Calories Allowance + Steps = Quite High....

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lavster
lavster Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just wanted to check that the allowance im getting is correct for a 2lb weekly loss.

I am allowed about 1800 a day on MyFitnessPal before exercise, I have my fitbit synced which with 10,000 steps a day gives me about 2700 calories a day with my 2lb per loss aim.

Is this actually correct or should i not be eating this much?

Thanks

Replies

  • pcpop7
    pcpop7 Posts: 161 Member
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    900 extra for 10000 steps does seem a bit much. But this depends on your stats and I suppose how you are getting those steps. If you have quite a lot to l we abd are currently quite heavy then that extra for 10k steps would seem OK for those stats.
  • lavster
    lavster Posts: 2 Member
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    Great! thank you.
  • pcpop7
    pcpop7 Posts: 161 Member
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    All you can do is try and see how it works for you. Try for a couple of weeks and if your hitting goal then carry on. Else adjust how much your eating back.
  • CaptainJoy
    CaptainJoy Posts: 257 Member
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    lavster wrote: »
    Just wanted to check that the allowance im getting is correct for a 2lb weekly loss.

    I am allowed about 1800 a day on MyFitnessPal before exercise, I have my fitbit synced which with 10,000 steps a day gives me about 2700 calories a day with my 2lb per loss aim.

    Is this actually correct or should i not be eating this much?

    Thanks

    I was very active the first week of February and had between 12,000 and 18,000 steps per day. MyFitnessPal (MFP) upped my 1200 calorie allowance to between 1800 and 2100. I did eat those calories as I was out of town and meals were included in my trip. I had to estimate my calories so I might have eaten more but I gained one pound that week. It was no big deal and completely worth it but I know what works for me and that's between 1200 and 1400 calories to lose 2 lbs/week. If I had eaten 1700 calories per day I would have maintained or lost about one pound.

    Age, sex, height, and activity levels have a lot to do with how we burn calories. Think about aiming for 2000 calories for the first week and see how it goes. If you lose 3 pounds up your calories to what MFP suggests. If you maintain your weight or gain, lower it to 1800 for the next week. Find what works for you and good luck!
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Depends on your stats and how you got those steps. Try it for say 2 weeks and see what happens. Weight loss isn't linear, so one week want be enough time to tell if it's actually too much or not. Try to be as accurate with your calories logged as you can as well (food scale is better for accuracy then measuring cups, but measuring cups are better then eyeballing).
    If after a few weeks, it seems to be overestimating, you can go into fitbit's settings and adjust your height setting down to decrease the calorie burn estimation it gives.

    I've found my Fitbit to be fairly accurate for me.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    edited May 2016
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    It depends on how you get those 10k steps, if you ran them then yes, the calories would seem not far away.

    I've also found my Fitbit accurate with the burn. 10k for me would = around 400 calories burned but I'm at goal weight.(130lbs). Weight does figure in the burn.

    Over the next few weeks you'll see for yourself how accurate your Fitbit is for you. Its all about trial and error.
  • Kassi81
    Kassi81 Posts: 11 Member
    edited May 2016
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    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    It depends on how you get those 10k steps, if you ran them then yes, the calories would seem not far away.

    I've always had the understanding that walking and running the same distance burns the same amount of calories. The cardiovascular benefits will not be the same, but the calorie burn is equal. So whether I run 10,000 steps, or walk 10,000 steps, I should burn the same amount of calories at the end of the day.

    Can anyone shed some light on this?
  • emmadonaldson95
    emmadonaldson95 Posts: 179 Member
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    lavster wrote: »
    Just wanted to check that the allowance im getting is correct for a 2lb weekly loss.

    I am allowed about 1800 a day on MyFitnessPal before exercise, I have my fitbit synced which with 10,000 steps a day gives me about 2700 calories a day with my 2lb per loss aim.

    Is this actually correct or should i not be eating this much?

    Thanks

    Just dont eat back exercise calories then you're definitely good to go.
  • bannedword
    bannedword Posts: 299 Member
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    emmadonaldson95 wrote: »

    Just dont eat back exercise calories then you're definitely good to go.


    This is terrible advice.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    It depends on how you get those 10k steps, if you ran them then yes, the calories would seem not far away.
    Kassi81 wrote: »
    I've always had the understanding that walking and running the same distance burns the same amount of calories. The cardiovascular benefits will not be the same, but the calorie burn is equal. So whether I run 10,000 steps, or walk 10,000 steps, I should burn the same amount of calories at the end of the day.

    Can anyone shed some light on this?

