If I have my activity level at 'active'

havalinaaa

Should I count the walking I do as an exercise, which would give me extra calories to consume, or should I assume MFP as worked that in for me? I walk a LOT on a daily basis, guess work with google maps has me estimating close to 15 miles on a work day; I'm a nanny in Brooklyn and I usually walk to work, plus lugging the kids around in their stroller all day. I'm thinking MFP already accounts for some of that walking, but maybe not all of it...

Also, most of that walking happens in fits and bursts. Walking to/from work takes between 20 and 30 minutes, depending on what client I'm going to, and the walking with the kids happens in about the same bursts, and are often slower paced.

brookjodie

It takes a little bit of adjusting I find... I started off saying that I was active at work but I wasn't really losing much weight and as soon as I changed it to less active (which allows for fewer calorie), the weight started coming off quicker.. Hope this helps.

MikeSEA

If it's something you do in your day-to-day, then I don't think it's something I'd log. The question would then be whether or not that activity level is correct. You're probably stuck with trying it out and seeing what the results are.

I'm a little weird though. I don't log my exercise even though I'm pretty darn sedentary, except I'm in the gym 6 days/week. I'm guessing the difference in tracking techniques is marginal.

barbiex3

you walk 15 miles a day?

so you're spending 5 hours a day just walking?

Maybe you should use your BMR + calories burned while walking for 300 min... add that... then subtrace 500. that will give you a close estimate

barbiex3

you walk 15 miles a day?

so you're spending 5 hours a day just walking?

Maybe you should use your BMR + calories burned while walking for 300 min... add that... then subtrace 500. that will give you a close estimate

http://www.everydayhealth.com/calories-burned-walking.htm

havalinaaa

5 hours sounds about right!

But it doesn't all happen at once, it's in 20-30 minute bursts between periods of sitting on my bum. Like, walk to work - 20 minutes of walking at a quick pace, get to work and sit down with kids for a while, walk to park - 20 minutes of medium pace walking (unless a 2 year old wants to walk, in which case its a VERY slow pace), get to park and sit on edge of sandbox for a while, walk circles around playground while they work on their scooter/bicycle/roller blading, sit down while they run up and down the slide for an hour... etc. I've been trying to log exactly how far I walk in a day, but without a pedometer it's proving rather difficult.

Guess I'll give it a week or two and see what the scale says, then adjust if needed. I also highly suspect my body is coming out of starvation mode and am expecting a bit of a weight increase from that.