Brand new...how to track excercise

lofty3
lofty3 Posts: 3
edited November 12 in Getting Started
on set up I clicked " light activity" for work. so now I am wearing a fitbit and track between 4000 to 7000 steps at work. those steps then get converted to calories burned. They show up on MFP as excercise. My question is... should they though.. because they are part of " light activity" . My understanding is that by clicking that " light activity" button my automatic caloric expediture for the day is upped ( compared to someone who is completely sedentary) and that is used in calculation how many calories I can eat to loose a certain amount of weight. I'm basically concerned that I am double counting a caloric expenditure.

thanks:)

Replies

  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,890 MFP Moderator
    I always find it too complicated to choose anything except sedentary on MFP. Then I know for sure whatever I "earn" from exercise is really earned. Although I only count half - so if my fitbit says I burned 200 cals doing Zumba I only enter 100. I think if you were to take fewer steps, when you sync your device with MFP it would actually take away calories? If not and it just adds every day you may very well be doubling up. Which fitbit are you using?
  • celticlass69
    celticlass69 Posts: 61 Member
    I have a fitbit one and when exercising I use a polar ft7 with hr monitor. I also use this site to guestimate calories burned you may find it helpful. www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc As far as your steps go, it rates them depending on how fast your are walking. ie. a fast walk will register as more active than a casual pace. Hope this helps.
  • raulozzi
    raulozzi Posts: 5
    edited February 2015
    Hey lofty, what I've always done is selected my personal level of activity (for me it's high) put myself on a 2800 calorie a day plan. Now at work I normally walk between 10,000 and 20,000 steps as just part of everyday. Then on top of that I do my workouts. Entering all that in mfp it may say I burned 700 calories for example. So at the end of the day that 700 calories burned will be added to the calories I should consume (taking me from 2800 to 3500 calories a day) but this is only if I am trying to maintain weight. If you are trying to lose weight then you don't want to add those calories back in. So I would still only consume 2800 calories not 3500.

    So in the end what I'm saying is don't worry about it adding that in and trying to decipher if it is messing with your daily intake or what you should eat. Just consume however many calories you are supposed to and let the calories you've burned remain for the best weight loss results.

  • lofty3
    lofty3 Posts: 3
    thanks.... that makes more sense. on workdays I will not get 10000 steps but then I won't be over consuming either...as a nurse I can't wear anything on my arms and putting the fitbit in a pant pocket will surly end with it being laundered. So I'll leave those days alone and just focus on exercising daily on my days off ....averaging out each week. I lost weight once before just by keeping at or below the caloric intake I was supposed to have and any exercise was just extra.

  • mrengineer001
    mrengineer001 Posts: 27
    sugaraddict4321 wrote: »
    I always find it too complicated to choose anything except sedentary on MFP. Then I know for sure whatever I "earn" from exercise is really earned. Although I only count half - so if my fitbit says I burned 200 cals doing Zumba I only enter 100. I think if you were to take fewer steps, when you sync your device with MFP it would actually take away calories? If not and it just adds every day you may very well be doubling up. Which fitbit are you using?

  • Victoriamrs
    Victoriamrs Posts: 99 Member
    Since starting MFP I use the following mantra, food will always be underestimated and exercise overestimated. Therefore I log all my food and exercise as best I can. I will then stay within my daily calorie goal even if my exercise states I earned an extra 700 calories from exercise I won't eat it back and just count it towards my weight loss.
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