Variant activity level through the week, how to log?
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kiela64
Posts: 1,447 Member
So I’ve started a new part time job that is on my feet walking short distances constantly. I tracked it yesterday and in 4h of work I had about 7500 steps.
I am very hesitant to change my activity level on mfp away from sedentary because I still do have several truly sedentary days a week. I log deliberate exercise but I don’t know how to account for steps.
I can’t sync my tracker (a misfit flash) because it gives you a TDEE for the day, and when it syncs to mfp, it will say I earned eg “1900cal from exercise”. Which isn’t true lol. If only.
I wouldn’t worry about it but I’ve noticed I’ve experienced increased hunger, and I’d like to just have an estimate of cals burned. Is there a way to do that?
I am very hesitant to change my activity level on mfp away from sedentary because I still do have several truly sedentary days a week. I log deliberate exercise but I don’t know how to account for steps.
I can’t sync my tracker (a misfit flash) because it gives you a TDEE for the day, and when it syncs to mfp, it will say I earned eg “1900cal from exercise”. Which isn’t true lol. If only.
I wouldn’t worry about it but I’ve noticed I’ve experienced increased hunger, and I’d like to just have an estimate of cals burned. Is there a way to do that?
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Replies
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link your tracker so you get more calories on days you work?2
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Steps are accounted for in your chosen activity level if you're doing 7500 steps at work, you're not sedentary, set it to at least Lightly Active, monitor weight loss over 4-6 weeks. If you're losing more than expected increase your activity level again.
You could also use a weight trend app that will tell you approximately how much of a deficit you're in (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, WeightGrapher for Web)2 -
I would suggest adding exercise based on how many steps on recorded on your tracker (5 mins for every 1000 steps for example) whilst remaining on sedentary. Monitor for a few weeks and see whether your estimate is right for you. That will give you extra calories on the day you moved more, whilst allowing for days with minimal steps.
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I find this to be a struggle too. I work an office job throughout the week and three days a week I am a server. Days I don't serve I struggle to get steps in but i get about 12,000 steps on days I serve. I tend to just keep my calorie allowance the same and add "walking" under exercise.4
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I'm confused... why can't you just log walking as exercise?6
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potatowhoruns wrote: »I would suggest adding exercise based on how many steps on recorded on your tracker (5 mins for every 1000 steps for example) whilst remaining on sedentary. Monitor for a few weeks and see whether your estimate is right for you. That will give you extra calories on the day you moved more, whilst allowing for days with minimal steps.
Thank you, that sounds like a good idea. I’ll try that. Because I am essentially walking, just really slowly lol.tinkerbellang83 wrote: »Steps are accounted for in your chosen activity level if you're doing 7500 steps at work, you're not sedentary, set it to at least Lightly Active, monitor weight loss over 4-6 weeks. If you're losing more than expected increase your activity level again.
You could also use a weight trend app that will tell you approximately how much of a deficit you're in (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, WeightGrapher for Web)
I do have happy scale. I’m only eating at a 1lb/week loss and I honestly wouldn’t mind losing a bit faster if it were just that. The issue is that I will feel hungry and go over my goal, and I’m fairly sure it’s because I’m not sedentary anymore.
I explained why I’m skeptical of putting myself as “lightly active” - because this is not every day or even 5 days a week. My shifts vary in length, and activity, and it’s typically only 2x a week unless I can catch some extra hours. I’m still sedentary + exercise on other days, so for those days I’d have to not count my exercise or something? I don’t really know.TavistockToad wrote: »link your tracker so you get more calories on days you work?
I also explained why I can’t link the tracker. It works on TDEE so it tells MFP I’ve earned “1900cals from exercise” 😒 which is unhelpful lol.1 -
I'm confused... why can't you just log walking as exercise?
Because I’m not walking at a pace of 2.0mph for 4h. I’m standing, walking a few paces, picking something up, squatting down to get something, pushing some things, walking a few paces, etc. If I logged that, I’m sure it would massively overestimate what I’m burning.0 -
AmandaEdwards1 wrote: »I find this to be a struggle too. I work an office job throughout the week and three days a week I am a server. Days I don't serve I struggle to get steps in but i get about 12,000 steps on days I serve. I tend to just keep my calorie allowance the same and add "walking" under exercise.
