Walking
chulipa
Posts: 650 Member
Should I sync pacer with MFP if Im only walking between 2,000 and 5,000 steps a day because of bad knees. I have it that way now but it gives me exercise calories burnt but is that not sedentary I never eat those calories and MFP always says Im under my calorie for the day. I think its good for me to keep track but just not sure if I should have it linked to MFP
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It's nice to keep track if you want to, and you can have a record to judge progress off, too. If you start being able to walk more you will want to eat some of the cals.0
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You’re expected to eat those calories back. However, 5000 is still about sedentary, just into lightly active.0
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If it is working for you now, let things be. Perhaps if you start exercising/walking more, you will be hungrier and need to eat back some of those cals, in which case you could start linking them. My cals from walking at work tend to be too few to make much difference (fewer than 200, and often less than 100), but I exercise after work and have to eat back some of those to avoid being too hungry/triggering overeating.1
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You’re expected to eat those calories back. However, 5000 is still about sedentary, just into lightly active.
Where do you get that from? I work an office job and use sedentary. I walk for exercise nearly every day and I always walk down the stairs (only a couple of flights) at work and do get up and around the office some. On the rare days that I don't walk for exercise, I get ~1500 steps. 5000 steps is over 2 miles.
Having said that, I do ignore a lot of the calories that synced apps give me or walk a couple of miles untracked on most days. And I don't use mfp's calculated base because it is too high (which may be because you are correct, and my job with no exercise is below what they consider sedentary).
I wish I could get it set up to something I feel is accurate. I do a lot of voodoo adjustment to come up with my numbers (which has worked remarkably well somehow; I have maintained within a very tight range for a couple of months).0 -
Should I sync pacer with MFP if Im only walking between 2,000 and 5,000 steps a day because of bad knees. I have it that way now but it gives me exercise calories burnt but is that not sedentary I never eat those calories and MFP always says Im under my calorie for the day. I think its good for me to keep track but just not sure if I should have it linked to MFP
If it were me I probably would not link it or not eat the exercise calories unless I was getting 5,000 steps or more consistently.
5,000 or less steps is considered sedentary by all the sources I have seen.
If you lose faster than your expected rate after several weeks then you might want to eat some of the exercise calories- maybe 1/3 to 1/2.0 -
Hi a question i became a dog walker 2 years ago i walk for 2 hours non stop a day but ive gained nearly 21 lbs with no changes to my eating i fit the same clothes but feel as though ive gained stronger legs so ive gained weight with muscle has any one else gained through walking?1
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CarvedTones wrote: »You’re expected to eat those calories back. However, 5000 is still about sedentary, just into lightly active.
Where do you get that from? I work an office job and use sedentary. I walk for exercise nearly every day and I always walk down the stairs (only a couple of flights) at work and do get up and around the office some. On the rare days that I don't walk for exercise, I get ~1500 steps. 5000 steps is over 2 miles.
Having said that, I do ignore a lot of the calories that synced apps give me or walk a couple of miles untracked on most days. And I don't use mfp's calculated base because it is too high (which may be because you are correct, and my job with no exercise is below what they consider sedentary).
I wish I could get it set up to something I feel is accurate. I do a lot of voodoo adjustment to come up with my numbers (which has worked remarkably well somehow; I have maintained within a very tight range for a couple of months).
Sounds like your voodoo adjustment is working just fine!
Ya, I have a desk job - at home - and have seen under 1,000 steps per day when I'm under the weather. I have very rarely broken 10,000 steps, even after three mile walks.
@chulipa if you are losing weight faster than you intend (over a month or two), do eat back more of those exercise calories. If, over time, you are losing as expected, no need to change anything.
However, if after a few months you're not losing as expected, you're probably making common logging errors in your food diary and should ask us to take a look at your diary.0 -
I would keep it synced just because if I am actually hungry it’s more data to help me make choices in my food.0
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shibashakeshiba wrote: »Hi a question i became a dog walker 2 years ago i walk for 2 hours non stop a day but ive gained nearly 21 lbs with no changes to my eating i fit the same clothes but feel as though ive gained stronger legs so ive gained weight with muscle has any one else gained through walking?
