Do you use the step calorie adjustments or just exercise?

sdhoward81
sdhoward81 Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone,

I have some questions about using the step tracker apps from my iphone to estimate calories burned. I work a job on my feet and usually walk 8-10 miles a day, plus I have 2 children under 4 at home in the evenings so I stay on my feet the entire day. On my days off however, am closer to 4 miles a day.

For years I have eaten just about as unhealthy as can be but have maintained my weight (higher than I want it to be, but steady at least) so clearly the amount of walking does burn off calories. My legs are nicely toned, I just have the pesky baby weight in the midsection to lose and walking doesn't workout your core much.

My calorie adjustment from MFP is usually between 275-325 calories for the day.
I have it set to lose 2 lb per week and I am allotted the 1200 for that plus the extra calories for the day. According to MFP I need 1940 calories per day to maintain my current weight around 170lb. If I switch the setting to "active" then I would get 1480 calories per day.

What are your thoughts on the steptracker counts...does that seem like a realistic amount of calories to count as burned?? Online it says you would burn close to 1000 calories for 10 miles but that just seems silly to me (maybe if I was power walking, but not the way I do throughout the day).

So the other question, do I use the extra calories for the day? Or do I ignore them and just count extra workouts and activities?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Replies

  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
    You shouldn't be tracking steps, you should have your level of activity set differently, so you should be set to active, possibly higher (whichever one they suggest for waitress from the sounds of how much you move). This counts for the general standing and walking, meandering, etc. that we do throughout the day.

    Also, if you're struggling with the calorie allotment, try making your goal less severe. 2 pounds a week is for if you have more than 50 pounds to lose, which it doesn't sound like you do.
  • sdhoward81
    sdhoward81 Posts: 3 Member
    Thanks for the advice, I used an online calculator to determine my calories using BMR and came up with 1666 as a base for the day for my weight loss goal and activity level. I should get closer to 1900 calories on the days I exercise. Both of which seem more reasonable to stick with :)
  • lolybear
    lolybear Posts: 8 Member
    Me and my family all use the adjustments from the step counter. However, I will also advise you to turn on negative adjustments as well.

    For me, I'm 5'7 and 144lb, trying to lose the last 9lb. I work a super sedentary desk job. MFP gives me my 1lb/week goal as 1270, which means I need to be burning 1770 on a daily basis. Because I drive to and from work there's not a ton of walking I get in, but I'm working on it! So if I only manage 3000 steps in a day, according to Fitbit (my step counter) I don't even burn 1770, I burn more like 1650-1700. So Fitbit posts a negative adjustment to MFP, so my daily calories drop from 1270 to 1200. (It won't drop me past 1200, which is fine.)

    If I walk a lot in a day, then Fitbit will come back saying I burned say 1950 calories, so I'll get an exercise adjustment of +180.

    On Saturday, I went biking, but didn't do much else that was active (laundry in the morning, dinner and a movie in the evening). I burned about 900 cycling, but wasn't otherwise active, so Fitbit posted an adjustment of -200 for the day (so really I only got 700 for my cycling).

    So yes, I would say to use it, but to turn on negative adjustments if you're going to rely on it.

    Hope that helps!
  • ksuh999
    ksuh999 Posts: 543 Member
    The steps adjustment seems very low, at least for me.

    If you add in exercise, it will ask for the time when you did the exercise and then adjust the steps accordingly.

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