    Running burns more calories over the same distance, which makes sense if you think about it -- you are engaging in more activity given the nature of the movements. Here's a discussion: http://www.runnersworld.com/peak-performance/running-v-walking-how-many-calories-will-you-burn
  • Kassi81
    Kassi81 Posts: 11 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    It depends on how you get those 10k steps, if you ran them then yes, the calories would seem not far away.
    Kassi81 wrote: »
    I've always had the understanding that walking and running the same distance burns the same amount of calories. The cardiovascular benefits will not be the same, but the calorie burn is equal. So whether I run 10,000 steps, or walk 10,000 steps, I should burn the same amount of calories at the end of the day.

    Can anyone shed some light on this?

    Running burns more calories over the same distance, which makes sense if you think about it -- you are engaging in more activity given the nature of the movements. Here's a discussion: http://www.runnersworld.com/peak-performance/running-v-walking-how-many-calories-will-you-burn

    Great info! Thank you for the link!
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Kassi81 wrote: »
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    It depends on how you get those 10k steps, if you ran them then yes, the calories would seem not far away.
    I've always had the understanding that walking and running the same distance burns the same amount of calories. The cardiovascular benefits will not be the same, but the calorie burn is equal. So whether I run 10,000 steps, or walk 10,000 steps, I should burn the same amount of calories at the end of the day.

    Can anyone shed some light on this?

    In addition to what lemurcat12 said, regarding fitbit, running stride is usually longer than walking stride (you take a wider step). So when fitbit detects running, it can recognize that the distance traveled per step is larger in case of running, which is why you can get nice burns in fewer steps. You traveled a larger distance per the same number of steps, AND you are functionally burning more calories per distance.

    Speaking of stride. OP do you have your stride length set up correctly? That would give you a more accurate estimate. If after you have set up your real stride and after couple of weeks you feel like you aren't losing as much as you are supposed to, make your stride length smaller, and it will give you smaller burns. Play around with it based on your weight loss.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    emmadonaldson95 wrote: »
    lavster wrote: »
    Just wanted to check that the allowance im getting is correct for a 2lb weekly loss.

    I am allowed about 1800 a day on MyFitnessPal before exercise, I have my fitbit synced which with 10,000 steps a day gives me about 2700 calories a day with my 2lb per loss aim.

    Is this actually correct or should i not be eating this much?

    Thanks

    Just dont eat back exercise calories then you're definitely good to go.

    That's not how MFP works. MFP gives you a calorie goal based on no exercise. You are supposed to fuel your workouts.

    If you are getting exercise calories from MFP, many people consider them to be inflated and suggest you only eat half or so of them back. Calories I get from my FitBit One are less generous as those from MFP, and I can safely eat all of them back.
  • sunfastrose
    sunfastrose Posts: 543 Member
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    I use a different tracking site, and when I connected my fitness tracker it seemed to double count the calories earned. I'd confirm the distance you are walking and see if you can figure average time so you can verify correct burn #s.
  • afatpersonwholikesfood
    afatpersonwholikesfood Posts: 577 Member
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    I have a secondary job on weekends doing commercial cleaning. I get a lot of steps on Fridays especially.

    I'm 5'10", 30, and 219 lbs. On Fridays, I spend 4-5 hours cleaning. It's at a resort, so there's plenty of walking involved. I'm always carrying a moderately heavy load while going from unit to unit; there are stairs, and I am scrubbing floors, mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing bathrooms, etc when not walking between units. Even so, I wouldn't call the cleaning vigorous. It's a mix of moderate and light activity. This past Friday, I also did a combination of jogging and walking to complete 3 miles in 45 minutes after I got home.

    I'm telling you all of this to give you a point of reference.

    My Fitbit stats for Friday (I keep it set to dominant as well despite wearing it on my non-dominant hand):

    18,730 steps
    124 active minutes
    4,053 calories burned - this took my goal for 2lbs per week from 1,280 cals (sedentary setting) to 3,000 calories.

    Looking back on a day where I got 10,000 steps solely by walking, I earned 600+ extra calories for doing so. Remember that this is going off of my starter goal being set for sedentary.

  • Kellryn
    Kellryn Posts: 139 Member
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    My fitbit is pretty accurate with the calories it gives me. 10K steps is about 400ish extra calories, where 18K(what I typically get) is 650 to 800 extra calories. That all depends on how much of the steps is active minutes. Now I don't get many active minutes usually, but when I do, I can get almost 1000 extra calories added to MFP. I eat back all but around 100 calories that fitbit gives me. I lose 2lbs. or more a week.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Just for comparisons sake. I'm 44, 5"8 and 147lbs. So far today I've done 13,600 steps and mfp has given me an extra 597 calories
  • heatherheyns
    heatherheyns Posts: 144 Member
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    Just as a reminder, the addition will depend on your settings. Someone who is set to sedentary will receive larger adjustments than someone set as active. The adjustment is the difference between what mfp thinks you will burn and what fitbit says you have. So, 10k could be 1000 calories in someone set as sedentary, but only 400 in someone set as active, and nothing in someone set as very active, despite identical stats.

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