Which exercises should I log ?

gabrielleelliott90

I'm sedentary half pound a week loss. I don't tend to log walking, should I? Should I log zumba, HIIT as well and eat back the calories?

RoxieDawn

Yes you should log walks if this is exercise. If it is a stroll in the park, or in the grocery store per se, no. Zumba def yes.

You should eat back a portion of this exercise. As you trend your weight loss, if you are losing fine eating back a certain % stay at this percentage, if you are losing faster, increase those calories, and so on.

Per this thread, how are you doing all of this now?

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/37488451#Comment_37488451

gabrielleelliott90

I only walk when I have to really such as walking around town

TeaBea

Zumba - yes log it & eat back a portion (50-75%). Walking deliberately - likely yes. How far do you walk? You got credit for some steps by just being sedentary. If you are deliberately walking for exercise, then yes log it & eat back a portion of exercise calories.

That said, exercise calorie burns are estimates. If you are at the top of what is considered sedentary, an additional walk is exercise. If you were at the bottom of the sedentary scale, then logging a short walk might be double counting. An activity tracker synced to MFP attempts to do these same kinds of calculations....steps only start to add up after so many are taken.

Test your "portion" of your exercise calories by comparing actual weight loss to expected weight loss.

RoxieDawn

gabrielleelliott90 wrote: »

I only walk when I have to really such as walking around town

Walking around town is just that... unless you strapped on your walking shoes and made this a purposeful walking exercise.. then this walk in town is in your activity level already.. But REAL steady state heart increasing activity is NOT..

Spliner1969

If you're purposely doing a walk for exercise, yes, log it and eat back up to half the calories. But like others have stated, you can just log steps with your phone and have those integrated into MFP and not worry about it. If you're not doing long intense walks for exercise, that might be your best option. For instance with my iPhone I simply allow the steps to be added to MFP's tracking which then gives me back calories as the steps climb. If I add in exercise either manually or with an app, those steps are ignored automatically (so you're not getting double the calories) at least until my step counts get really high (IE: I notice over 10k steps it'll still add in a few calories, but at that point I probably earned them).

As far as Zumba and other things.. aerobics, body weight training, running, yes log it. Grocery shopping or walking through your house, daily activities.. nope. Feel free to count steps though.

peaceout_aly

I suggest logging "work out walking" (i.e. 3 mph dedicated walk for 30-minutes) not the total that you walked throughout the day (i.e. to the copier, the mailbox, etc.) Zumba and HIIT can most definitely be logged! The suggestion is to eat back "half" of your exercise calories so that you can still be in a deficit.

gabrielleelliott90

Thanks guys! Also do you know any apps I can use to integrate daily steps with mfp, I have tried pacer before but it always goes way over with the calories.

RoxieDawn

gabrielleelliott90 wrote: »

Thanks guys! Also do you know any apps I can use to integrate daily steps with mfp, I have tried pacer before but it always goes way over with the calories.

No matter what app you choose these are not ever going to be 100% accurate. There is no 100% way to get 100% accurate results from any pedometer, app, etc..

Mapmywalk, Endomondo, runtastic, these are three I know integrate with MFP..