Should I eat back my exercise calories?
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CarvedTones wrote: »I have walked briskly with MMW tracking on my phone and wearing my unconnected fitness watch and looked up the activity of walking at roughly the speed I walked on mfp for the time I walked. I get 3 different numbers that vary pretty widely from MMW, the watch and mfp.
I don't log my exercise on mfp it is already set up through Fitbit1 -
Congratulations on the loss so far!
To maintain you need to eat all your calories regardless of how you feel about it.
It is not uncommon for issues to crop up when having large deficits over long periods of time. These don't get fixed by (unreasonably/deliberately) prolonging the period of eating less than actual maintenance calories. So increasing in chunks equal to 50% of the difference each chunk being at least 100 Calories makes much more sense to me than 100 Cal a week over 10 weeks. The first gets you most of the way there in a couple of weeks and all the way there in 4 to 5.
While types and quality of "steps" vary, I am 2" shorter, 2x+ your age, weigh about the same as you (~153), average 10% to 20% less steps a day (though admittedly a lot of them are on rough and hilly terrain) and eat 40% more calories to maintain/lose a touch.
So your starting point would be eating MOST (not just 50%) of that Fitbit number. Given that 20K steps is about 5K steps above very active, if you raise your activity level on MFP to very active that adjustment number will become much smaller. Maybe 50% of THAT number might be an acceptable start and adjusting based on your trendweight.com results after 4-6 weeks if female, or a good 3 weeks if male.
Just like you had that initial jump which then stabilized, you will probably have another whenever you insert more food into your system on a consistent basis. You should also start feeling a bit more energy and strength and be able to channel that into more effective strength training.2 -
CarvedTones wrote: »I have walked briskly with MMW tracking on my phone and wearing my unconnected fitness watch and looked up the activity of walking at roughly the speed I walked on mfp for the time I walked. I get 3 different numbers that vary pretty widely from MMW, the watch and mfp.
I don't log my exercise on mfp it is already set up through Fitbit
You are missing my point. I could use the number of calories from my fitness watch. I could use MMW; I have it set to auto log to mfp. I could use my pace and duration to enter it into mfp using the add exercise and choosing walking at the speed I was walking and enter the amount of time. Each of these alternatives would give me a different number and they can vary widely. Tracking exercise is not an exact science. I prefer to log just saw I can add my own little touch of voodoo. I usually log fewer calories than I get from other methods.1 -
CarvedTones wrote: »CarvedTones wrote: »I have walked briskly with MMW tracking on my phone and wearing my unconnected fitness watch and looked up the activity of walking at roughly the speed I walked on mfp for the time I walked. I get 3 different numbers that vary pretty widely from MMW, the watch and mfp.
I don't log my exercise on mfp it is already set up through Fitbit
You are missing my point. I could use the number of calories from my fitness watch. I could use MMW; I have it set to auto log to mfp. I could use my pace and duration to enter it into mfp using the add exercise and choosing walking at the speed I was walking and enter the amount of time. Each of these alternatives would give me a different number and they can vary widely. Tracking exercise is not an exact science. I prefer to log just saw I can add my own little touch of voodoo. I usually log fewer calories than I get from other methods.
You can adjust manually using your own knowledge and interpretation of the day to make adjustments.
Or you can off-load caloric expenditure measurement to an impersonal device (or other method that does not involve personal interpretation) that, as long as you keep your activity and exercise mix relatively constant, would be expected to have a relatively constant 'error' when compared to your food intake logging and real life results.
I believe the second method has some benefits when it comes to providing consistent and actionable information. And you still get to apply your knowledge of what is actually happening when it comes to deciding whether to believe the input you've received.0 -
Well, I do have MMW auto log, but I adjust it by walking a couple of miles before I start it.0
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I'm also 5'10" and my normal weight is 150 pounds (I'm on an odd flux right now and am 160). I'm 59. I use an apple watch and used a fitbit and before that to count my steps. I eat whatever part of that extra I'm hungry for, but no more. I've maintained fairly successfully (except the last six months) for 6 years.
You will need to watch your own body though. I found I can't eat all the calories MFP gives me - I had to drop 250 calories under that to maintain after the first year. Maybe it was my body. Maybe my logging didn't count all the extras. Once I made that adjustment, I could eat my calories back.
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stanmann571 wrote: »How are you able to walk 20-25k steps/day?
That would be a 9-10 mile and 4 hr hike for me, which I only do on rare occasions and would result in about a 1000 cal burn, all of which I would eat back to remain in maintenance.
If you actually do this that's fine but it's not sedentary but very active and probably will require a significant adjustment in your TDEE or NEAT estimate.
I usually wake up and do a 60 minute walk before work (office job, but still get a few thousand at work as well) and then another 60 minute walk after work.
I don't think that adds up to 20k steps - 10k at best. I wouldn't count the steps at work.
