Does anyone here count their "steps" as exercise?

katydougherty
katydougherty Posts: 29 Member
edited November 20 in Fitness and Exercise
I just started doing it. Makes me feel like I've done a little more. I found a steps conversion chart and was surprised at how many extra calories I have burned just doing normal walking at work and home. I did a lot of housework and yard work today and have almost 16,500 steps today which is wayyyy more than I usually have, but according to my chart that's equivalent to 8 1/4 miles and about 2 hours and 40 minutes of exercise which amounts to a lot of calories burned (or maybe it's just wishful thinking.) lol What is everyone's opinion on this? Please feel free to add me.

Replies

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I have my fitbit synced to mfp, so yes every step is counted.
  • Rebecca0224
    Rebecca0224 Posts: 810 Member
    My garmin is connected, I also eat all the calories it gives me usually.
  • amysteri
    amysteri Posts: 197 Member
    It depends... I walk a lot so I don't really include my step count - I figured it was already included in the activity level I set up when logging my stats in MFP. However, I do count steps if I'm walking to workout, like if I'm brisk/power walking at the park/track/treadmill or walking the dogs for over a mile at the park.

    Question: I think in the MFP database for exercise you can actually log housework or chores and see the calories burned for that and add that to your diary. But if you include the calories burned from walking around doing housework then is it kinda like a double jeopardy for calories burned??? Anyone know?
  • Rebecca0224
    Rebecca0224 Posts: 810 Member
    amysteri wrote: »
    It depends... I walk a lot so I don't really include my step count - I figured it was already included in the activity level I set up when logging my stats in MFP. However, I do count steps if I'm walking to workout, like if I'm brisk/power walking at the park/track/treadmill or walking the dogs for over a mile at the park.

    Question: I think in the MFP database for exercise you can actually log housework or chores and see the calories burned for that and add that to your diary. But if you include the calories burned from walking around doing housework then is it kinda like a double jeopardy for calories burned??? Anyone know?

    If I add exerise separate from my garmin count I put the time and duration and mfp and garmin adjust the calorie count.
  • amysteri
    amysteri Posts: 197 Member
    Rebecca0224 wrote: »
    amysteri wrote: »
    It depends... I walk a lot so I don't really include my step count - I figured it was already included in the activity level I set up when logging my stats in MFP. However, I do count steps if I'm walking to workout, like if I'm brisk/power walking at the park/track/treadmill or walking the dogs for over a mile at the park.

    Question: I think in the MFP database for exercise you can actually log housework or chores and see the calories burned for that and add that to your diary. But if you include the calories burned from walking around doing housework then is it kinda like a double jeopardy for calories burned??? Anyone know?

    If I add exerise separate from my garmin count I put the time and duration and mfp and garmin adjust the calorie count.

    I see, awesome thanks!
  • katydougherty
    katydougherty Posts: 29 Member
    I bought a cheap, Wal-Mart fitness tracker (had awesome reviews for the price) to replace my other cheap Amazon fitness tracker that wasn't charging properly, so I don't think there's a way to sync to MFP. I had considered getting a more expensive one, but the one I have counts my steps and monitors sleep, etc., so I decided not to dish out the extra cash. I'm kind of thinking now maybe I should have. I must be doing something wrong when I search for exercises on MFP because normal things like housework, yard work, etc. aren't coming up, so I just don't include them.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I count some walking as exercise but do not log all the steps I take in a day.
    Your daily activity would include stuff like housework already.
  • amysteri
    amysteri Posts: 197 Member
    edited July 2017
    katydougherty wrote: »
    I bought a cheap, Wal-Mart fitness tracker (had awesome reviews for the price) to replace my other cheap Amazon fitness tracker that wasn't charging properly, so I don't think there's a way to sync to MFP. I had considered getting a more expensive one, but the one I have counts my steps and monitors sleep, etc., so I decided not to dish out the extra cash. I'm kind of thinking now maybe I should have. I must be doing something wrong when I search for exercises on MFP because normal things like housework, yard work, etc. aren't coming up, so I just don't include them.
    katydougherty wrote: »
    I bought a cheap, Wal-Mart fitness tracker (had awesome reviews for the price) to replace my other cheap Amazon fitness tracker that wasn't charging properly, so I don't think there's a way to sync to MFP. I had considered getting a more expensive one, but the one I have counts my steps and monitors sleep, etc., so I decided not to dish out the extra cash. I'm kind of thinking now maybe I should have. I must be doing something wrong when I search for exercises on MFP because normal things like housework, yard work, etc. aren't coming up, so I just don't include them.

    I looked again, they have "cleaning", "moving household items", moving furniture", "mowing", "gardening" ...so far that's what I could find :|
  • Msgoldwinger
    Msgoldwinger Posts: 3 Member
    I have samsung health on my phone and sync it with mfp. My fitness pal makes the adjustment needed and adds to my available calories.
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    I have my activity level on mfp set to sedentary and then I do add in the steps I count. However, I aim to save about 100 calories a day since even a sedentary level would I include around 3000ish steps.
  • nyponbell
    nyponbell Posts: 379 Member
    My fitbit syncs to mfp, so my steps are counted. I can't remember which activity setting I used (probably active) but it doesn't "give" me any exercise calories until after I have passed a certain number of steps. I also have the negative calorie adjustment activated, for those days when I am unable or unwilling to reach my usual number of steps.

    If I didn't have it synced I would probably only log walking that was done "on purpose" - say walking for 40 minutes at a moderate pace. But I would not include other things like cleaning or such, but mostly because I can't be bothered!
  • tuffykenwell
    tuffykenwell Posts: 12 Member
    I walk 20,000+ steps per day. I also do kickboxing and weight training. I have a Fitbit charge 2 and it tracks my heart rate and steps among other things. I usually have 800-1,000 exercise calories per day (I have mfp set as sedentary because I would rather see the calories be earned throughout the day then have a higher initial calorie goal.
  • whittiejo
    whittiejo Posts: 12 Member
    My Garmin tracks all my steps and gives me the appropriate amount of calories burned. With that said, if I don't do enough steps during the day to earn my minimum daily calories (calculated by MFP), it will take some away just as easily.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    My Fitbit is synced
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    I do not. I only track my deliberate fitness walking miles where I'm going continuously and getting my heart rate up. I don't even count walking my puppy which is close to a half mile most of the time.

    Outside of exercise though I don't get many steps in my day.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    katydougherty wrote: »
    I bought a cheap, Wal-Mart fitness tracker (had awesome reviews for the price) to replace my other cheap Amazon fitness tracker that wasn't charging properly, so I don't think there's a way to sync to MFP. I had considered getting a more expensive one, but the one I have counts my steps and monitors sleep, etc., so I decided not to dish out the extra cash. I'm kind of thinking now maybe I should have. I must be doing something wrong when I search for exercises on MFP because normal things like housework, yard work, etc. aren't coming up, so I just don't include them.

    >5000 steps done and not logged separately = maxed out sedentary setting of MFP
    >8000 steps done and not logged separately = maxed out lightly active setting of MFP
    >12000 steps done and not logged separately = maxed out active setting of MFP
    >16000 steps done and not logged separately = maxed out very active setting of MFP

    I usually get extra calories over and above "very active" somewhere between 13000 and 16000 steps depending on whether the steps were early or late or throughout the day or just one big walk.
  • mom2kateRH
    mom2kateRH Posts: 178 Member
    Thanks @PAV8888 that's what I was thinking. I have my mfp set to lightly active, so do not eat back the extra calories earned through steps, as I figured that was part of the default calculation.
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