Yeah if I could stick with my calorie allowance as it is I definitely would. How long do you give yourself for walking?0 -
I'm confused... why can't you just log walking as exercise?
Because I’m not walking at a pace of 2.0mph for 4h. I’m standing, walking a few paces, picking something up, squatting down to get something, pushing some things, walking a few paces, etc. If I logged that, I’m sure it would massively overestimate what I’m burning.
You're overthinking it. It's not that specific/accurate. Even if you're not walking, squatting down, picking things up, pushing things, etc etc is all movement and burns additional cals. If you're that worried about it, just log it for half the time (i.e. if your shift is 4 hours long, log 2 hours of walking).7 -
I'm quite active, but keep my MFP listed as sedentary ... it keeps me on track seeing how many calories I should consume if I don't move, and then how that goes up some depending on my activity and exercise (I have a Fitbit linked, so it comes across over automatically). It all works out in the end ... but you are correct, if you list yourself as something other than sedentary, then on those non-moving days, that can cause an over-allowance of intake calories. I adore the ease of the Fitbit though. I've found manually logging anything on MFP seems to over-estimate calorie burn. It's ALL estimates, but I prefer to keep it on the conservative side.2
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I'm confused... why can't you just log walking as exercise?
Because I’m not walking at a pace of 2.0mph for 4h. I’m standing, walking a few paces, picking something up, squatting down to get something, pushing some things, walking a few paces, etc. If I logged that, I’m sure it would massively overestimate what I’m burning.
You're overthinking it. It's not that specific/accurate. Even if you're not walking, squatting down, picking things up, pushing things, etc etc is all movement and burns additional cals. If you're that worried about it, just log it for half the time (i.e. if your shift is 4 hours long, log 2 hours of walking).
But it’s a massive difference in calories. If I log, as someone else suggested, 5min for every 1000 steps, I get 121 extra calories for the day. If I log 1h, because my tracker estimated I walked 4+km and that’s about 2 miles I think, it’s over 200. If I log 2h it’s over 400.
That’s sort of the point of my question- which would be the closest approximation then? I don’t know.3 -
i do sedentary. some days i get less than 2k steps and other days i get 20k and work 5 hours at the yoga studio. my garmin is linked
if it links with mfp, you should be able to look to mfp for the calorie allotment. regardless of how it works on it's own.0 -
I also explained why I can’t link the tracker. It works on TDEE so it tells MFP I’ve earned “1900cals from exercise” 😒 which is unhelpful lol.
That's exactly how MFP works with activity trackers - it receives a total calories burned so far, and time stamp.
That's all it needs actually.
MFP does rest of the math from there for rest of the day based on your selected activity level. Which you must have had set to Sedentary for that 1900 day.
Unless your tracker is sending that figure as a workout instead of daily burn - that would foul up the math.
You also may just be underestimating how much extra you are doing, because that is a lot of steps by that time, that's leaving Lightly Active moving into Active.
It may also be you have stride length incorrect on the Misfit, and it's overestimating distance, and therefore calorie burn.
Find out where the inaccuracy may be, if any, and you may solve this whole thing by indeed syncing.
Go to MFP Exercise Diary, find the entry for something Calorie Adjustment. Click on the "i" for more info, or if app press and hold the line.
There's the time of the last sync (device account should only send when 100 higher than prior sync) and calorie burn at that time.
Is it close to what device says?
Everything else there is just MFP math from those 2 figures. Calories and time.
Now - if you have an entry that says workout instead of Adjustment, with none of the above info, instead a workout name, start time and duration and calorie burn (that you did not enter manually) - then that is messed up.
Oh - Sedentary is less than 4000 steps each and every day - you have no household duties after work and on other days, not busier on weekends? Really a bump on a log outside of work? That's sedentary.
You are closer to Active or more on workdays, perhaps Sedentary on non-work days (that ends up being not true for many though) - which would easily average out to Lightly Active.
What's the total step count for the week?
Get a daily avg to help figure out activity level.
On work days, eat an extra 200 calories, on same number of non-work days - drop 200 calories.
Weekly total is the same. And you get to correctly eat more when doing more, eating less when doing less.2 -
I'm confused... why can't you just log walking as exercise?
