Stepper - how do you track it?

LilRock25

So I ordered one of those viral TikTok steppers off Amazon. But I have no idea how to record this in exercise.

Putting in "step" either pulls up step aerobics or stair climber. While its a work out, I don't feel like the calorie burn for these is accurate. I don't typically eat my exercise calories, they just become a buffer in case I go over 1 day. But I also don't want to track something that is way off.

Thanks!

AnnPT77

It's a walking-like motion, I'm thinking?

Maybe consider one of the walking entries in the database. Make your best guess at intensity (pace), but I probably wouldn't go above the "3.0, mod. pace" level. It may feel more than moderate, but you're not propelling your body forward through space. That's just a guess, but maybe not terrible if you want to be somewhat conservative.

Unwanted extra advice: Be very, very careful about viral advice from TikTok about diet or exercise. There's a lot of nonsense out there, unfortunately.

Best wishes!

MargaretYakoda

I use a recumbent elliptical for my exercise.
There’s no “recumbent elliptical” in any database anywhere I’ve ever seen.

What I do is set an “elliptical” exercise on my Apple Watch (Garmin also has a good reputation. Fitbit also has their fans)

I then enter elliptical in my diary here and adjust the time to match the calories my watch recorded.
I don’t have my watch linked in MFP because I love to exercise after midnight. MFP counts that as the next day, and I don’t.

This, of course, requires a step or exercise tracker of some kind.

If you don’t have one, and your stepper is an under desk peddling device? I’d use “walking, slow” and enter the time.
If it’s one of those things with two platforms and some springs? I would put it under “walking, upstairs”

AnnPT77

MargaretYakoda wrote: »

I use a recumbent elliptical for my exercise.
There’s no “recumbent elliptical” in any database anywhere I’ve ever seen.

What I do is set an “elliptical” exercise on my Apple Watch (Garmin also has a good reputation. Fitbit also has their fans)

I then enter elliptical in my diary here and adjust the time to match the calories my watch recorded.
I don’t have my watch linked in MFP because I love to exercise after midnight. MFP counts that as the next day, and I don’t.

This, of course, requires a step or exercise tracker of some kind.

If you don’t have one, and your stepper is an under desk peddling device? I’d use “walking, slow” and enter the time.
If it’s one of those things with two platforms and some springs? I would put it under “walking, upstairs”

You may be right, but FWIW, I'd hesitate to use "walking, upstairs" in the exercise database for this. I looked at the calories for that before recommending one of the regular walking ones. The "upstairs" one has a pretty big calorie allocation, quite close to the number of calories for "stair climber" that I believe may be the one OP thinks is too high, and also close to the "step aerobics, 6-8" step". I'm skeptical that those two-platform things burns quite that many calories, too.

LilRock25

You may be right, but FWIW, I'd hesitate to use "walking, upstairs" in the exercise database for this. I looked at the calories for that before recommending one of the regular walking ones. The "upstairs" one has a pretty big calorie allocation, quite close to the number of calories for "stair climber" that I believe may be the one OP thinks is too high, and also close to the "step aerobics, 6-8" step". I'm skeptical that those two-platform things burns quite that many calories, too.

This is what I ordered & use. It's like a walking motion but much higher resistance. And yes, I put in for the stair climber & was like "there's no way I burned 200 calories in 15 minutes"

I don't follow any of the weight loss advice on tiktok, I just thought it looked like an easy way to work out at home & doesn't take up much space to store it.

AnnPT77

LilRock25 wrote: »

You may be right, but FWIW, I'd hesitate to use "walking, upstairs" in the exercise database for this. I looked at the calories for that before recommending one of the regular walking ones. The "upstairs" one has a pretty big calorie allocation, quite close to the number of calories for "stair climber" that I believe may be the one OP thinks is too high, and also close to the "step aerobics, 6-8" step". I'm skeptical that those two-platform things burns quite that many calories, too.

This is what I ordered & use. It's like a walking motion but much higher resistance. And yes, I put in for the stair climber & was like "there's no way I burned 200 calories in 15 minutes"

I don't follow any of the weight loss advice on tiktok, I just thought it looked like an easy way to work out at home & doesn't take up much space to store it.

Thanks - that's helpful to visualize.

I'd predict that the resistance adds some extra goodness fitness-wise, perhaps some but not huge additional calorie burn. I admit I'm speculating, on the basis that the resistance adds some strength-y challenge, and strength exercise tends to burn fewer calories than equivalent duration purer cardio. (That doesn't make strength exercise bad or lesser: It's that the goodness of strength exercise delivers different benefits.)

You're probably right that 800 calories/hour is high, but this is a thing where current body weight influences calorie burn, since the body is in part working against gravity. (I may have biased perceptions. I have to be doing pretty intense cardio to get much above 400 calories/hour, but I'm in maintenance now at around 130 pounds/59 kg.)

This does look like a useful/compact/affordable home device as a good starter. I'm glad to hear you're not a Tiktok disciple. I apologize for being a little reactive: I've seen folks show up here with some "interesting" (to be diplomatic) ideas from Tiktok.

All the best!

MargaretYakoda

@LilRock25 I’d be interested in a review after you’ve used it for a couple months.