Question about tracking walks in MFP

shadesofjaim
shadesofjaim Posts: 11 Member
edited June 2016 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone. Quick question. I see people on my MPF feed tracking their walks. For example: "Lynn burned 206 calories doing 50 minutes of walking, 3.0 mph, moderate pace."

I take a lot of walks in the evening, but the app is already tracking my steps and adjusting my calories accordingly. Wouldn't tracking my walks as exercise double it up, since the app is already tracking my steps?

Do my friends who track walking maybe have the steps adjustment in their apps turned off, and they just track their walking as exercise instead? Or maybe they log everything on a computer so they are not getting the steps adjustment?

What do you all do for tracking your walking? Steps, or manually plug it in as an exercise?

Would like your input. Thanks! :)

Replies

  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
    My fitbit automatically syncs my steps over. Before I got it, I used Google Fit to sync my exercise over. I hated manually adding in my exercises lol.
  • haviegirl
    haviegirl Posts: 230 Member
    Same with me. I let my Fitbit track my walks, I don't enter it manually.
  • cecsav1
    cecsav1 Posts: 714 Member
    I turn off the steps adjustment. I just figure my normal daily walking is considered in my TDEE. If I go for a walk, I use Map My Fitness to track distance, time, and calories.
  • CaptainJoy
    CaptainJoy Posts: 257 Member
    I use Map My Walk and have it synced to my Fitbit and MFP. I do it this way because it automatically sends my time exercising and calorie burn to my newsfeed and that's motivation for my friends. The exercise portion of my walks isn't doubled and both MFP and Fitbit adjusts the step burn so I don't get double credit.

    I do have problems logging swimming though. MFP's negative adjustments deducts calories burned from my step activity and leaves me with fewer available calories. I've tried logging the swimming on Fitbit and had the same MFP adjustment problems. Since I usually only eat back half of the calories I burn from exercise, I don't let it bother me.
  • CincyNeid
    CincyNeid Posts: 1,249 Member
    I use Wahoo Fitness to track my walks then push the data to my Garmin Connect account. [So I have record of my walks]

    Garmin doesn't give me any extra calories for walks, since they are included in my step count for the day.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
    i don't have anything synced with mfp, i wear a HRM and enter all my exercise manually. some of my walks i don't consider "exercise". Can anyone say control freak?
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    edited June 2016
    Runkeeper automatically tracks my walks of about 15 minutes or more and syncs them with MFP. I have negative adjustments on, so it doesn't double count. This does get annoying when I run and MFP only credits me with a portion of my calories burned, but I figure it helps me not eat all my exercise calories back.
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,138 Member
    I use Map My Run (which is another UA app that syncs with MFP) and it tracks walking/running/etc. It automatically syncs with MFP for me.

    You are correct though, some people can end up double-dipping if they track steps AND track the activity. I know my step tracker in my phone doesn't kick in with a calorie adjustment until I get up well over my step goal of 7,000 (usually I have to get to 12,000-13,000+ before I see anything). So this morning I went jogging with my phone, so the app gave me calorie credit for my exercise as well as tracked how many steps I did and added that to my daily total. So if at the end of the day UA gives me another exercise calorie credit for my steps, I'll just delete it so I don't double dip.

    Or you can turn off your step tracker and just log exercise. And if you don't eat back your exercise calories, it's a moot point anyway!

    Good luck!
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
    This would depend on what device you are using. I have a polar, and it doesn't double count when you set it to walking. So even though it tells how many calories you've burned walking, it doesn't let you double dip. If you have it set to negative adjustments, it will only give you the calories your device says you've burned for the day. Some with GPS like to track the actual distance they've walked, or the route they took.
  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
    I don't wear a tracker so don't count steps. That is figured into my normal activity level.

    For walks I use Runkeeper.
    For bicycling and runs I use Strava.
  • ObsidianMist
    ObsidianMist Posts: 519 Member
    I don't use any sort of device so I just log my exercise minutes manually in mfp. half of them, that is.
  • Vicham76
    Vicham76 Posts: 59 Member
    Does MFP calculations take into account what you would normally walk in a day? When i wear my fitbit it logs X amount of steps calculating in at 300 calories burnt. Now this is not exercise it is just normal daily activity. Should this be counted as extra calories that i should eat back or is it already in the MFP calculation to lose 2 lbs per week?
    Silly question being i have been using MFP for 1 1/2 years...
  • emilysusana
    emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
    It depends on how you have your activity level set. I personally like to set mine to sedentary and then I wear my Fitbit all the time. My apps are synced so I get to see the extra calories I get based on how I moved that day. I move a good amount— I’m not sedentary.

    Others set a higher activity level and have a higher initial allotment, but don’t see as big of an adjustment.

    Bottom line, You would be double counting if you got Fitbit credit for your walks and also added them in manually.
  • Silent_Soliloquy
    Silent_Soliloquy Posts: 237 Member
    edited February 2019
    Vicham76 wrote: »
    Does MFP calculations take into account what you would normally walk in a day? When i wear my fitbit it logs X amount of steps calculating in at 300 calories burnt. Now this is not exercise it is just normal daily activity. Should this be counted as extra calories that i should eat back or is it already in the MFP calculation to lose 2 lbs per week?
    Silly question being i have been using MFP for 1 1/2 years...

    Mfp only gives you extra calories when your steps are over whatever steps are accounted for in your activity level.

    to the OP ... the people you see entering manually likely dont have a fitbit. If their base in set to sedentary; then logging it is correct.

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