Help with steps please?

dhogg30
dhogg30 Posts: 2 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone.

Just wondered if someone can tell me how many steps per day is roughly considered to be lightly active, active and highly active?

Trying to work out my maintainence calories and depending on which one I choose it can vary the calories by 500 each way.

Thanks for any help.

Replies

  • marjoyrin123
    marjoyrin123 Posts: 26 Member
    The first thing I would do is sign on to the apps and devices section of MyFitnessPal and install Pacer this app works in sync with MyFitnessPal and will keep track of your steps and calories you're calorie output will appear in the exercise section of your diary log keep in mind but this is giving a ballpark figure not an exact figure but an idea of how much you were burning the Pacer app will tell you how far you are walking and other information about your walk it is extremely easy to use and I have found it very helpful your question related to level of activity related to steps really comes down to an individual level please keep in mind I am a lay person I am not an expert just giving you my individual experience I would recommend starting a slow you can set your goal on Pacer for let's say 3000 steps and that you're able to do that you could gradually increase it what's important to keep in mind is to vary your walk for example you can walk at a moderate pace and then for a minute or so speed it up and then slow down go uphill go downhill again it depends on what your physical condition is and being am not a trainer I cannot give you an exact list of instructions what I can say is that the key is that you keep active
    For me 10,000 steps is r mikes but you have to build up to this
    Also everyone's step,length is differentif you happen to use a treadmill keep your phone on in your pocket or hold it (you may want to hold onto handrails if need be for safety don't look at it while you're walking but it will keep track of the steps but you are taking while on the treadmill and if you don't use a treadmill that's perfectly fine you can keep track of your steps indoors Outdoors
    If you cannot have your phone with you while you're exercising on the treadmill then you can do a manual entry into the exercise section of MyFitnessPal The other thing to keep in mind is that if you are traveling in a car or on a bus make sure that you put Pacer on pause it is very sensitive to movement and even while sitting in a car or on the bus or train any movement will register as steps so make sure I can that you put Pacer on pause and then take off pause when you get off best of luck to you
    Again keep in mind I am just a lay person you might want to check with a professional Fitness expert who really has better knowledge I'm just giving you some general guidelines for my experience you also have to take into consideration your overall health the key is not to overdo it if you don't want to hurt yourself
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited January 2019
    Lightly active is approx more than 5000 steps. 10000 active. 15000 very active.

    Have you input your stats to this app and set it to maintain? its pretty good guideline for maintenance calories to begin with and after several weeks you will have the data to know if you can up your calories more to maintain.
  • dhogg30
    dhogg30 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks for the replies, really appreciate it.

    I do between 10-12,000 steps a day so guess I'm active. Plus I lift heavy weights five times a week.

    Looking forward to the extra calories :)
  • tirowow12385
    tirowow12385 Posts: 697 Member
    MyFitnessPal splits the activity levels base on how much calories you burn beyond your Basal Metabolic rate (BMR)

    If I recall correctly it goes like this:
    1. BMR x 1.25 = sedentary
    2. BMR x 1.40 = lightly active
    3. BMR x 1.6 = active
    4. BMR x 1.8. = very active

    So once you figure out the exact calories you need to burn, you will know your activity level base upon your daily steps and how many calories you are burning.



  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,751 Member
    If the steps are part of your deliberate exercise (i.e. walking, running, etc.) then they shouldn't count as part of your activity level unless you don't input that separately. My usual step count is 15,000, but 90% of that is from running and walking. The rest of the time I am completely sedentary. Since I input my runs and walks separately, I get the extra calories I need on my most active days, but don't overcount on the days I am less active. You want to be careful not to double count your exercise, since that leads to frustration when the weight doesn't come off.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    If the steps are part of your deliberate exercise (i.e. walking, running, etc.) then they shouldn't count as part of your activity level unless you don't input that separately. My usual step count is 15,000, but 90% of that is from running and walking. The rest of the time I am completely sedentary. Since I input my runs and walks separately, I get the extra calories I need on my most active days, but don't overcount on the days I am less active. You want to be careful not to double count your exercise, since that leads to frustration when the weight doesn't come off.

    This is me too. I average 12.5k steps a day. 8.5k of them are from purposeful exercise (which I log when I do it). So I really only take 3.5k steps a day (for consideration of mfp activity setting). So I’m set as sedentary - which works correctly. Even though I get 12.5k steps a day.

    But if this isn’t for setting up mfp, then I’d go with active for you and adjust if needed.
  • traceyroy54
    traceyroy54 Posts: 89 Member
    Help please! My tomtom says ive done 9962 steps, calories 1 960, 7.36km.
    Is that right?
  • tirowow12385
    tirowow12385 Posts: 697 Member
    Help please! My tomtom says ive done 9962 steps, calories 1 960, 7.36km.
    Is that right?

    It could be right if your TomTom is like Googlefit and adds your BMR and step calories together.
  • traceyroy54
    traceyroy54 Posts: 89 Member
    Thanks for the help.
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