Accuracy in terms of steps is only important in terms of measuring the cals burned so that you know w/reasonable certainty how much food you should eat to remain in maintenance.
If you are basing your cal burn on 20k steps but are only actually taking 10k steps, you will probably overeat, gain wt and not remain in maintenance.
60 minutes at a brisk pace is 4-5 miles. at 2K steps per mile that's 8-10K, times 2 is 16-20k steps, plus incidental lifestyle easily gets to 20K.
Just what I was thinking. Even though I'm 4-5" shorter than OP, and more than twice his age, an hour of exercised-focused walking over flat to lightly-rolling terrain with hard surfaces is good for around 4 miles.
I don't know how you guys possible get that many steps in an hour walk. I have done this six years and I get 3500 steps in a brisk 3.5 mile route, which takes maybe 50 minutes. My husband - who is taller, but has shorter legs - gets 4700.
It takes me a good day of hiking to get 20K steps OR a day working in a professional kitchen or warehouse where I am walking constantly.1 -
stanmann571 wrote: »How are you able to walk 20-25k steps/day?
That would be a 9-10 mile and 4 hr hike for me, which I only do on rare occasions and would result in about a 1000 cal burn, all of which I would eat back to remain in maintenance.
If you actually do this that's fine but it's not sedentary but very active and probably will require a significant adjustment in your TDEE or NEAT estimate.
I usually wake up and do a 60 minute walk before work (office job, but still get a few thousand at work as well) and then another 60 minute walk after work.
I don't think that adds up to 20k steps - 10k at best. I wouldn't count the steps at work.
Accuracy in terms of steps is only important in terms of measuring the cals burned so that you know w/reasonable certainty how much food you should eat to remain in maintenance.
If you are basing your cal burn on 20k steps but are only actually taking 10k steps, you will probably overeat, gain wt and not remain in maintenance.
60 minutes at a brisk pace is 4-5 miles. at 2K steps per mile that's 8-10K, times 2 is 16-20k steps, plus incidental lifestyle easily gets to 20K.
Just what I was thinking. Even though I'm 4-5" shorter than OP, and more than twice his age, an hour of exercised-focused walking over flat to lightly-rolling terrain with hard surfaces is good for around 4 miles.
I don't know how you guys possible get that many steps in an hour walk. I have done this six years and I get 3500 steps in a brisk 3.5 mile route, which takes maybe 50 minutes. My husband - who is taller, but has shorter legs - gets 4700.
It takes me a good day of hiking to get 20K steps OR a day working in a professional kitchen or warehouse where I am walking constantly.
Sounds like your tracker is miscallibrated.
I consistently get 2000 steps to the mile with each of my trackers(I had 3, now 2-Misfit, Garmin, Jawbone) And that's whether I walk 1/2 mile or 5 miles. SO, if and when I walk 4-5 miles in an hour, I expect to get 8-10 thousand steps.2 -
The odd thing is that with my very inexact voodoo adjustments, I have stayed within 1.2 pounds for several weeks with widely varying amounts of daily exercise.0
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I'm short but agree with the step count. I walk 2 hours per day, generally 8 miles or so and I get 16k steps on average. I don't get many steps during the work day, but if I did it wouldn't be that hard to get another 3 or 4k steps in one day.0
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My step count seems to vary by speed. At 3.8 mph, it's pretty close to 2000 per mile. At 4.3 mph, it's more like 1850. I am using MMW to figure that out. It is pretty consistent about the speed to pace length (pace length obviously determines steps per mile). Pace length varies from person to person as well as by speed for the same individual. there is no universal formula.0
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I don't know how you guys possible get that many steps in an hour walk. I have done this six years and I get 3500 steps in a brisk 3.5 mile route, which takes maybe 50 minutes. My husband - who is taller, but has shorter legs - gets 4700.
It takes me a good day of hiking to get 20K steps OR a day working in a professional kitchen or warehouse where I am walking constantly.
I get around 8500 steps in an hour. Currently i'm usually wearing both an apple watch and a fitbit charge 2 (on different wrists), and they tend to vary by less than 1k steps (although the calorie burn reported by each is very different, with the apple watch reporting low calorie consumption compared to the fitbit -- the apple watch is what I have synced to mfp).
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fuzzylop72 wrote: »I don't know how you guys possible get that many steps in an hour walk. I have done this six years and I get 3500 steps in a brisk 3.5 mile route, which takes maybe 50 minutes. My husband - who is taller, but has shorter legs - gets 4700.
It takes me a good day of hiking to get 20K steps OR a day working in a professional kitchen or warehouse where I am walking constantly.
I get around 8500 steps in an hour. Currently i'm usually wearing both an apple watch and a fitbit charge 2 (on different wrists), and they tend to vary by less than 1k steps (although the calorie burn reported by each is very different, with the apple watch reporting low calorie consumption compared to the fitbit -- the apple watch is what I have synced to mfp).
