About those 10,000 Steps
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Thanks for giving me some help...I am not a numbers person at all...in fact they make my head hurt....give me a new language or some speed reading and I do fine!....I know I am doing ok losing weight and walking more all the time...love my Fitbit reminding me to walk!...I am actually enjoying my journey and not taking too many detours along the way...I am a binge eater and kind of OCD ...some days I struggle and some days are easier than others....it is reassuring when we know we are going in the right direction...I really wanted to see if I could lose a little faster and I think I can but I don’t think it’s necessary if it makes it more difficult...it’s hard enough without making losing weight harder...who said that?....back to 1.5 this week!0
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@bemeadow380 - I get very few FitBit steps when grocery shopping if I am pushing a cart. Sometimes I'll try to push one handed, but generally I accept that I'm not getting "credit". On the other hand, if I am at a performance or sporting event I get extra steps for "clapping". So it's not perfect. Many years ago I had the FitBit One that I could clip to my bra - that was more accurate. But, it's okay. It's not like I'm burning many calories shopping anyway.
I did an aerobics class and it didn't register many steps over the 45mins, presumably because I stay in a smallish area rather than travelling any distance. It did, however, log over 50 floors and I got a badge
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maureenkhilde wrote: »I am trying to remember who posted about this on main threads. Someone with thousands of posts. Not Pav8888 who is very knowledgeable, but may have been involved on the post. I think it was someone who does a lot of running, and mentioned info was in a running magazine of some type.
The discussion was around steps counted on treadmill, elliptical and or cycling on an indoor bike and how the counts seem way off, and really do not count correctly.
I remember part of answer was along the lines of taking ones weight X a set number(more on this below) and taking that answer X how many minutes you did the exercise.
Set number
.30 average walk around 2.5 mph
.32 walking 3.0 sustained pace mph
.33 I use this one for indoor cycling
.34 This I think is for jogging and there was a mph hour for it, but I do not remember it
.36 Running
It did list elliptical but I do not remember I think it was .32 or .33
That it would give an estimated number of steps. I think I have it bookmarked somewhere. I look for it tonight.
thank you, Maureen! That could come in handy to double check my pedometer counts to make sure it isn't double counting, though I think what I got last night was fairly accurate for the length of time I was on the machine.
One thing to note, I'm not using a fitbit - I bought a cheaper version from a different retailer. The app it uses is VeryFitPro and the tracker itself was LetsCom fitness tracker HR on Amazon. So I'm not sure if the tricks for the fitbit will work with my device. And I searched long and hard, but still don't see a way to manually update the steps on this thing.
Right now, in comparing my pedometer to the fitness tracker, the only thing the fitness tracker has going for it is that its much more secure so I don't have to be afraid of losing it, and it's got a heart monitor. But all in all, I'm still thinking the pedometer is giving me a better count. Oh, and the fitness tracker can use GPS, so it might be registering the distance better - it seems to be pretty accurate in that department, registering that I walked approximately 1/2 mile the other day in a section that I knew was reasonably 1/2 mile. That information along with the time at least lets me set my speed correctly. The pedometer measures distance by stride length, which I'm not sure is very accurate.
But I'm not really liking that the fitness tracker is using the swinging of my arms to count by. Is there a type of fitness tracker out there that might have a better way of counting steps? it almost makes me want to find a way to strap the thing to my ankle instead! lol1 -
I did just see some interesting advice while poking around, looking for alternatives: apparently, unless its a high end device, wearing it on your dominate hand could throw it off - coincidentally, I was wearing the tracker on my dominate hand but the pedometer on the opposite side at my waist. I'll have to switch it up and see.
Alternatively, I've seen others saying wearing it on your ankle could be an option, though the heart rate obviously will be off and that apparently, the step count can be off. I'll think about this one. Though it really would be much easier if I could just manually update my information!
