Pedometer Steps VS Activity level setting.

Crafty_camper123
Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I know this kind of thing has been posted about before, but I cant seem the find the thread I read earlier. I was curious to know at about how many " steps per day" would one consider an activity level to be? The reason I ask, is I work an office job, so I have my activity level set to sedentary, and I log my exercise that I do. I try to get about 20-30min of walking in per day while at work, but have days where I'm too busy to get that done. That brings my steps to between 4K and 6K or so for a day at work. So, would I log that as exercise, or does MPF already factor that into what would be considered "sedentary" activity level? I just want to be sure I don't double dip if I log it. It may be important to note I use my S Health app to track my steps, so It does not sync to MFP.

Replies

  • Salera_west
    Salera_west Posts: 7 Member
    If you don't have a pedometer I would log it. I use a garmin wrist device so mine is set to sedentary so that both apps show about the same. The sedentary setting subtracts about 150 cal a day from my garmin activity so not much at all. So defintley log it IMO
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/rate-your-activity-level-based-on-steps-per-day/
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    @TeaBea Thanks! I guess I could have done some googling, lol. Perhaps I shouldn't log them unless I hit over that 5K mark? I mean, walking about 4k at work is better then nothing. But, if I don't log it, I wont't risk double dipping, and thinking I've burned more then I have. It MFP doesn't count it, then I have a bit of a buffer for calories burned.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    Does your app give you any sort of estimated energy burn for the day? If so, you can base whatever you add to MFP on that.

    If it doesn't then I would agree with not adding anything under 5k. My fitbit historical data tells me I burn an extra 100 calories if I get about 8k steps, and around 200 extra when I hit 12k steps (200lb female for reference, you may want to adjust those numbers based on your stats).

    Another approach is to just not log the steps for 4-6 weeks, see if you are losing at the rate you expect, and if you are losing faster than anticipated adjust your daily calorie goal accordingly.
  • mllc2017
    mllc2017 Posts: 7 Member
    I would consider 4-6k steps per day with an office job sedentary and not log it. I would only record any purposeful exercise.
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    My S Health app does tell me calories burned per day walking. And, that 4-6k steps per day is something I would consider "purposeful" exercise. Reason being, if I don't take time out of my day to walk on my breaks, it doesn't happen. The way I have my calorie goal set, is to "maintain" my current weight at my current activity level. I get my deficit through those daily walks and working out in the evening. If I was to take that maintenance goal, and subtract like say 150 calories or so, that would probably get me closer to my actual activity level on a day when I don't get to work out, or don't have time to get my walks in. Does that make sense? I think that might be what I'll do then...This way on days when I don't work out or something, I can shoot for my maintenance goal for calories in, and hopefully keep losing. On another note, I got to googling and found an interesting TDEE calculator that seems to be a little more specific on activity levels then MPF.. Kind of what spurred me to try what I just mentioned. calorieline.com/tools/tdee

    Thanks for everyone's input!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Crafty_camper123 wrote: »
    My S Health app does tell me calories burned per day walking. And, that 4-6k steps per day is something I would consider "purposeful" exercise. Reason being, if I don't take time out of my day to walk on my breaks, it doesn't happen. The way I have my calorie goal set, is to "maintain" my current weight at my current activity level. I get my deficit through those daily walks and working out in the evening. If I was to take that maintenance goal, and subtract like say 150 calories or so, that would probably get me closer to my actual activity level on a day when I don't get to work out, or don't have time to get my walks in. Does that make sense? I think that might be what I'll do then...This way on days when I don't work out or something, I can shoot for my maintenance goal for calories in, and hopefully keep losing. On another note, I got to googling and found an interesting TDEE calculator that seems to be a little more specific on activity levels then MPF.. Kind of what spurred me to try what I just mentioned. calorieline.com/tools/tdee

    Thanks for everyone's input!

    Ya, my FitBit One starts giving me calories once I get to slightly over 2000 steps, and when I'm not feeling well I don't break 1000 steps, so I sure would count a good portion of that 4-6 k steps.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,295 Member
    4-6K steps is just above sedentary and somewhere in the bottom half of lightly active. Depending on how accurately you log and on whether you lose or gain at the speed you expect (or faster/slower) you might be running a risk by trying to add exercise calories based on this level of activity.

    Mind you, sedentary does not include standing up for a whole shift at a gas station.

    If in addition to the 4-6K steps you spend a substantial part of your day standing up serving customers (even though your pedometer doesn't record steps for that)... then I would think you would be justified to call yourself lightly active.

    Sedentary typically would only include ~35 or so minutes of non sitting/lying down activity in a day. (~35 minutes/3500 steps)

    The final arbiter in all this is what your trending weight app is telling you about your weight changes relative to what you have been logging...
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