To count or not to count steps for weight loss

[amandad0217]

I have used a FitBit for about 6 months now, and have always been really curious if this will make or break my weight loss progress. If I allowed my steps to be entered into My Fitness Pal, I would have an extra 500 calories a day at my disposal, on top of my already alloted amount (1350.) I feel as though that would enable me to eat more and not lose, however I'm also curious if I'm under eating? I will count steps during workouts (running, fast walking, etc.) as well as calories from exercise, like biking, but I don't know if I should let it consider all my steps as calories burned.

Do you or do you not add your daily walking into your calorie counting? Have you found that it changes much for your progress? TIA!

[bloop]

If you're trying to lose weight, eating more will only cause you to lose weight slower.

Being more active (walking more) will cause you to lose weight faster given you're eating the same amount of calories every day (1350). 

There is no need to eat more. 

There's no need to log an additional exercise into MFP called "Steps" in order to account for those calories. MFP and Fitbit should sync automatically.

Go by the calories you burned from fitbit (for example 1950 for the day), subtract 500 (deficit) from that number. This is how much maximum you should be eating in order to lose 1lb per week.

[Ukase]

I am not sure I understand your question. 

For weight loss - your body will burn a certain amount of calories, and if you consume less than that value, you'll lose weight. 

I think a lot of people incorporate this "My Fitness Pal" into their program - but I'm unfamiliar with it so I'm not sure how using it will increase or decrease your weight loss - unless it's additional exercise. 

I think that you look at your dashboard for yesterday - you'll see how many calories you burned for the entire 24 hour period. Then, you look at the food you logged in and you can see from the dashboard what your caloric deficit was. 

A pound is roughly 3600 calories. Divide that deficit value into 3600 to see how many days like the one before will let you lose one pound. 

If you "count" your total steps - which your fitbit does - then your calorie count will be roughly accurate. 

Activities like biking, rowing, swimming can really have an impact on your total caloric burn, depending on which Fitbit you have and where you wear it. And Swimming with a Fitbit is not advised without a warranty! 

For those activities, use the logger, noting how long you exercised, distance (if applicable) and the duration. Fitbit will generally give you a good approximation. 

If you don't include those activities, it could have a negative impact on your results. 

Say you swam laps for 30 minutes - and because I have no idea how many calories that would burn for you, let's just say it burned 500 calories. If you were at a 500 calorie deficit diet and you didn't count that, you would then be at 1000 calorie deficit - losing weight twice as fast. However, since your avatar is female, I assume you are, that would probably mean you'd only take in about 750 calories a day. I don't think that's a good idea for the long run. I do think that once a week or two, that would be okay, particularly if you hit a "set point" and the scale isn't cooperating after a few weeks. 

If you don't get enough to eat, your body thinks you're in a food deprived area and will not release the fat cells - but eat your muscle because the muscle requires more energy to sustain than the fat cells. So, it's a good idea to eat on a regular basis. Did that answer your question? 

[Yoshimo]

Hi!

When I started weight loss I put fixed daily limit for my calories (1500) and kept it even if I exercided, walked etc.

Now few months later I trust my Fitbit and just keep myself at 500 cal decifit, so if I exercise more I can eat more. That's working too and my weight loss is continuing, little slower though. 

best regards,

Johan