Does the fitbit or Garmin units allow for manual entries?1 -
Yes, you are supposed to wear the device on your less dominate side...I never had much luck with pedometers...I gotta say I love my Versa Fitbit...I got it on sale for $100 and it’s waterproof,too...I could never fit it around my ankle!..I don’t think you can put manual entries on any of them....0
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on a different note: I took advantage of the beautiful day and nice, wet snow we got last night, and let my inner child loose to build a snowman. Wonder how many calories that burns? It does involve going over my lawn, pushing an ever increasing size ball, and then picking up 3 of them to stack on top of the 4th, then shaping and packing.... lol3
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I faked my fitness tracker out this evening by putting it in walk mode and then letting the arm with the tracker swing while I did my elliptical workout. My steps were counted this time; however, I'm not sure if that will work because I felt slightly unbalanced - not off step or anything, but like I had my weight shifted to the side the hand was still on the handle. I did think I had better effort in my legs, though - less pushing on the handles, more pushing on the foot peddles.
In any case, that earned me enough calories to cover the snack I had on the way home (counting only 1/4 of the time).2 -
I got in over 12,000 steps today! And the night's not completely over yet! I took my brother in for out patient surgery for kidney stones (poor, poor guy!), and after giving the receptionist my number in case they needed to get in touch with me, I took a walk around the parking lot and then decided to walk down to my bank because I was needing some cash in a certain denomination. I was back in plenty of time - still sat in the waiting room for over 3 hours till he was ready to go home.
Anyway, I got in about 32 minutes total. Then, after coming home, I went down to our church's gym building and walked for another 57 minutes - and that building sits on a hill with the fellowship hall further up the hill above it - I made 8 figure 8 loops around the two buildings.
So that's a grand total of 89 minutes of purposeful walking exercise. However, when I figured my distance, it looks like I was only averaging about 2.6 to 2.7 mph, which MFP calls leisurely walking, which is a little disheartening because that was the fastest I was going to be able to go. Even when I was young and in better shape, the best speed I could get on a treadmill was about 3.3 mph; in real life, I'll be lucky to walk 3 mph.
I only counted about 22 minutes of the entire walk at 2.5 mph. I'm still having trouble with water weight - in addition to constipation problems and apparently healing muscles (I'm still a little sore from Monday's jiu-jitsu session!), TOM is on his way in anywhere from 2 to 5 days, and I'm suspecting from the way I feel, he's gonna be here sooner rather than later. This is really messing up figuring out if I'm eating back enough calories or not
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bmeadows380 wrote: »I got in over 12,000 steps today! And the night's not completely over yet! I took my brother in for out patient surgery for kidney stones (poor, poor guy!), and after giving the receptionist my number in case they needed to get in touch with me, I took a walk around the parking lot and then decided to walk down to my bank because I was needing some cash in a certain denomination. I was back in plenty of time - still sat in the waiting room for over 3 hours till he was ready to go home.
Anyway, I got in about 32 minutes total. Then, after coming home, I went down to our church's gym building and walked for another 57 minutes - and that building sits on a hill with the fellowship hall further up the hill above it - I made 8 figure 8 loops around the two buildings.
So that's a grand total of 89 minutes of purposeful walking exercise. However, when I figured my distance, it looks like I was only averaging about 2.6 to 2.7 mph, which MFP calls leisurely walking, which is a little disheartening because that was the fastest I was going to be able to go. Even when I was young and in better shape, the best speed I could get on a treadmill was about 3.3 mph; in real life, I'll be lucky to walk 3 mph.
I only counted about 22 minutes of the entire walk at 2.5 mph. I'm still having trouble with water weight - in addition to constipation problems and apparently healing muscles (I'm still a little sore from Monday's jiu-jitsu session!), TOM is on his way in anywhere from 2 to 5 days, and I'm suspecting from the way I feel, he's gonna be here sooner rather than later. This is really messing up figuring out if I'm eating back enough calories or not
I doubt 22 minutes is enough.
You could approach this from another angle. When you hit 12k steps you could look at a TDEE calculator and compare the difference between your current activity level and active. If 10k steps is active then 12k steps should be active at any speed.
Also, you will know in 6 weeks one way or the other if you stick to a consistent pattern.
I admit I am getting kind of anxious to get some of my exercise water weight back down enough to check my eating. I have been up 6-10 pounds for a month now. Since I am trying to recomp and eating maintenance I need to know if I am drifting up or down. I doubt I am actually maintaining perfectly. I suspect I am drifting down.2 -
I set myself to moderately active, enabled negative calories and don't log walking as exercise. Seems to work out nicely as I average 10-15k steps per day.0
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bmeadows380 wrote: »I got in over 12,000 steps today! And the night's not completely over yet! I took my brother in for out patient surgery for kidney stones (poor, poor guy!), and after giving the receptionist my number in case they needed to get in touch with me, I took a walk around the parking lot and then decided to walk down to my bank because I was needing some cash in a certain denomination. I was back in plenty of time - still sat in the waiting room for over 3 hours till he was ready to go home.
