitbit's calorie burns have proved to be fairly accurate (actually underestimating when I didn't have a model with HR).
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Are you are losing or gaining or maintaining over a period of time? Make adjustments. All the numbers of calorie intake or calorie burns are just estimates.
  • AndyKiu
    AndyKiu Posts: 6 Member
    i'm mantaining/gaining.

    i was just wondering how many kcal does the average person burns by walking 20k steps daily (some websites says around 1k cal)
    or walking 1 hours at 4phm
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited April 2016
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    i'm mantaining/gaining.

    i was just wondering how many kcal does the average person burns by walking 20k steps daily (some websites says around 1k cal)
    or walking 1 hours at 4phm

    Height, age, weight, amount of muscle, etc all effect the amount of calories you burn.

    Are you eating the calories fitbit says?

    Remember weight fluctuates. Most people have a 5 lb range (give or take a few) that their weight will fluctuate in when maintaining. Maybe start using an app to look at the trend of your weight so you can see exactly what it's doing.

    Trend apps:
    Happy Scale
    Libra
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    Here's a screen shot of my normal Friday. I work as a school sub for 6-7 hours, walk to a downtown Zumba class and then walk home.
    I'm a woman in my 50's who currently weighs in the 160s. I eat at a 300-500 calorie deficit and lose about .9 lbs a week on average. I find my Fitbit HR very reliable. yp5ufs6qnbs6.png
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    how many calories the same amount of walking uses depends also on the speed and intensity - are you walking up hills fast? up and down stairs at a moderate pace? walking down hallways slowly? these can burn radically different amounts of calories.
  • AndyKiu
    AndyKiu Posts: 6 Member
    No, according to yesterday report, my intake should have been 4160 calories meanwhile MFP says 2900 (same steps)
  • aniqa109
    aniqa109 Posts: 364 Member
    @shadow2soul do you not focus on net calories? I know I asked this before but it always confuses me. Even If I eat at what mfp gives me after fitbit sends over exercise calories my net is low so should I keep my net above a certain amount or just focus on the mfp and fitbit numbers
  • eeejer
    eeejer Posts: 339 Member
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    does walking at 4mph for one hours really burns around 300 kcal?

    this sounds possible. The only way to know how accurate it is is to try it for 3-4 weeks then adjust your calories based on whether you lost or gained. Fitbit often tells me I burned 4k or even 5k in a day, and it definitely is not based in reality since I am not losing 1lb every 2 days (I eat around 2k).
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    hi, i have been wondering how many kcal i burn by walking 20k steps
    i'm 6 feet and 170 pounds.

    by using the iphone motion, Fitbit says that by walking 20-25k steps a day my daily intake should be around 3-4k (wich i found incredibly innacurate) meanwhile myfitness pal says 2900-3k

    wich one is correct?
    does walking at 4mph for one hours really burns around 300 kcal?

    I hate fitness trackers just for these reasons.

    If this is something you do daily, your body has adapted to this amount of work, it's your "normal". So I wouldn't eat these back, I wouldn't count this as exercise etc. Only account for actual exercise, like if you purposely go for a run/jog/ walk or go to the gym outside of what you normally do.

    Be more concerned about the calories you're eating instead of the calories you're burning IMO.
  • itsthehumidity
    itsthehumidity Posts: 351 Member
    I have lots of experience with Fitbits, and personally disregard their estimates for calories burned from activity.

    I assume I burn about 50 calories per 1,000 steps, on average. There are obviously problems with this static number; heavier people burn more, steps running burn calories at a higher rate than walking, inclined walking burns more, etc. Averaged out over long periods of time and most situations, though, this number seems to work fine (I'm 28/M/160lbs/5'7).

