Quality vs. Quantity of Calories Burned

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  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    I use Gaia gps for my walks so I know how long they are. I also enter the time at 2.0 mph even though I know I’m walking faster than that. And I shave off overall time just to be on the safe side (I take dogs out but they stop to sniff stuff, so my walk is 110 min, but I enter it as 90 min). I would rather underestimate and be happily surprised on weigh in day.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
    But even if you aren't burning as much as your fitbit was telling you, your absolutely right in that it's still activity and a very good activity from a health perspective and will help until you can get back to your normal routine!

    I personally have always just logged using MFP's activity database and counting about 75% of it. Some things I have to estimate big time - such as moving 30 lb cinderblocks for an hour - but the walking entries seem pretty accurate for me. I use a cheap fitness tracker that has a GPS mode to get my mileage and time, and then figure the calorie burn depending on how fast I was walking. Usually I'm around 3.3 mph, so I'll see what the calories were for 3.0 then for 3.5 and work out the math to get a number for my 3.3.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,749 Member
    You aren't wasting your time. Walking is a good healthy exercise that strengthens muscles, heart and lungs. It will improve your overall health. It just doesn't burn a lot of calories unless you do it for a long time or do a lot of hills.
  • ALZ14
    ALZ14 Posts: 202 Member
    brandigyrl81 wrote: »
    Height: 5'2
    Weight: 186
    Age: 38 BUT...I'm currently on some medication (cancer survivor) that puts me in a menopausal state

    I do use a Heart Rate Monitor

    I’m 5’3 and 182 and 39 years old, so very similar stats minus the medication. I wear an Apple Watch (Series 3) and I just got back from a 3.1 mile walk pushing a stroller with a 30 pound toddler and I burned an estimated 350 calories. The only time I’ve burned 1,000 calories in a day is when I got 20,000 steps (4 mile walk plus mowing the lawn plus general activity).

    I think your monitor is way off. No monitor is perfect, but that doesn’t sound right at all.

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