How to log mini stepper workouts

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SarahLangley35
SarahLangley35 Posts: 574 Member
in Fitness and Exercise

I have very limited space to work out right now and unless I'm going swimming right now our days get no lower than 90 so for my workouts I got one of those mini steppers but I can't see how to log them. I don't have a fitbit or anything so how should I log my workouts on it?

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,121 Member

    There are various ways to estimate exercise outside of MFP, but I have to admit I've never seen anything specific to a mini-stepper. Maybe you have a clearer handle on it, but my best guess would be that it's burn more calories than something like a walking pad, but substantially fewer than a full-blown stair climber machine.

    Much of the online info about stepper calorie burn is coming from marketers, which makes me think it may not be reliable, since they benefit if they exaggerate.

    I tend to be conservative about estimating exercise calories, i.e., to estimate on the lower side of the likely possibilities when I'm not sure. One option would be to think about how you feel doing some other activity you can log semi-realistically, like brisk walking. If the stepper feels a little more intense, maybe create a custom exercise with a calorie amount taken from a walking entry that's just a little faster, for example.

    I'm suggesting walking specifically partly because it's something most of us have a feel for, or can get a feel for, but also because the body movements are somewhat similar. (You say you swim, which is great; but I'd have trouble comparing how swimming intensity feels to stair-stepper intensity.)

    Subjective rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a speculative way to look at this, but it's the only idea I can think of. Maybe someone else will have a better idea.

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