Anyway, I got in about 32 minutes total. Then, after coming home, I went down to our church's gym building and walked for another 57 minutes - and that building sits on a hill with the fellowship hall further up the hill above it - I made 8 figure 8 loops around the two buildings.
So that's a grand total of 89 minutes of purposeful walking exercise. However, when I figured my distance, it looks like I was only averaging about 2.6 to 2.7 mph, which MFP calls leisurely walking, which is a little disheartening because that was the fastest I was going to be able to go. Even when I was young and in better shape, the best speed I could get on a treadmill was about 3.3 mph; in real life, I'll be lucky to walk 3 mph.
I only counted about 22 minutes of the entire walk at 2.5 mph. I'm still having trouble with water weight - in addition to constipation problems and apparently healing muscles (I'm still a little sore from Monday's jiu-jitsu session!), TOM is on his way in anywhere from 2 to 5 days, and I'm suspecting from the way I feel, he's gonna be here sooner rather than later. This is really messing up figuring out if I'm eating back enough calories or not
I doubt 22 minutes is enough.
You could approach this from another angle. When you hit 12k steps you could look at a TDEE calculator and compare the difference between your current activity level and active. If 10k steps is active then 12k steps should be active at any speed.
Also, you will know in 6 weeks one way or the other if you stick to a consistent pattern.
I admit I am getting kind of anxious to get some of my exercise water weight back down enough to check my eating. I have been up 6-10 pounds for a month now. Since I am trying to recomp and eating maintenance I need to know if I am drifting up or down. I doubt I am actually maintaining perfectly. I suspect I am drifting down.
my current setting for MFP is sedentary. I have played around on an alternate account, and I think the difference between sedentary and lightly active is 290 calories. MFP tells me at my current weight, my sedentary calories are 1390 and lightly active are 1680. I've got my setting at 1450 - I'm finding that seems to be pretty close to the bottom of what I can sustainably eat as a deficit, so I already need to be getting 60 calories in a day of activity to keep to my 2 lb a week loss. But it is hard to figure out exactly what I am burning when I'm walking or doing my jiu-jitsu class. When I walk at work, its on a lot that has a slight incline, but nothing drastic. When I walk on my church's property, there is a fairly steep incline for a little under half of it and a descent for the other half. I've calculated my walking speed to be between 2.6 and 2.7 mph. At my class, the session lasts 1 1/2 hours, but I'm not active that entire time, especially since I'm new. Like tonight, for instance: I did roll some but I spent a lot of my time watching and trying to learn, so I might have been active maybe half that time? But MFP's entry for that has incredibly high calorie counts for that activity, which with how I am still a beginner and doing everything slowly, I I can't believe I'm coming in at even half that amount.
12,000 steps isn't normal for me - I'm usually getting in around 6,000 - or at least, that's what I've been able to get in for the last few weeks, though only about half of that is through low impact, intentional exercise, so I figure I still count as sedentary - or perhaps close enough to lightly active to account for that 60 calorie gap, anyway. I've seen so many different ideas on how many steps count for what level, that I'm still confused: one said 5,000 steps to bet the cut point between sedentary and lightly active, another said 7,500, and yet another said 10,000, so I don't know who to believe.
Next week is TOM, so water weight is going to be a problem, but after that is over, I'm going to compare my weight to what I had this time last month and see what I end up with; that is, if water weight isn't still being a problem.
6-10 lbs?!!! Yikes! and I thought my consistent 3 - 4 lbs was bad!