10% variance is about what I see as well.0 -
My cheap Asian fitness watch and MMW on my phone track pretty closely; probably under 5% variance on steps. calories estimate is another story; the difference can be pretty dramatic.0
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stanmann571 wrote: »How are you able to walk 20-25k steps/day?
That would be a 9-10 mile and 4 hr hike for me, which I only do on rare occasions and would result in about a 1000 cal burn, all of which I would eat back to remain in maintenance.
If you actually do this that's fine but it's not sedentary but very active and probably will require a significant adjustment in your TDEE or NEAT estimate.
I usually wake up and do a 60 minute walk before work (office job, but still get a few thousand at work as well) and then another 60 minute walk after work.
I don't think that adds up to 20k steps - 10k at best. I wouldn't count the steps at work.
Accuracy in terms of steps is only important in terms of measuring the cals burned so that you know w/reasonable certainty how much food you should eat to remain in maintenance.
If you are basing your cal burn on 20k steps but are only actually taking 10k steps, you will probably overeat, gain wt and not remain in maintenance.
60 minutes at a brisk pace is 4-5 miles. at 2K steps per mile that's 8-10K, times 2 is 16-20k steps, plus incidental lifestyle easily gets to 20K.
Just what I was thinking. Even though I'm 4-5" shorter than OP, and more than twice his age, an hour of exercised-focused walking over flat to lightly-rolling terrain with hard surfaces is good for around 4 miles.
I don't know how you guys possible get that many steps in an hour walk. I have done this six years and I get 3500 steps in a brisk 3.5 mile route, which takes maybe 50 minutes. My husband - who is taller, but has shorter legs - gets 4700.
It takes me a good day of hiking to get 20K steps OR a day working in a professional kitchen or warehouse where I am walking constantly.
Just to be clear, since you chose my post to reply to: I can walk for miles at a time at around 4 miles an hour (varies, usually, between 3.9mph and 4.1mph as measured by my Garmin, depending on weather & energy level and such). This is exercise-type walking, getting out there and going for it, not walking at work. I've not said how many steps I get in a mile, because I don't have the slightest idea. I don't use any kind of step-counter device, just a GPS-based speed/distance one.
A significant chunk of OP's walking (2 hours daily, IIRC) was concerted walking. Since I can cover about 8 miles in that much time, I was agreeing with Stan, who was quibbling with someone who said it would take 4 hours to walk 9-10 miles when "hiking". In rough terrain, I could see that. On level, paved ground, that would be a really slow walk, if walking just to walk.
Walking at work is a whole other deal: One may be moving constantly, but typically not accelerating to max speed and staying there. I'm not dissing active jobs - I've had some - but it's different walking. OP's walking at work, even though it's deliberate, is probably more similar to the latter category.1 -
I walked 6.6 miles in 91 minutes today. My watch says that's about 12000 steps or about 132 steps a minute. Extrapolate that out and it would take me about 2.5 hours to walk 20,000 steps and it would be almost exactly 11 miles. So 2 hours + incidental walking seems about right.
Look how many fantasy calories Strava gave me for that, something I was referring to before about not knowing how many calories to add for an activity,
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Well I have had a pedometer, two fitbits, and an Apple Watch and they all give me the same numbers. I do take long strides. And I have calibrated them. Drives me crazy walking with my husband, who can get twice the steps on the same walk. Whatever it is, it gives an accurate calorie count because if I eat it back I don’t gain.1
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Young Chinese students 21.7 +/-2.
Females Height 166.2+/-5.4cm weight 59.6+/-8.3kg BMI 21.5+/-2.5 and
Males Height 175.7 +/-5cm weight 69.1+/- 8.4 BMI 22.4 +/-2.4
STEPS per minute range 95.71 to 131.00 with speed ranging from 3.8km/hour to 6.4km/hour
http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/3/1/e001801.full.pdf
Hence my saying that moderate activity walking *i.e. MET 3.0 to 6.0, which will be somewhere between 2.8mph and 4mph* will yield at least 100 steps a minute.2 -
I averaged 4.3 mph on the walk yesterday (data about 4 posts up) and roughly 130 steps per minute.
BTW, of the 1084 calories Strava wanted to give me, I left 443 on the table, so I accepted 641 or a little under 100 per mile. I still thought it was too much and then this morning I got the lowest weight I have seen so far (only by fractions of a pound). Yeah, I know it could just be "jitter" but I was expecting it to be about 2.5 pounds higher than it was. Wednesday I under reported some very strenuous SUP paddling (trying to keep up with 14' hard racing boards on a 9'6" inflatable board for over 4 miles) and that probably averaged out.
I broke my long string of days of being within a pound of 160 by weighing in at 157.8, but I have been within 2 pounds of 159 for even longer, probably 5 weeks or so.1
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