How many steps before I can count as exercise?

jaredacosta
jaredacosta Posts: 1 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I set MFP to sedentary. How many steps do I need before I can "break even for the day? Is 5,000 steps the break even point for sedentary? So I can't really start counting steps as exercise until I'm over 5,000 for the day?

Replies

  • OldAssDude
    OldAssDude Posts: 1,436 Member
    That setting in MFP means how active your job is, not how many steps you take.

    You can take 20,000 steps a day and still not get any real exercise.

    My motto has always been...

    if you ain't huffing and puffing and sweating, you ain't exercising...:)
  • xmarye
    xmarye Posts: 385 Member
    edited April 2017
    bcalvanese wrote: »
    That setting in MFP means how active your job is, not how many steps you take.

    You can take 20,000 steps a day and still not get any real exercise.

    My motto has always been...

    if you ain't huffing and puffing and sweating, you ain't exercising...:)

    That's not true, walking is as good an exercise as running and it doesn't stress your joint. It's especially true when you are overweight and unfit to begin with.

    You can burn plenty of calories walking, especially if you carry extra weight or go uphill.


    OP, practically no one is sedentary. You can log your walks or even better use an app such as MapMyWalk, connect it so it syncs with MFP and it will tell you how many calories you burn. According to my height and weight, I burn about 280-320cals in 90 minutes when walking and selecting ''carrying a child'' (since I back carry my 25lbs 8 months old baby).

    Walking won't make you tone much, but can definitely burn calories and help condition your body overall. I combine walking with a bodyweight exercise program to try and tone the areas that need it most.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I'm set at at sedentary and don't start getting positive adjustments on mfp until I've hit 2000ish steps.

    I would buy a fitness tracker, I have a fitbit, and sync it with mfp. That way you won't have to guess or fiddle about with adding exercise and hope it's reasonably accurate.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,474 Member
    I am set as sedentary too.

    I don't count walking around the office, going to the toilet, going to the kitchen to get myself a cup of coffee, or going to the photocopier. After work, I don't count getting groceries or stopping in at shops and I don't count any sort of housework.

    I do, however, count walking as part of my commute, walking at lunch, climbing flights and flights of stairs on breaks at work, and walking/cycling/lifting weights after work.

    I have used a pedometer and I have racked up a lot of steps doing the things I don't count, but I figure all that falls within the sedentary range.
  • OldAssDude
    OldAssDude Posts: 1,436 Member
    xmarye wrote: »
    bcalvanese wrote: »
    That setting in MFP means how active your job is, not how many steps you take.

    You can take 20,000 steps a day and still not get any real exercise.

    My motto has always been...

    if you ain't huffing and puffing and sweating, you ain't exercising...:)

    That's not true, walking is as good an exercise as running and it doesn't stress your joint. It's especially true when you are overweight and unfit to begin with.

    You can burn plenty of calories walking, especially if you carry extra weight or go uphill.


    OP, practically no one is sedentary. You can log your walks or even better use an app such as MapMyWalk, connect it so it syncs with MFP and it will tell you how many calories you burn. According to my height and weight, I burn about 280-320cals in 90 minutes when walking and selecting ''carrying a child'' (since I back carry my 25lbs 8 months old baby).

    Walking won't make you tone much, but can definitely burn calories and help condition your body overall. I combine walking with a bodyweight exercise program to try and tone the areas that need it most.

    It depends on what a person considers actual exercise.

    I consider exercise as an activity that is done with a level of intensity that will improve the fitness level. Unfortunately that requires a person to be huffing and puffing and sweating.

    I was obese and at a very poor fitness level a couple years ago. Walking at a slow pace would get me huffing and puffing and sweating back then. I could barely walk a mile back then without having to lay down after, but I kept doing it and pushing myself each time. Once that became easier, I started power walking and doing it for longer. I got to the point that I was not huffing and puffing and sweating anymore just from walking, so I started adding run intervals into my power walks. I increased the run intervals gradually, and now I can run 5 miles and power walk 10 miles.

    Walking is definitely a good way to burn calories and good exercise if you are obese and out of shape, but if you don't push it, you will not increase your fitness level.

    I use walking for recovery sessions now, because they help me recover from more intense sessions.

    Everyone has their own perception of what exercise is, but if a person is wondering why their fitness level is not improving, its probably because they are not huffing and puffing and sweating...:)

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