    So for 20,000 steps I would assume that's about 1,000 calories burned. It's probably not less than that, and if it's more then you'll just lose more weight than you thought.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    aniqa109 wrote: »
    @shadow2soul do you not focus on net calories? I know I asked this before but it always confuses me. Even If I eat at what mfp gives me after fitbit sends over exercise calories my net is low so should I keep my net above a certain amount or just focus on the mfp and fitbit numbers

    MFP puts my Net around 1300. My NET intake is usually right around that, but total intake is much higher. I like to try and be " in the zone " on Fitbit's side. Actually, if Fitbit had a recipe builder I wouldn't log on MFP anymore. I think the numbers on Fitbit are much less confusing. The concept of NET confuses a lot of people.
  • RosieRose7673
    RosieRose7673 Posts: 438 Member
    I don't know about 1000 for 20,000 steps. Who knows. Maybe that's correct given your stats. It seems as though I can get (if I'm lucky) 50 calories per 2,000 steps (just daily activity). I do have an Apple Watch though. I regularly get between 17,000-27,000 steps. My active calorie burns for the day when I get about 25,000 steps (including 4-6 mile run counted in those steps) I may get an additional 1000 calories on top of my sedentary burn.

    If I'm only walking about 25,000, I'm lucky if I get an additional 750 calories. It varies depending on stats. I'm 5'5 female and ~130 lbs.
  • rachelr1116
    rachelr1116 Posts: 334 Member
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    No, according to yesterday report, my intake should have been 4160 calories meanwhile MFP says 2900 (same steps)

    Are you sure that wasn't your total calorie burn for the whole day? Fitbit will always tell you how many calories you burned for the whole day which will include the calories you burned just by staying alive. For example, yesterday my Fitbit says I burned a total of 2,463 calories. I've told it I want to lose 1 lb. per week so Fitbit says I had 1,963 calories to eat yesterday.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    I'm 5'3", 31 years old, and 112 pounds. I walk anywhere from 17,000 to 30,000 steps per day. Here's a screenshot of what my Fitbit Charge HR says:

    oi5okdhnnzpd.jpg


    This includes a 217 calorie cardio workout and two hour long walks that gave me 320 calories and 354 calories. I walk slightly over 4 miles per hour, sometimes with a 20+ pound bookbag. I don't have inaccuracy issues with my Charge HR on the weight loss side. I was trying to bulk for two months, regularly eating between 2500 and 3000 calories per day and only gained half of what I should have and I've already lost that weight. Everyone is different though.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    It is correct that fitbit burns for the day include your baseline. I for instance get about 1400 on days I'm sedentary. Skip the nonsense about your exercise 'baseline' that's bro science right there. You will not increase your muscle strength or your cardiovascular capacity doing what you normally are accustomed to do, but a calorie burned is a calorie burned. There's no getting around that! (Also ignore people who say your body doesn't 'recognize' exercise you are used to performing... umm... nope)
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    scolaris wrote: »
    It is correct that fitbit burns for the day include your baseline. I for instance get about 1400 on days I'm sedentary. Skip the nonsense about your exercise 'baseline' that's bro science right there. You will not increase your muscle strength or your cardiovascular capacity doing what you normally are accustomed to do, but a calorie burned is a calorie burned. There's no getting around that! (Also ignore people who say your body doesn't 'recognize' exercise you are used to performing... umm... nope)

    LOL! Yeah, by that logic wouldn't you reach a point where any exercise you even do would be rendered useless unless you did nothing but exercise from the moment you woke up until the moment you went to sleep? If our bodies get used to it so much to the point where we shouldn't eat any extra calories, someone should tell that to my sore hamstrings and growling stomach.
  • AndyKiu
    AndyKiu Posts: 6 Member
    scolaris wrote: »
    Also ignore people who say your body doesn't 'recognize' exercise you are used to performing... umm... nope

    agree, i lost around 60 pounds by doing the "same" exercise

    i was just curious, i always tough that 1 hour of walking would burn around 300 kcal, but since i'm starting using fitbit i'm getting a super high amount of burned calories, which is kinda confusing me

  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    No, according to yesterday report, my intake should have been 4160 calories meanwhile MFP says 2900 (same steps)

    Isn't MFP giving you your calories including a deficit? Fitbit isn't, it is just giving you your total calories burned for the day. Also do you have you fitbit linked to your MFP account, or are you just entering in your steps manually?

