Pedometer/calorie counter

I have recently purchased a pedometer that also tells me how many calories I burn in an average day. Should I count that towards my "excersize" ? Apart of me feels like it's cheating just so I can eat more. Any thoughts??

Replies

  • orhstay87
    orhstay87 Posts: 28
    I'm wondering about this too. I would think that some steps are built in to the calorie settings, but I would also think that if I walk more than normal I should be able to count that towards my cardio.
  • missyjane824
    missyjane824 Posts: 1,199 Member
    If it's showing the total daily burn you should not eat all the calories back unless you want to maintain the weight you are at.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    I have recently purchased a pedometer that also tells me how many calories I burn in an average day. Should I count that towards my "exercise"?
    If you're describing it correctly, your device is showing your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Your TDEE is your maintenance calories, so you must eat at TDEE minus a deficit to lose weight.

    Many activity trackers can be synced with MFP. Then MFP uses your tracker burn rather than your MFP activity level to calculate your daily calorie goal: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps Exercise calorie adjustments give you more calories to eat if your tracker says you've burned more calories than your activity level. If you enable negative calorie adjustments (in your diary settings), you lose calories if you've set your activity level too high.

    TDEE includes exercise, so if you use this method stop logging exercise—that would be double dipping.

    Edited to add that everybody's different, so it will take trial & error to find what works for you.