Do you use a pedometer?

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Do you track the distance you've walked in a day as an exercise, even if you're just going about daily life? Is it necessary?

I have a pedometer, but I'm never sure whether to count them as calories earned or just ignore it. I know most people don't track their steps as exercise!

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  • peachNpunkin
    peachNpunkin Posts: 1,010 Member
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    I use a pedometer. It encourages me to remain active. I don't log it unless I intend to do that walking. But I usually only log my exercise when I over eat. (I am a bad girl). Simply because I eat 20% less my tdee because I have a very busy job.


    And just to add for those who think I'm nuts for eating that much; I am losing weight and inches quite well.
  • BarbWhite09
    BarbWhite09 Posts: 1,128 Member
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    Unless you have a day where you do waaaay more walking than usual [like a shopping trip to the mall if you end up walking around for a couple hrs] then there's no reason to add it in. I've also found that pedometers are extremely inaccurate at counting steps.
  • dg09
    dg09 Posts: 754
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    I would use it for activities where you're intentionally trying to exercise, not for day-to-day things. You'd probably start doubling up on calories that are already factored in with your activity level setting if you logged how many calories you burned for all of those steps taken.
  • KristiLM1
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    I wear a fitbit device which regardless of its accuracy, is a constant reminder for me to keep it moving. It's not perfect but neither am I.
  • prism6
    prism6 Posts: 484 Member
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    I have been exercising for MFP and in another week will be doing the fitness challenge that logs steps and fruits and vegetable consumption...everything should blend together. I will tell them my steps for the day,including my cardio time. and my cardio time will be for MFP. Food will be logged for both..hoping for a renewal of motivation....
  • PeachyPlum
    PeachyPlum Posts: 1,243 Member
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    I wear one as part of a workplace health initiative at my company. I do log my steps as exercise - I didn't plan to, but when I realized I walk more than five miles during an average work day. I log it so I can adjust my caloric intake accordingly.

    It also does keep me motivated to keep moving when I leave work!
  • ncthomas09
    ncthomas09 Posts: 322 Member
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    I have one that I wear at work. And yes I log it as exercise, but I also dont eat the extra calories it gives me. So for instance I'm on a 1500 calorie diet...after logging my walking say it gives me 1700...I still stay in my 1500 just because I dont do a lot of walking. But it does help keep me motivated. And I dont see why you shouldn't log that as exercise if you go through the list of stuff on MFP moving household items such as boxes count, walking a dog, food prep, cleaning, fishing, etc all count. So I say go for it if you want to...at a minimum it will help keep you motivated!
  • steamlita
    steamlita Posts: 39 Member
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    I've set my profile to Sedentary, so I'm not sure whether I -should- be adding all the little details like that or not. I usually only care if I've accidentally gone over though and try to justify it, to be honest...haha.
  • NotGoddess
    NotGoddess Posts: 1,198 Member
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    I use a pedometer - accelerometer on my ipod Nano. I've tested it against my HRM several times and found it pretty accurate for calories burned-what it said was close to what the HRM said once I accounted for 'sitting' calories. e.g. If I walked at a brisk pace for 30 minutes (enough to keep my heart rate above 100) and the HRM said I burned 200 calories, the nano said I burned 165, which is close to 200 - ( 30min * 1.1) = 167.

    I wasn't recording the calories, just using it to gauge my activity level, but I kept rethinking what my activity level was. So I've set my activity level back to sedentary and record and eat most of those walking calories. They've been close to what I was eating based on activity level alone, so I call it square.

    Keep in mind tho, that I'm a person that was getting 300-5000 steps before (and only eating 'real' exercise cals) and now I get a minimum of 10k steps every day. So I've really stepped up my walking activity and at least half of the steps are at 4mph or better pace. I'm not sure how well it would work for someone who's just recording normal walking. And I'm also focusing on having a smaller deficit- 250 cals or so.
  • Cwilliams8676
    Cwilliams8676 Posts: 300 Member
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    i log mine 100 calorie per mile i aim for 10,400 steps. i log all exercise too i eat back 25% of my exercise cals
  • sylwiasta
    sylwiasta Posts: 43 Member
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    I wear my body bugg that is a pedometer as well. Just keeps me motivated. My goal: over 10.000 steps a day. Just started walking my son to school instead of driving and I get over 11.000 a day easy with that. Makes me feel better!
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    I use the fitbit and just let it sync up. Really pushes me to walk more though!