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Do you log your pedometer calories?

DelishiaDanielle
DelishiaDanielle Posts: 10 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello everyone! I just started wearing a pedometer to track my steps and calories burned through out the day. I know that there is a reasonable expectation of steps that are average for a day but I go above and beyond. I'm hardly ever standing still. I'm a teacher. I walk and dance during announcements and I pace in class constantly. Every chance I get, I'm moving. Well Friday was my first day back wearing a pedometer and I wanted to get 10,000 steps in (I read that was a good goal lol). I got 14,000 steps, 5 miles and over 700 cals. I know that some of those were just regular steps through out the day but a lot of those were steps that I intentionally took. Do you ever count your steps as exercise? If so, what's a good rule of thumb? Next week I'll have it on when I exercise and walk a few miles so I know I need to count at least a portion of these steps. Any advice? HELP! :)

Replies

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Hello everyone! I just started wearing a pedometer to track my steps and calories burned through out the day. I know that there is a reasonable expectation of steps that are average for a day but I go above and beyond. I'm hardly ever standing still. I'm a teacher. I walk and dance during announcements and I pace in class constantly. Every chance I get, I'm moving. Well Friday was my first day back wearing a pedometer and I wanted to get 10,000 steps in (I read that was a good goal lol). I got 14,000 steps, 5 miles and over 700 cals. I know that some of those were just regular steps through out the day but a lot of those were steps that I intentionally took. Do you ever count your steps as exercise? If so, what's a good rule of thumb? Next week I'll have it on when I exercise and walk a few miles so I know I need to count at least a portion of these steps. Any advice? HELP! :)

    I would recommend upping your activity level.....instead of logging miles. Logging miles is going to be a very "generous" number. Many people who eat calories back eat between 50-75% because the estimated numbers are so high.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    A couple ideas--

    Take a day or two when you don't intentionally add steps/exercise but do go to work and see what your count is. If it's 2 miles walked, use that as your baseline/normal steps and consider anything above that level 'exercise'.

    I used to use Weight Watchers etools with a Fitbit. It has a field to add your total steps for the day and it just considers a portion of them 'added activity', just based on normal human activity levels. I think I had to get to 4500 or so steps before it started counting any as 'exercise'. That actually did coincide with my own, observed 'sedentary' days, too.

    5 miles and over 700 calories for walking is very, very generous, unless you're very large. My Fitbit is generous at around 100 calories/mile. Most online calculators would estimate for me it's closer to 50-70. Your pedometer is giving you 140.
  • DelishiaDanielle
    DelishiaDanielle Posts: 10 Member
    I will be walking/jogging also...doing a few miles a day. I think I'll just Google what's the average amount steps walked per day. I don't want to eat back these calories. It will just help motivate me because I can SEE that I walked an extra mile or two with my extra moves. It's for my motivation that's all :)

    Thanks for your help!

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