Step counter and activity levels

mrs30014
mrs30014 Posts: 5 Member
in Getting Started
Ive been around awhile but never truly figured this all out. I average about 6500-7000 steps per day of u unintentional exercise which puts me at light active, I believe. Mfp seems to be adding in the same amount of calories for exercise whether I set it to sedentary or light active, this is where I get confused. If I am light active, shouldn’t the exercise adjustment be less? Help!

Replies

  • RenaTX
    RenaTX Posts: 345 Member
    I think there is an option in settings to have the step counts not count towards your exercise but I don't know where it is. I have my activity level to sedatary and I let the Fitbit steps count for my activity. That maybe an option for you .
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    RenaTX wrote: »
    I think there is an option in settings to have the step counts not count towards your exercise but I don't know where it is. I have my activity level to sedatary and I let the Fitbit steps count for my activity. That maybe an option for you .

    That's an option only for premium members
    mrs30014 wrote: »
    Ive been around awhile but never truly figured this all out. I average about 6500-7000 steps per day of u unintentional exercise which puts me at light active, I believe. Mfp seems to be adding in the same amount of calories for exercise whether I set it to sedentary or light active, this is where I get confused. If I am light active, shouldn’t the exercise adjustment be less? Help!

    Did it adjust after your next sync? That's the only reason I could see it not changing immediately.
  • mrs30014
    mrs30014 Posts: 5 Member
    I’m not sure actually if it adjusted after further syncing. I gave up on trying to understand and just turned the steps off today but I’m still not quite sure I understand the exercise calories component. Yesterday I did 7400 steps and mfp gave me an additional 1600 calories for the day. I am only starting with 1700 calories and so I’m right confused that my budget has doubled.

    Today I did 6100 steps and my budget was increased by almost 1000 calories. It seems like quite a lot for me. I am not sure if I have not set my activity level correctly or what.

    I do think that the 1700 calories may be a little low as I’m feeling pretty tired and headachy on day 3.

    I weigh 265 lbs, am 33 years old and am 5’8”.

    Any insights on how to properly set my calorie limit?
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 978 Member
    Hi

    So the way MFP works is that you set your activity levels for anything you do day to day that isn't intentional exercise. So if you have a desk job: sedentary; if you do some walking around: lightly active; if you have a job that means you're on your feet most of the day (eg retail): active; and if your job involves lots of exercise (eg builder, labourer): very active

    This does vaguely work out nicely for step counters (complied mostly from memory and some googling, please feel free to correct me anyone):
    Sedentary: under 6000
    Lightly Active: 6000-9500
    Active: 9500-12500
    Very Active: above 12500

    Once you have picked you activity level, you don't add on any additional exercise from your day to day into your diary, only specific exercise activity.

    I've explained that really badly, so I'll try again:

    Say most days you get about 8000 steps. You put your activity down as Lightly Active. You don't log those steps every day as exercise because they've already been accounted for.
    Now on one day you have gone for a walk and walked an extra 3000 steps. Great so what you do is just log that extra walk, and don't log the rest. (also, it might be better to log that walk as distance as opposed to steps)

    Does that make sense?
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    If the calorie goal stays the same it could easily be because your deficit for sedentary is actually less than the minimum amount of calories needed based on your goals.
    For example, I am little so when I was close to goal weight my calculated maintenance calories was around 1300 calories. Therefore to have a half pound a week deficit my calorie goal would only be 1050 which is way below the minimum of 1200 calories MFP will give you. Because of this, upping my activity level to lightly active didn't change my calorie goal at all. By the way, it does not matter how small you are you should not be eating less than 1200 regardless because it is very hard to get adequate nutrition on less. I just exercised a bit harder to allow a 250 calorie a day loss.
  • mrs30014
    mrs30014 Posts: 5 Member
    Deviette wrote: »
    Hi

    So the way MFP works is that you set your activity levels for anything you do day to day that isn't intentional exercise. So if you have a desk job: sedentary; if you do some walking around: lightly active; if you have a job that means you're on your feet most of the day (eg retail): active; and if your job involves lots of exercise (eg builder, labourer): very active

    This does vaguely work out nicely for step counters (complied mostly from memory and some googling, please feel free to correct me anyone):
    Sedentary: under 6000
    Lightly Active: 6000-9500
    Active: 9500-12500
    Very Active: above 12500

    Once you have picked you activity level, you don't add on any additional exercise from your day to day into your diary, only specific exercise activity.

    I've explained that really badly, so I'll try again:

    Say most days you get about 8000 steps. You put your activity down as Lightly Active. You don't log those steps every day as exercise because they've already been accounted for.
    Now on one day you have gone for a walk and walked an extra 3000 steps. Great so what you do is just log that extra walk, and don't log the rest. (also, it might be better to log that walk as distance as opposed to steps)

    Does that make sense?

    This makes sense to me. I think I need to set at lightly active because although I do have a desk job, I average 6500-7000steps a day without intentional exercise. I think my best bet is to disconnect my step counter so it’s not adding additional calories and log my walks at lunch I plan to start in the coming weeks as exercise. This should work out properly right?
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 978 Member
    mrs30014 wrote: »
    Deviette wrote: »
    Hi

    So the way MFP works is that you set your activity levels for anything you do day to day that isn't intentional exercise. So if you have a desk job: sedentary; if you do some walking around: lightly active; if you have a job that means you're on your feet most of the day (eg retail): active; and if your job involves lots of exercise (eg builder, labourer): very active

    This does vaguely work out nicely for step counters (complied mostly from memory and some googling, please feel free to correct me anyone):
    Sedentary: under 6000
    Lightly Active: 6000-9500
    Active: 9500-12500
    Very Active: above 12500

    Once you have picked you activity level, you don't add on any additional exercise from your day to day into your diary, only specific exercise activity.

    I've explained that really badly, so I'll try again:

    Say most days you get about 8000 steps. You put your activity down as Lightly Active. You don't log those steps every day as exercise because they've already been accounted for.
    Now on one day you have gone for a walk and walked an extra 3000 steps. Great so what you do is just log that extra walk, and don't log the rest. (also, it might be better to log that walk as distance as opposed to steps)

    Does that make sense?

    This makes sense to me. I think I need to set at lightly active because although I do have a desk job, I average 6500-7000steps a day without intentional exercise. I think my best bet is to disconnect my step counter so it’s not adding additional calories and log my walks at lunch I plan to start in the coming weeks as exercise. This should work out properly right?

    Sorry for the late reply (I've had a super busy weekend)

    Yeah that should work out okay :smiley:
  • lizzy_satellite
    lizzy_satellite Posts: 112 Member
    This formula does seem to work pretty well for me. Although I have a desk job, I walk part of my commute and walk at lunchtime, and am currently clocking up 12-15k steps per day, all in. If I set myself to active I get 1550 cals to lose 1lb per week, at very active I get 1750. I haven't logged any exercise at all, and my loss over the last 90 days has averaged out at just over 1lb/week.
  • tirowow12385
    tirowow12385 Posts: 697 Member
    300 calories burn is sedentary, 600 is lightly active, 900 is active and 1200 is athlete, an obese person will take less steps to burn calories and reach the threshold so 6000 steps or any numbers are not all equal.

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