  • cross2bear
    cross2bear Posts: 1,106 Member
    edited April 2016
    synacious wrote: »
    scolaris wrote: »
    It is correct that fitbit burns for the day include your baseline. I for instance get about 1400 on days I'm sedentary. Skip the nonsense about your exercise 'baseline' that's bro science right there. You will not increase your muscle strength or your cardiovascular capacity doing what you normally are accustomed to do, but a calorie burned is a calorie burned. There's no getting around that! (Also ignore people who say your body doesn't 'recognize' exercise you are used to performing... umm... nope)

    LOL! Yeah, by that logic wouldn't you reach a point where any exercise you even do would be rendered useless unless you did nothing but exercise from the moment you woke up until the moment you went to sleep? If our bodies get used to it so much to the point where we shouldn't eat any extra calories, someone should tell that to my sore hamstrings and growling stomach.

    And shouldnt we all be "used to" living and breathing, yet they still burn calories!!
  • TravisJHunt
    TravisJHunt Posts: 533 Member
    As some others have said, you have to watch that you aren't looking at total calories for the day vs calories burned. Doing 20k steps a day might let a person eat 2900 calories a day, but you are more than likely only burning a few hundred calories walking to add to a normal daily intake. I think at 10k steps last night, I could add 250 calories to my usual 2000 calories a day I can eat just because of my size, weight, height, activity level, etc.
  • AndyKiu
    AndyKiu Posts: 6 Member
    i set my activity level to sedentary (desk job) and set my goal to mantain weight
    i usually walk 15-20k steps a day.
    i was just wondering how many cal i should eat to mantain, because the difference from MFP and Fitibit is huge (mpa 2.9k Fitbit 4.1k. more than 1k calories a day)
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    i set my activity level to sedentary (desk job) and set my goal to mantain weight
    i usually walk 15-20k steps a day.
    i was just wondering how many cal i should eat to mantain, because the difference from MFP and Fitibit is huge (mpa 2.9k Fitbit 4.1k. more than 1k calories a day)

    Sedentary is 5k or less steps a day. That's why there is such a huge difference.
    20k-25k steps in a day is at least Active.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    hi, i have been wondering how many kcal i burn by walking 20k steps
    i'm 6 feet and 170 pounds.

    by using the iphone motion, Fitbit says that by walking 20-25k steps a day my daily intake should be around 3-4k (wich i found incredibly innacurate) meanwhile myfitness pal says 2900-3k

    wich one is correct?
    does walking at 4mph for one hours really burns around 300 kcal?

    I hate fitness trackers just for these reasons.

    If this is something you do daily, your body has adapted to this amount of work, it's your "normal". So I wouldn't eat these back, I wouldn't count this as exercise etc. Only account for actual exercise, like if you purposely go for a run/jog/ walk or go to the gym outside of what you normally do.

    Be more concerned about the calories you're eating instead of the calories you're burning IMO.

    My Mom spends very little time doing intentional exercise, eats like a horse, and hovers around Underweight due to all her unintentional exercise. If she were using MFP, I'd recommend she set her activity level as Very Active.
  • AndyKiu
    AndyKiu Posts: 6 Member
    edited April 2016
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    i set my activity level to sedentary (desk job) and set my goal to mantain weight
    i usually walk 15-20k steps a day.
    i was just wondering how many cal i should eat to mantain, because the difference from MFP and Fitibit is huge (mpa 2.9k Fitbit 4.1k. more than 1k calories a day)

    Sedentary is 5k or less steps a day. That's why there is such a huge difference.
    20k-25k steps in a day is at least Active.


    oh, i understand.
    i always considered myself sedentary because i'm sitting most of the day.
    i tought that the right way to calculate was to add my steps/cardio to my sendentary lifestyle calories intake (2040 sedentary, 2290 lighly active)

    now it makes sense.
    by setting to active the results are MPA 3.7k calories, Fitbit 4.1k, the gap now it's not that huge
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
    RobD520 wrote: »
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    hi, i have been wondering how many kcal i burn by walking 20k steps
    i'm 6 feet and 170 pounds.

    by using the iphone motion, Fitbit says that by walking 20-25k steps a day my daily intake should be around 3-4k (wich i found incredibly innacurate) meanwhile myfitness pal says 2900-3k

    wich one is correct?
    does walking at 4mph for one hours really burns around 300 kcal?

    I hate fitness trackers just for these reasons.

