Which exercise calories to use

mylila72
mylila72 Posts: 2 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm 62, moderately active, but really overweight. I've done the computing to set how many calories I can have a day at a set point. I work part time , three to four days a week, 6 to 8 hours a day, basically constantly walking and bending. I put the track my walk app on my phone to see how much I was actually walking and it is saying I have an additional 1000 to 1300 calories a day. If I ate that much I would weigh 600 pounds not 200. Should I be adding the walking calories? I'm walking from 5 to 6 miles a day that I work.

Replies

  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,284 Member
    I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in (and is probably typing faster than me at this very moment!) but I would say that if you set your activity level on MFP to sedentary, yes count them. But if you set it to moderately active, your calorie allowance should be including all of your daily routine exercise. So if you're constantly walking and bending on the job, don't count those calories. But if you would normally drive or take the subway to and from work, and you decide you want to walk/bike it, that's extra and should be counted.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    You should factor work into your activity level. If more sedentary on days you don't work, try lightly active only logging workouts and re-evaluate in 4 weeks.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,896 Member
    I bet you're glad you asked, since you've already gotten three varying answers.

    Pick the "activity level" that best suits your work day, even if it's only a few days a week. Then only eat a couple hundred more on days you do purposeful exercise.

    Depending on how much weight you need to lose, you may have your goals set too agressively. Just because "lose 2 lbs a week" is an option, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Same goes for "sedentary."

    My standard suggestion is to pick one pound loss per week. Set your activity honestly. Track everything consistently for 4-6 weeks and use your own numbers as your guide. It's the experiment everyone has
    to run. The calculators merely give you a starting point. It's up to you to tweak the numbers based on your real life results.
  • mylila72
    mylila72 Posts: 2 Member
    Many thanks to all who replied so quickly. I really figured that the everyday walking wasn't "extra" calories earned, but needed someone else's imput. So I'll only add in the swimming or biking .
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,247 Member
    If it helps you're not burning 1,000 additional Cal walking 6 miles a day unless you weigh in excess of 500lbs

    The formula to estimate net (additional) calories burned walking is .30 x weight (in lbs) x distance (in miles) so a 200lb person would bun approx 60 additional calories per mile walked (assuming relatively level terrain etc) so you're right to be wary of the estimate your app is giving you.

  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,565 Member
    edited July 2017
    JerSchmare wrote: »
    ^ no to the above.

    Regular activity, like working is not exercise. So, just keep your activity where it is and only count exercise calories.

    Nothing wrong with the original post. It said how she counted the calories would depend on where she has her activity level set. Some people who aren't actually sedentary, particularly those whose days vary quite a bit, set it at that and count *all* their activity separately. Others prefer not to have so much variance from day to day and just choose an activity level that reflects an average of all of their activity for the week, possibly including purposeful exercise.

    That being said, I agree that the numbers the OP's tracker are giving her are inflated.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories