Calorie counter for exercise seems half

bryan3013
bryan3013 Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Why does the calorie counter for walking seem to only give you half credit for calories? If I walk 23,000 steps in a day I’m only credited with about 330 calories. That seems to half of what it should be for walking 10 miles. The numbers are similar for 5,000 or 17,000 steps. It always seems low by 50%.

Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,234 Member
    Do you have a tracker synced to MFP? If so, it'll only give you calorie credit when the activity your tracker sees exceeds the amount of activity MFP expects based on your "activity level" setting in your profile.

    Even "sedentary"/"not very active" includes an expectation of some activity calories. Since all kinds of daily life movement are part of activity level, there isn't an exact threshold, but quite a few people "sedentary"/"not very active" would include 3500-5000ish steps and the related calorie burn, so you'd only get calorie credit from a tracker sync beyond that.

    (The comparison happens in calories, not in steps, BTW. The tracker sees X calorie burn, MFP expects Y calorie burn. The burn can be steps or any other type of movement.)
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,270 Member
    How do you log your walking? Manually, or from a device?

    What activity level do you have set with MFP, and, if you have a device, with the device?

    If you have your activity level set high and you report steps, there's often an assumption that some of those steps are part of your daily activity. If so, you have to pass some threshold before you start "earning" calories.

    The best thing to do is to try and stay close to your goal and keep track of how far over/under you are day to day over time. Then use your weight changes to fine tune your normal goal. Over time you'll also learn how the exercise estimates might be off FOR YOU and make adjustments.

    The most important thing is to just stick to it. Make small changes as you learn. Go slow. STICK TO IT.
  • dougii
    dougii Posts: 679 Member
    I have found that entering my exercise calories manually works best. I currently use an Apple Watch to track my daily calorie burn and enter the prior days number first thing in the morning on the following day. Rather than tracking individual workouts on MFP I created an exercise called "Apple Calories" to use for my daily log.
  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,755 Member
    edited March 17
    bryan3013 wrote: »
    Why does the calorie counter for walking seem to only give you half credit for calories? If I walk 23,000 steps in a day I’m only credited with about 330 calories. That seems to half of what it should be for walking 10 miles. The numbers are similar for 5,000 or 17,000 steps. It always seems low by 50%.

    What do you have your activity level set at? It will generally only give you credit for any "extra" calories after you've already met the activity level that you have set.

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