Because I’m not walking at a pace of 2.0mph for 4h. I’m standing, walking a few paces, picking something up, squatting down to get something, pushing some things, walking a few paces, etc. If I logged that, I’m sure it would massively overestimate what I’m burning.
You're overthinking it. It's not that specific/accurate. Even if you're not walking, squatting down, picking things up, pushing things, etc etc is all movement and burns additional cals. If you're that worried about it, just log it for half the time (i.e. if your shift is 4 hours long, log 2 hours of walking).
But it’s a massive difference in calories. If I log, as someone else suggested, 5min for every 1000 steps, I get 121 extra calories for the day. If I log 1h, because my tracker estimated I walked 4+km and that’s about 2 miles I think, it’s over 200. If I log 2h it’s over 400.
That’s sort of the point of my question- which would be the closest approximation then? I don’t know.
I still think you're overthinking it. Every number we work with on both the calorie in side and the calorie out side is an estimate, and there's no way to know how accurate those estimates are until we have several weeks worth of consistent data to evaluate.
Pick a method you feel comfortable with and go with it. You seem to have some anxiety about all this, so maybe being extra conservative is appropriate for you mentally. You know how much you're moving... none of us do. Make a reasonable guess and go with it. It's all you can do.
But taking a step back, look at your original post. You wanted to make an adjustment for the increased activity because you are hungry, right? If you go with something super conservative, you'll get to eat, like, 75 additional calories. How much does that really matter?1 -
I'm confused... why can't you just log walking as exercise?
Because I’m not walking at a pace of 2.0mph for 4h. I’m standing, walking a few paces, picking something up, squatting down to get something, pushing some things, walking a few paces, etc. If I logged that, I’m sure it would massively overestimate what I’m burning.
You're overthinking it. It's not that specific/accurate. Even if you're not walking, squatting down, picking things up, pushing things, etc etc is all movement and burns additional cals. If you're that worried about it, just log it for half the time (i.e. if your shift is 4 hours long, log 2 hours of walking).
But it’s a massive difference in calories. If I log, as someone else suggested, 5min for every 1000 steps, I get 121 extra calories for the day. If I log 1h, because my tracker estimated I walked 4+km and that’s about 2 miles I think, it’s over 200. If I log 2h it’s over 400.
That’s sort of the point of my question- which would be the closest approximation then? I don’t know.
I still think you're overthinking it. Every number we work with on both the calorie in side and the calorie out side is an estimate, and there's no way to know how accurate those estimates are until we have several weeks worth of consistent data to evaluate.
Pick a method you feel comfortable with and go with it. You seem to have some anxiety about all this, so maybe being extra conservative is appropriate for you mentally. You know how much you're moving... none of us do. Make a reasonable guess and go with it. It's all you can do.
But taking a step back, look at your original post. You wanted to make an adjustment for the increased activity because you are hungry, right? If you go with something super conservative, you'll get to eat, like, 75 additional calories. How much does that really matter?
I guess. It would help to know what the closest count might be, so I’d know if the hunger feeling is mental or real. An extra 75, even if I still went over, would make a difference that I would know I at least didn’t go AS over as I thought. If I had a good sense of how much I was moving then this might not be applicable but I don’t.
I feel like if I was more active I’d have a point of reference, or if I’d worked a similar job before. But again I really don’t. I have some numbers for steps & hunger and not much else.1 -
I also explained why I can’t link the tracker. It works on TDEE so it tells MFP I’ve earned “1900cals from exercise” 😒 which is unhelpful lol.
That's exactly how MFP works with activity trackers - it receives a total calories burned so far, and time stamp.
That's all it needs actually.
MFP does rest of the math from there for rest of the day based on your selected activity level. Which you must have had set to Sedentary for that 1900 day.
Unless your tracker is sending that figure as a workout instead of daily burn - that would foul up the math.
You also may just be underestimating how much extra you are doing, because that is a lot of steps by that time, that's leaving Lightly Active moving into Active.
It may also be you have stride length incorrect on the Misfit, and it's overestimating distance, and therefore calorie burn.
Find out where the inaccuracy may be, if any, and you may solve this whole thing by indeed syncing.
Go to MFP Exercise Diary, find the entry for something Calorie Adjustment. Click on the "i" for more info, or if app press and hold the line.
There's the time of the last sync (device account should only send when 100 higher than prior sync) and calorie burn at that time.