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I went back to 2/13 and checked: on 2/13, my weight was 269.2; yesterday morning, I recorded 262.4. I think I started this push to get more active around that 2/13 date, so even with all that activity, I've lost 6.8 lbs in the last 30 days, which is 1.7 lbs/week, if I divide that by 4, I'm only seeing a 1.7 lb a week loss, and that's by barely counting in my activity calories at all - the 1/4's to none I've been doing the last few weeks. That's rather disheartening because I've really been trying to make an effort to be more active, but it apparently isn't good enough to give me any decent results.0
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bmeadows380 wrote: »I went back to 2/13 and checked: on 2/13, my weight was 269.2; yesterday morning, I recorded 262.4. I think I started this push to get more active around that 2/13 date, so even with all that activity, I've lost 6.8 lbs in the last 30 days, which is 1.7 lbs/week, if I divide that by 4, I'm only seeing a 1.7 lb a week loss, and that's by barely counting in my activity calories at all - the 1/4's to none I've been doing the last few weeks. That's rather disheartening because I've really been trying to make an effort to be more active, but it apparently isn't good enough to give me any decent results.
I just wanted to say that we're similar stats, at least right now. I am set at 1400 calories, low carb but not keto and will eat more if my activity demands it. We are also similar weights, I am at 265.2. I have lost more than you recently, as I had a prolonged whosh after slow loss in February (down from 275 on Feb 27th). I am going to send you a friend request
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nicsflyingcircus wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »I went back to 2/13 and checked: on 2/13, my weight was 269.2; yesterday morning, I recorded 262.4. I think I started this push to get more active around that 2/13 date, so even with all that activity, I've lost 6.8 lbs in the last 30 days, which is 1.7 lbs/week, if I divide that by 4, I'm only seeing a 1.7 lb a week loss, and that's by barely counting in my activity calories at all - the 1/4's to none I've been doing the last few weeks. That's rather disheartening because I've really been trying to make an effort to be more active, but it apparently isn't good enough to give me any decent results.
I just wanted to say that we're similar stats, at least right now. I am set at 1400 calories, low carb but not keto and will eat more if my activity demands it. We are also similar weights, I am at 265.2. I have lost more than you recently, as I had a prolonged whosh after slow loss in February (down from 275 on Feb 27th). I am going to send you a friend request
@nicsflyingcircus thanks!
One thing that I find rather interesting, and I wonder if you've seen it too? The last time I weighed this little, I was in college. At that time, I was in 3X tops and 26W pants - I know, because I held onto 2 pair of my jeans from those days because they had been so comfortable and I couldn't get rid of them even after I got too big to wear them. Now, 20 years later, I'm back down to that weight again, but I'm now into size 20W pants mostly and am flirting with 2X tops! Amazing the vanity sizing changes over the years, isn't it? Or is it also partly due to how the fat is coming off?0 -
Now that I’ve abandoned the gym and “isolated” myself to the path in the park, I’ve taken my iphone along to count the steps a couple of times. The big loop = about 3150. I’ve been doing 2X. I think next week I’ll add another and that should get me close to10000 on a typical day figuring that just hanging around will get me about 500.2
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bmeadows380 wrote: »nicsflyingcircus wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »I went back to 2/13 and checked: on 2/13, my weight was 269.2; yesterday morning, I recorded 262.4. I think I started this push to get more active around that 2/13 date, so even with all that activity, I've lost 6.8 lbs in the last 30 days, which is 1.7 lbs/week, if I divide that by 4, I'm only seeing a 1.7 lb a week loss, and that's by barely counting in my activity calories at all - the 1/4's to none I've been doing the last few weeks. That's rather disheartening because I've really been trying to make an effort to be more active, but it apparently isn't good enough to give me any decent results.
I just wanted to say that we're similar stats, at least right now. I am set at 1400 calories, low carb but not keto and will eat more if my activity demands it. We are also similar weights, I am at 265.2. I have lost more than you recently, as I had a prolonged whosh after slow loss in February (down from 275 on Feb 27th). I am going to send you a friend request
@nicsflyingcircus thanks!
One thing that I find rather interesting, and I wonder if you've seen it too? The last time I weighed this little, I was in college. At that time, I was in 3X tops and 26W pants - I know, because I held onto 2 pair of my jeans from those days because they had been so comfortable and I couldn't get rid of them even after I got too big to wear them. Now, 20 years later, I'm back down to that weight again, but I'm now into size 20W pants mostly and am flirting with 2X tops! Amazing the vanity sizing changes over the years, isn't it? Or is it also partly due to how the fat is coming off?
I don't know how tall you are, but I am wearing 18W shorts from kohl's and they're not tight and 1x top from Catherine's or 2x tops from kohl's. My only pair of jeans that works right now is an old pair of 20w JMS ones and they are pretty dang loose.
