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Regular day to day walking

Feener99
Feener99 Posts: 8 Member
edited March 4 in Fitness and Exercise
So if I walk 5000 steps per day (fitbit or pedometer) doing regular things such as walking to and around work, around the house, checking the mail, etc........can this be counted under exercise? If so, how?

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I would personally just count that activity in my activity level. IMHO, there is a difference between walking as a form of deliberate exercise and just walking around in order to perform day to day stuff...I don't consider my walking to the bathroom from my desk to be deliberate exercise...I don't consider shopping for the groceries to be deliberate exercise...I don't consider taking a parking spot further from my office building so I have to walk further to be deliberate exercise, nor do I consider the fact that I take the stairs in lieu of the elevator to be deliberate exercise. I consider these things to be a part of my NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) and things like taking the stairs and being on my feet more and parking further away, etc can make modest improvements to my NEAT...but they aren't exercise per sei.

    Waking up and walking my dog for 3 miles is deliberate exercise...climbing the stairs for 45 minutes during my lunch break is deliberate exercise, run/walk 5 miles to my gym is deliberate exercise.

    Keep in mind also that even if your activity level is set to sedentary, there is some estimate of required calories for some walking around included in your calorie goal. Your calorie goals includes requisite calories for simply existing as well as mundane daily activities.
  • cosmiqrust
    cosmiqrust Posts: 214 Member
    the only one of those i would consider counting is walking to work, depending on how far you are from work. don't listen to me on that if you live across the street from your workplace. otherwise it's just necessary daily activity.
  • sweetd6
    sweetd6 Posts: 74 Member
    We all have a "baseline" of activity that would not get us any extra calories and would not need to be "documented". I have my activity level set at sedentary, and until I get past about 5,000 steps I won't get any extra calories from Fitbit, it just thinks that amount of steps is what it takes for normal daily living and getting around. Of course the speed of the steps matters too, if you walk fast you'll get to that baseline level in less steps.
  • RunnerElizabeth
    RunnerElizabeth Posts: 1,091 Member
    I walk bare minimum 4 miles a day to get around. Usually more like 5 or 6, sometimes more like 10. I don't count any of it. This has been my lifestyle for 15 years. I just set myself to lightly active even though i have a desk job and only eat back exercise calories from organized exercise (5 mile run, 30 minutes calisthenics, 2 hour bike ride, things like that.) When I'm diligent with food tracking, I lose weight this way. If i counted that as exercise, I think I'd start to have a problem.
  • DAM5412
    DAM5412 Posts: 660 Member
    The only thing which I count as exercise are those activities which I do just for health/fitness reasons. The steps I take daily, keeping my home organized, walking around the office during the day, steps while food shopping or any other daily activity I do not count as exercise.
  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
    I walk about 5-8 miles a day including a 1 hr deliberate walk. I don't count any of it according to MFP (and I ignore the calorie adjustment that comes from my Garmin Vivofit). I do manually set my calorie intake in MFP though, so it's all accounted for one way or another.

    I'm more interested in counting exercise which gets my heart rate up a bit, and walking doesn't do that for me any more even though I love it.
  • Feener99
    Feener99 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks everyone. I understand the deliberate vs routine walking but just thought that with the 5000 routine steps per day would give me another 50-100 points that I can use to eat a little something extra. That's a big motivating factor for me.
  • maoribadger
    maoribadger Posts: 1,837 Member
    I'm set to lightly active but am hitting 12000-18000 steps a day depending on my schedule. I let my Fitbit add calories to my exercise amount but choose not to eat my exercise calories so I'd take it as a bonus personally
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