    If this is something you do daily, your body has adapted to this amount of work, it's your "normal". So I wouldn't eat these back, I wouldn't count this as exercise etc. Only account for actual exercise, like if you purposely go for a run/jog/ walk or go to the gym outside of what you normally do.

    Be more concerned about the calories you're eating instead of the calories you're burning IMO.

    Huh? Your body only counts calories burned during "intentional" exercise? So if someone is chasing me for three miles, I can't log it?

    What a stupid question, I love it!

    Although your action would be unintentional you could count this as exercise as it's outside of what you would "normally be doing".

    If you were currently maintaining calories around 3500 as a construction worker, and then slapped on a fitbit all day that would read something like walking 50,000 steps and burning 6000 calories and you decided to all of a sudden eat back all of those calories ...cause you know you're wearing a watch now ... so your internal system has been wrong this WHOLE TIME. What do you think would happen?
  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
    Just my opinion, those burns seem really high. Now, it is possible that my tracker is way too low but I guess I like it that way cause then I'm not over estimating my burn. If I walk 10K steps in a day, mine says I burn a little over 300 calories. I would assume to double the steps would also double the burn. Just my 2 cents worth.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    OP sorry if you answered this already, but are the two apps synced? Are all your settings the same between them - the stats, the goal (you said maintain, you have it set up in both systems), the activity level? I think someone else already pointed out, if you are averaging 15-20K steps/day you are far from sedentary.

    When I first got my FitBit about 2.5 years ago, I had to tweak all those settings before the numbers started lining up more consistently. I got the good advice that 10K steps/day was lightly active, not sedentary. When I changed my activity level in FitBit not only did I get a higher baseline of calories to start with and smaller exercise adjustments, I found that the numbers seemed to line up better. Today I average 15K steps/day and have my activity level set to active in MFP. I am also maintaining, so I eat almost all of my calorie adjustments back from FitBit (usually save a buffer for the weekend).

    For reference, I'm 5'2 and 120 lbs and female, and my calories burned from FitBit are 2200-2400 so I think that your numbers seem like they could be reasonable. I think the discrepancy from MFP could be with the things I mentioned above, and also if you have one set to lose and one set to maintain.

    I will say, that for the last several months there have been periodic glitches with the numbers between MFP and FitBit, and that might also be contributing to the discrepancy a little bit.
  • Soultwist
    Soultwist Posts: 19 Member
    edited April 2016
    RobD520 wrote: »
    AndyKiu wrote: »
    hi, i have been wondering how many kcal i burn by walking 20k steps
    i'm 6 feet and 170 pounds.

    by using the iphone motion, Fitbit says that by walking 20-25k steps a day my daily intake should be around 3-4k (wich i found incredibly innacurate) meanwhile myfitness pal says 2900-3k

    wich one is correct?
    does walking at 4mph for one hours really burns around 300 kcal?

    I hate fitness trackers just for these reasons.

    If this is something you do daily, your body has adapted to this amount of work, it's your "normal". So I wouldn't eat these back, I wouldn't count this as exercise etc. Only account for actual exercise, like if you purposely go for a run/jog/ walk or go to the gym outside of what you normally do.

    Be more concerned about the calories you're eating instead of the calories you're burning IMO.

    Huh? Your body only counts calories burned during "intentional" exercise? So if someone is chasing me for three miles, I can't log it?

    What a stupid question, I love it!

    Although your action would be unintentional you could count this as exercise as it's outside of what you would "normally be doing".

    If you were currently maintaining calories around 3500 as a construction worker, and then slapped on a fitbit all day that would read something like walking 50,000 steps and burning 6000 calories and you decided to all of a sudden eat back all of those calories ...cause you know you're wearing a watch now ... so your internal system has been wrong this WHOLE TIME. What do you think would happen?

    Well, this says you hate fitness trackers that give incorrect info or are set up wrong. That's not what you said in your original post, you implied your body gets used to motion and stops burning calories to do them. In your example here with the construction worker all those steps and movements that the body is "use too" is really burning the 3500 - BMR.

    Now if you meant that your already preset activity level is used to the activity that would be correct but it did not come across that way at all.

    As to what I think would happen? I think the "watch" would show a lot closer to the 3500 real number then the 6000 number if its set up right.
This discussion has been closed.