Is it close to what device says?
Everything else there is just MFP math from those 2 figures. Calories and time.
Now - if you have an entry that says workout instead of Adjustment, with none of the above info, instead a workout name, start time and duration and calorie burn (that you did not enter manually) - then that is messed up.
Oh - Sedentary is less than 4000 steps each and every day - you have no household duties after work and on other days, not busier on weekends? Really a bump on a log outside of work? That's sedentary.
You are closer to Active or more on workdays, perhaps Sedentary on non-work days (that ends up being not true for many though) - which would easily average out to Lightly Active.
What's the total step count for the week?
Get a daily avg to help figure out activity level.
On work days, eat an extra 200 calories, on same number of non-work days - drop 200 calories.
Weekly total is the same. And you get to correctly eat more when doing more, eating less when doing less.
The tracker sends it as a workout. It’s not a good connection lol.
I don’t usually track my steps on non-work days but I did on Thursday and yeah, it was 3700. Sedentary. And that was a “more active” at-home day. I went to the doctor and did laundry, going up and down stairs a few times. I think a school day would be a little more but not by much, maybe 5000. So I’m used to being very sedentary outside of deliberately exercising.
I don’t have a full week because I didn’t track it, but I could do that. What would a lightly active step count for the week be approximately? If I see it being true I might do that, it seems the simplest.0 -
Oh, sends as a workout - that's not good.
Ya, unsynced is best then.
But what you do then is use the device's weekly reports for avg daily calorie burn.
If you have a workout that is not step based, manually log it on their app. Like lifting, swimming, elliptical, ect.
Then just get a 3 week rolling avg (only include avg weeks, not sick in bed, not super busy spring cleaning weeks) of your avg daily burn.
Subtract 20% - that's your eating goal.
Set MFP to maintenance, when it brings you to goals page, Edit and change the eating goal to the number you came up with.
Eat to the same goal every day.
Or on sedentary days, know you could lose 200 cal easily, and eat the extra 200 on busy days, as long as you match them up.
At least that gives you a decent start, and allows changing nature of weeks to influence a new eating level if your avg daily burn changes enough to matter.1 -
Oh, sends as a workout - that's not good.
Ya, unsynced is best then.
But what you do then is use the device's weekly reports for avg daily calorie burn.
If you have a workout that is not step based, manually log it on their app. Like lifting, swimming, elliptical, ect.
Then just get a 3 week rolling avg (only include avg weeks, not sync in bed, not super busy spring cleaning weeks) of your avg daily burn.
Subtract 20% - that's your eating goal.
Set MFP to maintenance, when it brings you to goals page, Edit and change the eating goal to the number you came up with.
Eat to the same goal every day.
Or on sedentary days, know you could lose 200 cal easily, and eat the extra 200 on busy days, as long as you match them up.
At least that gives you a decent start, and allows changing nature of weeks to influence a new eating level if your avg daily burn changes enough to matter.
Thank you! I’ll need to start wearing it every day. I didn’t even know it had a weekly reports page until I went looking for it right now - it gives me a total steps for the week (but this week is no good, it’s missing days when I left it at home).
Thank you for your help!0 -
Hey thanks again everyone! I started with the most conservative one - 5min at 2.0mph per 1000 steps. I was able to hit goal more often.
That extra 130 or so calories did make a difference to me, because I was less likely to be like “over anyway, guess I’ll just have another X” and be really over. 😛 ( terrible mentality I know, sometimes I wish MFP had like an orange calorie section of between your goal and maintenance, just because of how awful I feel when I see red. )
But I just realized today that it also does actually track total miles. It’s giving me today for example 3.2 miles, and 9500 steps. If I go by the first, I’d get 45-50min at 2.0mph. If I go by the distance it would be an hour and a half or so I think. Which is much much higher.
So which would you go with?0 -
For manually logging somewhere?
Because on MFP - you are expected to spend some activity moving every day - you might say some level of steps, and therefore distance, and therefore calorie burn - is already included in their estimate of your daily burn.
To hope to see total steps and distance, and estimate calorie burn to log - would be double counting calories to some level, perhaps totally, or a large % of them.
That would not be useful.
If on the tracker site - they should already have calories burned from the walking as part of their total daily burn.0
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