Calories earned from steps

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tomschroe83
tomschroe83 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Should you eat back calories from steps? My fit bit gave me 345 extra calories from walking 10000 steps today and I ate them all back except 17. I want to know if anyone else eats back calories from only step added calories and still manage to lose weight or if I should just stay with my original deficit.
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  • emilysusana
    emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
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    I eat mine back most of the time. At first I was skeptical so I didn’t eat many of them back, but based on lots of data I now know that I should have been eating them back. You can start by eating some of them and see how it goes, or start by eating them al back. Adjust as needed after a few weeks of keeping up the same system.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,829 Member
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    This is just me, but I don’t eat back generic walking calories. I suspect my watch gives me credit for too many steps. I’m a waver and gesturer, do needlepoint and crochet, and wear my watch on my dominant right wrist, all of which contribute towards over credit.

    Many people on MFP only eat back half their excercise calories because many believe that their devices over credit on all forms of excercise.
  • tomschroe83
    tomschroe83 Posts: 15 Member
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    Thank you! That's good advice I will start with eating only half back and hopefully I will still be losing a pound a week and if not I'm not gonna eat them back. 345 calories does seem like a lot to tack on to my 1360 calories
  • tomschroe83
    tomschroe83 Posts: 15 Member
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    Whats hrm?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Heart rate monitor
  • tomschroe83
    tomschroe83 Posts: 15 Member
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    Oh 😃 ya my fit bit does not have a hrm. That would be nice though
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
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    tomschroe83 wrote: »
    Should you eat back calories from steps? My fit bit gave me 345 extra calories from walking 10000 steps today and I ate them all back except 17. I want to know if anyone else eats back calories from only step added calories and still manage to lose weight or if I should just stay with my original deficit.

    What did you set your activity level to in MFP? (Sedentary, Active, etc.)

    My old fitness tracker over-estimated my step calories. My new one matches up well based on years of data.
  • JaxxieKat
    JaxxieKat Posts: 427 Member
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    I eat back some. I have my activity set to light, because my daily work tasks vary from day to day. I may be sitting at a desk or I may be running all over a warehouse pulling heavy boxes from racks. My FitBit has a HRM, so it bases my calorie burn on my heart rate. For example, today it said I got in 11,020 steps and burned 3,931 calories. I was doing a lot of manual labor. Other days I may get in 11,000 steps and burn 2,400 calories.
  • tomschroe83
    tomschroe83 Posts: 15 Member
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    Psychgrrl wrote: »
    tomschroe83 wrote: »
    Should you eat back calories from steps? My fit bit gave me 345 extra calories from walking 10000 steps today and I ate them all back except 17. I want to know if anyone else eats back calories from only step added calories and still manage to lose weight or if I should just stay with my original deficit.

    What did you set your activity level to in MFP? (Sedentary, Active, etc.)

    My old fitness tracker over-estimated my step calories. My new one matches up well based on years of data.

    My activity level is lightly active
  • OooohToast
    OooohToast Posts: 257 Member
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    I eat back half of calories earnt by exercise but I also cap that at a maximum of 400 per day.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    OooohToast wrote: »
    I eat back half of calories earnt by exercise but I also cap that at a maximum of 400 per day.

    Might want to read above explanation from shadow2soul.

    The adjustment is not just, or may not even be, exercise calories - but merely MFP correcting itself from your guess of 4 rough activity levels to what you really did today.
  • Tankiscool
    Tankiscool Posts: 11,105 Member
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    Calories are not from steps. I know the app makes that confusing as hell, but if you use the website it makes a bit more sense.

    Your fitbit or Garmin or whatever you calculates your tdee.
  • kbmnurse1
    kbmnurse1 Posts: 316 Member
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    I usually only eat 1/2 my calories back.
  • ginnytez
    ginnytez Posts: 1,352 Member
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    I've been eating my calories back (some days just part of them). I mainly want to make sure my net is over the 1200 mark and without eating the exercise calories, I won't hit it. Losing weight at .5-1 per week.
  • keananaki13
    keananaki13 Posts: 4 Member
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    Glad I found this thread!! My setup on MFP is set to sedentary so my calorie intake is recommended at 1241cal/day. My average steps on FitBit (no hrm) is about 6,000steps. What I noticed is that MFP will tell me I'm over budget or on budget with calorie intake but the fitbit app tells me I'm under budget nearly every single day! (Though I end up consuming between 1300 and 1500cal/day). I don't record dedicated walking workouts on MFP instead I let the steps transfer over to MFP from FitBit. Does anyone else do something similar?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    keananaki13 wrote: »
    Glad I found this thread!! My setup on MFP is set to sedentary so my calorie intake is recommended at 1241cal/day. My average steps on FitBit (no hrm) is about 6,000steps. What I noticed is that MFP will tell me I'm over budget or on budget with calorie intake but the fitbit app tells me I'm under budget nearly every single day! (Though I end up consuming between 1300 and 1500cal/day). I don't record dedicated walking workouts on MFP instead I let the steps transfer over to MFP from FitBit. Does anyone else do something similar?

    FYI - the steps you see are merely a figure to display - nothing else is done with them on MFP.

    That adjustment you get on MFP is merely to correct the fact you are not Sedentary according to Fitbit's report of your daily burn, and what MFP calculated you'd burn.

    Fitbit's own math for eating goal is different than MFP, especially projected for the day as it goes on.
    End of the day they should both match.

    But recommend not attempting to follow 2 roads to the same destination - confusing and can be aggravating.
    MFP for food related goals & logging (despite the name MyFitnessPal).
    Fitbit for movement related goals and logging.
  • OooohToast
    OooohToast Posts: 257 Member
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    heybales wrote: »
    OooohToast wrote: »
    I eat back half of calories earnt by exercise but I also cap that at a maximum of 400 per day.

    Might want to read above explanation from shadow2soul.

    The adjustment is not just, or may not even be, exercise calories - but merely MFP correcting itself from your guess of 4 rough activity levels to what you really did today.

    Thanks - But I am not using a Fitbit or any other gadget / app.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    OooohToast wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    OooohToast wrote: »
    I eat back half of calories earnt by exercise but I also cap that at a maximum of 400 per day.

    Might want to read above explanation from shadow2soul.

    The adjustment is not just, or may not even be, exercise calories - but merely MFP correcting itself from your guess of 4 rough activity levels to what you really did today.

    Thanks - But I am not using a Fitbit or any other gadget / app.

    oh sorry - that's what this topic was about, hence the assumption.
  • OooohToast
    OooohToast Posts: 257 Member
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    heybales wrote: »
    OooohToast wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    OooohToast wrote: »
    I eat back half of calories earnt by exercise but I also cap that at a maximum of 400 per day.

    Might want to read above explanation from shadow2soul.

    The adjustment is not just, or may not even be, exercise calories - but merely MFP correcting itself from your guess of 4 rough activity levels to what you really did today.

    Thanks - But I am not using a Fitbit or any other gadget / app.

    oh sorry - that's what this topic was about, hence the assumption.

    My bad I think - I didnt clock the significance of 'steps'. :)

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