Should I count walking exercise on top of steps?

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mariams99
mariams99 Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, hope I'm posting in the right place here! So I just started reusing myfitnesspal today after having not used it for a long time, and the steps counted feature is new to me.

So I turned on my steps, and I just went for an hour walk. Should I could the exercise from the walk, even though the steps from the walk were counted? If I need to have either one or the other, which one is more accurate/better?

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  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,609 Member
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    You should NOT add both.

    First of all you get a base level of steps a day in total for your general activity level.
    Generally if set to sedentary the first 2.5-3K steps are already included in your base activity.

    From then on you can either add an exercise or allow an integrated device to add calories for your steps.

    What will ultimately prove to be more accurate depends on your devices and logging habits. So pick an option, apply it consistently for 4-6 weeks, and evaluate how accurate your calculations are based on your weight trend over time.
  • vivelajackie
    vivelajackie Posts: 321 Member
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    Ultimately I avoid logging exercise for the purpose of gaining food calories... This'll change when I'm closer to goal. I count steps toward activity level. Lightly active works for me (I have a job where I walk a lot... Up to 18 miles in a day depending on my department for the day. However, I work 4 days a week and am pretty chill on my days off). A lot of people set theirs to sedentary which gives you more calories burned from steps. This is a time to experiment though to figure out what is right for you.
  • annacole94
    annacole94 Posts: 997 Member
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    Set it to sedentary. Let your tracker add steps and adjust calories. Do not also log step-based activity.

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