Calories from steps

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thrashersara88
thrashersara88 Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
If I select my activity level and I am allowed a certain amount of calories for it then why do I get even more calories for my steps?

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  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited August 2015
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    What device is MFP using to determine your steps?

    With devices like Fitbit/jawbone/vivofit you only get extra calories if you burn more calories than MFP estimated you would at your selected activity level.

    If it's just using your phone, then I don't know how it determines what to add.
  • thrashersara88
    thrashersara88 Posts: 27 Member
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    It's just MFP using the steps from my phone.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,866 Member
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    After how many steps are you getting the adjustments?

    The ROUGH correspondence is:

    3500 to 5000 = sedentary MFP
    around 7500 = lightly active MFP
    above 10,000 = active MFP
    above 12,500 = highly active MFP
    above 15-16K = area where you start getting positive adjustments above highly active.

    So, if you're setup as active and you do 12,500 steps you will likely be getting an positive adjustment.
    But if you're setup as highly active you might not get one, or get a very small one instead.
  • Aprilmeyers13
    Aprilmeyers13 Posts: 6 Member
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    I wish! Lol. Im highly active, using MVP first with a fitbit charge and now with a garmin vivosmart. I do 20k a day easy and never get an adjustment for steps. Im not sure how it works because I've never gotten one
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
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    That's strange! I know that with choosing sedentary on MFP, I get a positive adjustment at 1300 steps (fitbit).
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,866 Member
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    nevapor wrote: »
    I wish! Lol. Im highly active, using MVP first with a fitbit charge and now with a garmin vivosmart. I do 20k a day easy and never get an adjustment for steps. Im not sure how it works because I've never gotten one

    Are you set-up with positive and negative adjustments and your accounts connected?

    The approximate figures are approximate because I haven't necessarily personally gone through every level.

    I am set-up as highly active in MFP and regularly get a positive adjustment when I am over 15,750 fitbit steps.

    HOWEVER, I have gotten a positive adjustment off highly active as early as at 12,000 steps, and NOT gotten a positive adjustment till well over 16,500 steps on one occasion depending on time of day and "bouts/duration" of step based activity.

    Your Mileage May Vary :smiley:
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    nevapor wrote: »
    I wish! Lol. Im highly active, using MVP first with a fitbit charge and now with a garmin vivosmart. I do 20k a day easy and never get an adjustment for steps. Im not sure how it works because I've never gotten one

    With Fitbit and Garmin, your adjustments aren't based on the number of steps but on a calorie burn comparison. If you are not getting one then you are either A) not meeting MFP's estimated calorie burn for you (turn on negative adjustments and it will reduce your calories) or B) You are meeting MFP's estimated calorie burn for your activity level
  • dcoyle4040
    dcoyle4040 Posts: 22 Member
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    If you have your activity level set to ACTIVE MFP estimates the calories based on that level. It wont show a positive adjustment until you surpass the estimate that MFP has put in for you. You could set your activity level lower and let the tracker adjust. Just be careful because it will also adjust your calorie intake for someone that is less active. I set mine to show the negative so I can push a little harder to get some extra calories at the end of the day.
  • Phelper
    Phelper Posts: 7 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    After how many steps are you getting the adjustments?

    The ROUGH correspondence is:

    3500 to 5000 = sedentary MFP
    around 7500 = lightly active MFP
    above 10,000 = active MFP
    above 12,500 = highly active MFP
    above 15-16K = area where you start getting positive adjustments above highly active.

    I put my activity level as Sedentary. My pedometer is offline, I have to enter steps into MFP manually. Does your chart above mean that if I walk 10,000 steps a day, I should only enter 5k-6k into MFP because MFP already assumes 3500 to 5000?
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,866 Member
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    Phelper wrote: »
    I put my activity level as Sedentary. My pedometer is offline, I have to enter steps into MFP manually. Does your chart above mean that if I walk 10,000 steps a day, I should only enter 5k-6k into MFP because MFP already assumes 3500 to 5000?

    I have no idea how you are going about entering your steps into MFP manually :smile:

    MFP assumes a general activity level and then gives you credit separately for deliberate exercise.

    A rough way of estimating activity levels comes from counting steps taken and/or counting minutes of activity that have taken place.

    A sedentary activity level INCLUDES approximately 3500 steps or 35 minutes of non sitting activity in a day.

    More extensive activity would properly belong to a different level.

    IF I understand your question correctly... the answer is yes, you should only enter 5-6K steps as a separate exercise.
  • Phelper
    Phelper Posts: 7 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Phelper wrote: »

    I have no idea how you are going about entering your steps into MFP manually :smile:

    A sedentary activity level INCLUDES approximately 3500 steps or 35 minutes of non sitting activity in a day.

    IF I understand your question correctly... the answer is yes, you should only enter 5-6K steps as a separate exercise.

    Yes, you understood my question correctly.

    I simply add a "cardio exercise" to the day, and label it "10,000 steps" and assign it an arbitrary calorie count. I was reading that walking 10,000 steps was 300 to 500 calories. I call it 400 just to be safe.

    Since sedentary includes 3,500, I'll just multiply 400 calories by .65, and log the manual exercise as a gain of 260 calories for the steps 3,500 - 10,000.

    Thanks!

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