Also my scrubs in one brand are a 2x and fit fine, but I hate them. My favorite scrubs are 3x in a different brand and if it wasn't for the drawstring, I'd have to drop at least a size in the pants. They are super baggy but I am cheap and scrubs are fairly pricey so I do the drawstring up and roll the waist. I will buy a new set when the top becomes more tent like. I am always bigger on top, mostly due to my arms.
At my top weight (about the same as yours) I wore a 26W pant and 4x tops, all from Catherine's.0 -
I think you girls are almost my size!...I am 5’9” ( although I think I am getting shorter as I get older!)...and weigh 279.... I started at 350.0 last May 28... my legs and arms are where I carry a lot of my extra weight...I wear a 2X top and 2X or 24-26 jeans...almost a 22....depends on the cut....I never wear a dress....I was in a 4X top and 28-30 pants....all of my bigger tops are now hanging almost to my lower thighs above my knees....I like to think I hide a lot of my pounds because my bust,butt and stomach are not super prominent...my arms and thighs are really getting flabby....sigh0
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conniewilkins56 wrote: »I think you girls are almost my size!...I am 5’9” ( although I think I am getting shorter as I get older!)...and weigh 279.... I started at 350.0 last May 28... my legs and arms are where I carry a lot of my extra weight...I wear a 2X top and 2X or 24-26 jeans...almost a 22....depends on the cut....I never wear a dress....I was in a 4X top and 28-30 pants....all of my bigger tops are now hanging almost to my lower thighs above my knees....I like to think I hide a lot of my pounds because my bust,butt and stomach are not super prominent...my arms and thighs are really getting flabby....sigh
I'm 5'9" as well, my ultimate high weight that I am aware of was 375.3 in April of 2014.
I actually got all the way down to 209 in May 2015 and eventually bounced back up to to 330ish in September of 2018, down to 260ish this time last year, back to 316 in September of 2019. I am caling it minor victory that I have never regained all the way up.
Anyway, I am on track right now, taking it a little easier this time, still aiming at 2 lbs a week but being more open to off plan and higher Cal days as long as I maintain my deficit overall. I have a family trip to Canada with camping and hiking this summer (June 23rd is outgoing flight) and I figure I'll shoot to lose another 25lbs in the intervening 13 weeks, but not be upset if I don't get there. As long as I am lighter and fitter, it's fine.2 -
I'm 5'8 1/2" - could never get that darn 1/2" lol
I've been over 200 lbs since junior high, but gained wait pretty steadily except for a short weight loss period while in college, and then just exploded after college, getting up to 381 lbs as my top weight in 2011. I managed to drop 90 lbs in 2012, but plateaued and then life and thyroid issues got to me and I regained all but 6 lbs of that back from 2012 to 2017, when I started losing again. I lost steadily through most of 2017, hit a plateau again, and over the next 18 months regained about 30 lbs or so until June of 2019, when I finally got it back under control and began slowly losing again, though agonizingly so because it was a creep at about 1 lb or less a week, with lots of water weight ups and downs until this January, when I finally had a click on in my brain and was able to consistently keep to deficit and its been coming off faster.
The weird thing for me is that back in 2000, when I last weight 260 something, my clothing sizes then were bigger than they are now that I'm back down to 260 in 2020. I'd chalk it up to vanity sizing except for hte fact that I kept that pair of jeans from college and blew through them when I was still above 300, and now, at 260 once again, the weight I was when I wore them in college, they are too big! So in 2000 - 260 lbs, I wore those size 26W jeans; in 2020 - 260 lbs, they are too big!
I managed to get in about an hour's walk today before it started raining, and got in over 6000 steps in that walk, which got me to my 5,500 step goal and then some - the counter is sitting at 8,300 now. I added in about 20 minutes of that which got me a few extra calories for dinner, and I'm about to hit my elliptical to try to get in another hundred or so, because I just finished dinner and I"m still hungry! I"m also about to be visited by TOM - I guessing if not tomorrow, then Monday, which also explains why I'm hungry......so today may be the first day in a month when I go over deficit.
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I have over 17k steps today but also 2200ish calories, mostly in restaurant Mexican and beer. I may have another beer that takes me over 2500.1