The short answer is you are eating more calories than you are expending if you are gaining weight. You might want to start your own thread to get some help specific to your situation. 2 -
Just wanted to get back with everyone and give some information about myself Im 54yrs 5'7" eating 1330 calories. a day and am sedentary. I am waiting to see if Im going to get a knee replacement. I dont eat back my exercise calories since its just from walking and am still not sure what is better to link Pacer with MFP or not. Im just not active because my knees hurt just to move. How many steps is sedentary? If I do walk more how many calories should I eat?0
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Do you eat your step calories back0
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Me? No, but I only have my weight loss set to 0.5 lb per week. I use my steps to increase that deficit so I'm averaging a 0.75 lb loss per week. As others have suggested in this thread, you need to track your weight loss (for 4 to 6 weeks) and then compare it to your expected weight loss and adjust accordingly. Use this time to experiment and learn how your body responds to different foods, the calorie deficit, and exercise. You'll need the information when you hit goal and go into maintenance (so I've heard--I'm only about 63% of the way to my goal). Hope this helps!Do you eat your step calories back
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Thanks everyone guess I will just keep pacer linked to MFP and not worry about eating those few calories back unless I start losing weight to fast.0
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Thanks everyone guess I will just keep pacer linked to MFP and not worry about eating those few calories back unless I start losing weight to fast.
I use Strava because I like the social aspect of sharing routes and because it has SUP tracking that is pretty good (I think). But take a look at yesterday - Strava gave me fantasy numbers for walking; over 1000 for 91 minutes. But the calories I ate falls well short of what I was allotted. Just because a linked app gives you calories doesn't mean you have to eat them all. You can edit the entry it makes if you like the report to say you were within 15% all week.
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Sedentary activity when converted to steps is widely regarded as topping up at about 3000 to 3500 steps.
Most places use a multiplier of 1.2x BMR for sedentary though a few consider sedentary to be 1.3x BMR. MFP uses 1.25x BMR
Most people are at MFP lightly active levels of activity by the time they hit 5k steps.
However results also depend on you being able to correctly log your caloric intake, whether your energy expenditure tracks with the rest of the pack or whether you're an outlier, and on your ability to comply with your chosen deficits... not just the accuracy of your caloric expenditures!
MFP has a floor of 1200/1500 (F/M). If you're aiming for that without being vertically challenged, older, lighter, or a combination of the three... chances are you're dialing in a deficit that might be too aggressive.
Review your weekly loss goals especially if health concerns won't let you move as much, but also consider alternatives such as pool, chair exercises or other ways that you can increase activity without excess pain.3 -
My fitness watch seems to disqualify some very short distance walking inside the house/office, so I probably get more steps than I see on no exercise days.
I set my base to reflect my burn without dedicated exercise. even though I blow by 5k most days, my job is not lightly active; it's sedentary. Anything over 1500 steps is almost certainly dedicated exercise or an activity that involves a lot of walking (or it gets fooled; it said over 10k steps yesterday, but most of it was paddling).
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CarvedTones wrote: »My fitness watch seems to disqualify some very short distance walking inside the house/office, so I probably get more steps than I see on no exercise days.
I set my base to reflect my burn without dedicated exercise. even though I blow by 5k most days, my job is not lightly active; it's sedentary. Anything over 1500 steps is almost certainly dedicated exercise or an activity that involves a lot of walking (or it gets fooled; it said over 10k steps yesterday, but most of it was paddling).
it starts after about 10 steps any less it will track as arm movement only. After 10 itl jump up 10 and continue to count. I figure it counts some actual arm movements as steps so likely evens out.0 -
I am already over 15k today. Logged over 7k with MMW; turned it on about a mile and a half into a walk and turned it off about half a mile from home. Then there are a bunch of steps from mowing the lawn about 45 minutes, which I logged as 30 minutes. Lawn mowing is one of the few activities mfp is probably low on. 107 calories for 30 minutes? It's pretty strenuous, but I do have a hilly lot. So around 500 calories for all that; probably reasonably close if I should ignore the first 3-5k of walking.0
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