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Activity level and 10000 steps

jelleigh
jelleigh Posts: 743 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all,

So I did search this already and according to google, if I hit 10000 steps every day it would categorize me as active. Ive recently moved and have no car so this is a new habit for me but it means (according to MFP) I actually would increase my calorie intake to 1500 to lose 2 lbs per week . Does that sound right?

My stats
5'8"
SW 215
CW 188
GW 140-145

This week ive been hitting between 13000 - 16000 steps per day. I havent been eating back all the calories because I know the estimates are high

Replies

  • gabriellejayde
    gabriellejayde Posts: 607 Member
    have you been losing weight?
  • jelleigh
    jelleigh Posts: 743 Member
    I just started this new routine this week so I think its a bit early to tell. Todays weigh in is lower but that could also be normal fluctuation.

    I tried to edit my post for clarity but for some reason it wouldnt let me. I guess my question is : does over 10000 steps qualify as an active person? And am I right to not eat back the exercise calories and just stick to my 1500 cal goal?
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Do you have a FitBit or some other activity tracker synced with MFP?
  • jelleigh
    jelleigh Posts: 743 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Do you have a FitBit or some other activity tracker synced with MFP?

    Ya i have a fitbit synched which is why im getting exercise calories credited back. But maybe its estimating too high?
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    jelleigh wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Do you have a FitBit or some other activity tracker synced with MFP?

    Ya i have a fitbit synched which is why im getting exercise calories credited back. But maybe its estimating too high?

    Not necessarily. If you are currently set to sedentary, and you are averaging higher than 10K steps (which you said this week it was 13-16K steps) then yes, you will see high exercise adjustments and you're right to think about changing your activity level.

    Doing so, will provide you a higher baseline target, and then somewhat lower exercise adjustments, but no, you shouldn't ignore those. You may want to be cautious at first, about eating them back entirely, but many people, myself included, have found FItBit to be extremely accurate and have lost the weight I set out to lose eating back all of the exercise adjustments.

    How FitBit and MFP work is that MFP has an estimate of how many calories it thinks you will burn in a day, based on the information you provided during set up. FitBit tells MFP how many calories it thinks you burn in total, which is a rough estimate of your TDEE. MFP then gives you an adjustment to "true up" to the amount you actually burned, still factoring in the deficit you've chosen. Bigger adjustments mean you are burning quite a bit more than MFP thought you would, but that doesn't mean they are inherently wrong. You're taking a lot of steps, and you burn a decent amount of calories doing that.

    Also, with less than 50 lbs to lose, you should really be aiming for 1 lb/week rate of loss, not 2 lb/week. This will also raise your baseline calories...
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    jelleigh wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Do you have a FitBit or some other activity tracker synced with MFP?

    Ya i have a fitbit synched which is why im getting exercise calories credited back. But maybe its estimating too high?

    Not necessarily. If you are currently set to sedentary, and you are averaging higher than 10K steps (which you said this week it was 13-16K steps) then yes, you will see high exercise adjustments and you're right to think about changing your activity level.

    Doing so, will provide you a higher baseline target, and then somewhat lower exercise adjustments, but no, you shouldn't ignore those. You may want to be cautious at first, about eating them back entirely, but many people, myself included, have found FItBit to be extremely accurate and have lost the weight I set out to lose eating back all of the exercise adjustments.

    How FitBit and MFP work is that MFP has an estimate of how many calories it thinks you will burn in a day, based on the information you provided during set up. FitBit tells MFP how many calories it thinks you burn in total, which is a rough estimate of your TDEE. MFP then gives you an adjustment to "true up" to the amount you actually burned, still factoring in the deficit you've chosen. Bigger adjustments mean you are burning quite a bit more than MFP thought you would, but that doesn't mean they are inherently wrong. You're taking a lot of steps, and you burn a decent amount of calories doing that.

    Also, with less than 50 lbs to lose, you should really be aiming for 1 lb/week rate of loss, not 2 lb/week. This will also raise your baseline calories...

    I use this rationale; however I set my activity level at sedentary, set my daily calorie goal to sedentary TDEE less 500cals (for 1lb/wk weight loss) and try to stay under my daily calories. I figure any "exercise" calories the FitBit adjustment gives me are just "bonus". I don't necessarily eat them back unless logged an excess of 20,000 steps (usually due to a long hike or was super active with yardwork or the like) and hope that will result in a actual weight loss of over 1lb/week.
  • jelleigh
    jelleigh Posts: 743 Member
    Ok thanks everyone. I will maybe keep it at sedentary for a few weeks and eat back half or 75% of the exercise calories and go from there. I want ti make sure this activity level keeps up before i switch my profile to active.

    Also since i do have 50 to lose (really I could probably lose 55-60 and still not be too light) is it bad to lose at 2 lbs for a bit? I know as i lose the deficit will decrease and wright loss will slow, but if I'm eating 1500 calories and burning 2500 thats still only a 1000 cal deficit and I'm well over the 1200 for nutrition. Or is it that I will lose muscle if I have that much deficit? And if I start lifting to maintain the muscle, can i keep the deficit at 1000?
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,592 Member
    edited May 2018
    if you're obese a ~25% deficit is not excessive. If you're not obese a ~20% deficit is not excessive.
    1000 Cal deficit on 2500 Cal sounds closer to ~40%.

    Many people pursue such larger deficits. I think that these large deficits, by themselves, even when a lot of energy reserves are available and even more so when the energy reserves available to be lost are fewer, generate avoidable side-effects that lead to sub-optimal results. Most other people on these forums don't seem to think so. I note that the more reserves you have available the less problems you run into with large deficits.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    You're only about 25 lbs from the healthy weight range. I'm your height and about 5 lbs lighter and set to lose at 1 lb/wk. And please do eat back at least a portion of your exercise calories. They're calculated that way for a reason. Think about it this way, do you just want to get down to a healthy weight or do you want to successfully sustain that weight once you reach it? Slowing down your pace will help you learn how to sustain over the long run.

    All the best.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    I notice that Map My Walk seems to use pace and elevation gain into the calculation for burn. I can't run anymore, but I can walk at 4+ mph and one of my common routes is very hilly. 4 miles of that gives me more calories that 4 miles of tooling around at 3 mph with less hills.
This discussion has been closed.

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