Eating back step calories

SRJ5820
SRJ5820 Posts: 63 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all, I'm set up for sedentary lifestyle, and use my Galaxy 7 Edge to count my steps. Just curious if people eat back their step calories.

Replies

  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
    I eat all mine -not necessarily on the day I earn them but at some time during the week. My fitbit has proved to be pretty accurate for me - I have lost, gained and maintained pretty much in line with the numbers it gives me.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    I have a Fitbit Charge 2, and eat back the exercise calories it gives me. I’ve lost from 173 to 134.5 since January. (Older, shorter female)
  • SRJ5820
    SRJ5820 Posts: 63 Member
    I guess my thing is, if I workout on elliptical and eat those cals back, I feel ok about it. But if I take 8000 steps in a day, I feel like I don't deserve to eat all the step cals back. Like, everyone has to walk and some of those steps should be part of the daily goal already. I think my plan will be to eat back half of the step cals and 100% of elliptical.
  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
    SRJ5820 wrote: »
    I guess my thing is, if I workout on elliptical and eat those cals back, I feel ok about it. But if I take 8000 steps in a day, I feel like I don't deserve to eat all the step cals back. Like, everyone has to walk and some of those steps should be part of the daily goal already. I think my plan will be to eat back half of the step cals and 100% of elliptical.

    It's not a matter of "deserving". When you selected your activity level when setting up MFP it includes a certain amount of activity. When you exceed that amount of activity MFP adjusts your calories to keep you at the deficit you selected.

    Not saying you have to eat them back, but keep an eye on whether you are losing too fast or too slow and make adjustments from there.
  • TrishSeren
    TrishSeren Posts: 587 Member
    I'm not 100% sure the calories (in my experience) it gives you based on steps is accurate so I don't count them.

    I do log my walks via another app and log my gym workouts and eat those calories back.
  • SRJ5820
    SRJ5820 Posts: 63 Member
    Ok folks, new issue. Previously I was using my Samsung Galaxy 7 Edge (Samsung Health) to count steps and intergrate with MFP. Yesterday, I bought a fitbit. Issues now. I realize that fitbit takes into account heart rate and Samung Health doesn't, but here is my issue. On Saturday, with Samsung Health, 7520 steps = 531 calories added. Today, with Fitbit, 7678 steps for 1052 calories! No way I am going to eat back 1052 calories. This cant be right?!
  • Purplebunnysarah
    Purplebunnysarah Posts: 3,252 Member
    Fitbit will take a few days to 'learn' your habits. It should settle in to a more reasonable adjustment in a few days.
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
    I've always eaten as many of the added Calories as I can and have lost 140lb and maintained that loss for over a year. It does take a while for any new tracker to get to know you and learn what your hr is like at rest etc, but on the whole I've found the method of setting activity level as sedentary and allowing adjustments pretty accurate.
  • dh2014dh
    dh2014dh Posts: 9 Member
    Be careful about this one - research shows that fitness trackers can be inaccurate by up to 40% in estimating your calorie consumption.

    I’ve used various trackers - expensive and inexpensive, over the past 15 years and ALL have been useful to me but I wouldn’t rely on them fully.

    I’ve used Polar, Garmin & Fitbit trackers but research shows the technology isn’t quite up to speed yet with any brand or manufacturer.

    Err on the side of caution; consume a conservative amount of calories if trying to lose fat or maintain weight. It’s difficult to comprehensively advise on here as it’s a very complex area however, I would suggest recording your weight on a daily basis - in similar conditions always, eg., first thing in morning after waking up (and emptying your bladder)!
    Log weight and calories (& progress photos - which again, should be taken in similar lighting condition every time) on this app and over a period of say, a month, then you can look back over the data and evaluate where you are and what you need to do!

    If I can be of any further help, message me here and I’ll be more than happy to assist (;
  • jflongo
    jflongo Posts: 289 Member
    Also, keep in mind your settings with MFP. It already counts in some activity. Now if you were to all of a sudden do 20K steps in one day, instead of a normal 4K - 8K, then sure you could eat some back. Normally I stick to my macros, unless I have a longer than usual heavy lifting day. Then I may take in an extra 200 - 300 calories.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Sadly the research that shows such poor results is where they take a device that would normally take upwards of 2 weeks to learn a person and their stats to better estimate calorie burn - and strap it to someone for a 1-2 day study.

    Worthless study because of that failure to understand what they are testing.

    Not even tweaking the stride length setting is mentioned in most - which I guess they are trying to imitate default user setup so fine - but most who ask if they can trust the figures, are given that as a potential improvement point - same as weighing food compared to doing a weekly journal based on memory.
  • SRJ5820
    SRJ5820 Posts: 63 Member
    My issue is I lost 100 pounds, and never ate "step" calories back. When I did cardio, I wore a Polar strap and ate those cals back. But in the last 4 years I've gained almost all of the weight back, but I've been on my diet almost all of the time. I would eat a 1000 cal deficit, but maintain my weight. I'd get frustrated and go off diet and gain huge amounts back in no time. Go back on diet and only lose half of what I gained and then platuea again. Same cycle over and over. I started my diet again in May and lost 7 pounds in 5 weeks. Not what I wanted, but was happy. then in 13 weeks since, I;ve only lost 4 pounds. I try to up my cals and gain, lower my cals and maintain. Beyond frustrating. I wasn't (and still am not) eating back any of my "step" cals.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    You up your cals and gain.

    How quickly does that happen and by what amount are we talking?

    Because fat is not fast for gaining or losing.

    But water weight is.
  • SRJ5820
    SRJ5820 Posts: 63 Member
    I plateau for the longest times. I was eating 2000 cals, and not losing. I was eating 1800 + my exercise cals and not losing. I am now eating 1800 and not losing. If I eat my maintence cals, I gain.

    I have a spreadsheet with my weign ins on it. I am working on adding more data to it. Cals eaten that week. Exercise cals. Net cals. I will work on it this weekend and post it to dropbox.

    Everyone keeps telling me I am not counting right, not weighing right, I am eating more then I think. This is all not true. I lost 100 pounds in 1 year. In the 4 years since I've only gained, yet have been religious abt the same things, minus the times I get frustrated and go off and gain back. But then when I hit it hard again, I lose for a few weeks then stall. No way that a 308 pound man should eat 1800 cals, walk 8000 steps, all daily and occasional elliptaical, and NOT lose weight.
  • Cassandraw3
    Cassandraw3 Posts: 1,214 Member
    I use samsung health for my step/exercise calorie count. It is on the low end of other calorie trackers, but I find it to be accurate for me. That being said, I think your fitbit is way overestimating calories burned.

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