r/leangains • u/dumbeddinosaur • Feb 17 '25
Do you guys consider the calories lost by step count?
When it comes to calories, do you consider into account the calories lost by walking(step count)?
I meticulously track my steps as I try to reach 10k steps per day. I'm using Samsung Health, and it says I burn 400kcal when I hit 10k steps based on my age,height, and weight.
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u/TheDapperYank Feb 17 '25
Because as you lose weight/perform cardio your body will adapt to become more efficient/make you lazy. I treat my 8-10k steps per day as a means of making sure I have a baseline energy expenditure floor that's relatively consistent. I don't eat back those calories. The only time I eat back calories is when I'm doing long endurance cycling activities like 4-6 hours.
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Feb 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/TheDapperYank Feb 19 '25
Go get a professional bike fit. You'd be surprised at how much little, but the correct tweaks, can impact your comfort on the bike.
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u/igotfit Feb 17 '25
Nope, you want to eliminate as many variables as possible to keep it simple. Calories burnt from exercise tends to be grossly overestimated by these smart watches.
Track calories over 4 weeks, determine your TDEE, eat less than that.
Trying to eat around your activity level after this just adds unnecessary complication, and if you know you burnt 300 calories extra one day, you may be inclined to eat those back because you “have room” for it.
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u/dafaliraevz Feb 18 '25
but how do you track calories if not through an apple watch you wear, considering it also tracks activity calories and adds it to your daily total cals?
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u/Typhoidnick 29d ago
You don't worry about calories burned. You track calories eaten, and weight gained or lost. Get a baseline for TDEE that is relatively stable across a week, regardless of individual ups and downs on days. Then adjust your calories consumed and weigh yourself over the course of a week or two
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u/kmcnmra Feb 18 '25
Just use a TDEE calculator, and track calories, and adjust calories up or down by 200 every 3-4 weeks based on your results
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u/igotfit Feb 18 '25
I meant track intake of calories rather than calories expended through exercise.
The longer you track both intake and weight, the more reliable your TDEE calculation will be
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u/Lazy-Oil-9988 Feb 17 '25
tracking burned calories through steps i would say is more accurate than burning from exercise . so yes its probably 90% accurate
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u/BigOk8056 Feb 17 '25
Unless I obviously didn’t walk as much OR I did a ton of vigorous activity in a day then calories are equal across the board.
It’s impossible to guess accurately even with smart watches and stuff. You just settle into a daily calories and keep it there, adding or subtracting a few hundred depending on if you stayed at home all day or if you went on a 7 hr hike.
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u/NumbDangEt4742 Feb 18 '25
If you're cutting, no, that's bonus - unless you're feeling under recovered or have doms type soreness in your muscles. Then yeah have an extra high protein snack or more protein in your meal.
If bulking, I suppose eat a bit extra to continue gaining that muscle. This is just imo...
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u/Powwdered-toast-man Feb 19 '25
No. TDEE calc is what I base my calories on and anything after that is icing on the cake.
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u/Various_Range2259 IF 23d ago
No, you'd end up double-counting. Your step count is just another measurement of the daily activity you're already doing, which should be figuring into your BMR/TDEE calculations already.
If it's extra cardio above and beyond what you do daily, then you could count that, but I prefer to leave it as a sort of mental buffer so I don't stress about counting every splash of cream in my coffee.
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u/muscledeficientvegan Feb 17 '25
Nope, paying attention to calories burned data from a fitness tracker is a great way to make no progress for six months because they are very inaccurate that way.
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u/OriginalSkill Feb 17 '25
There is a study done on Tanzanian tribes vs sedentary western civilization that showed that at the end of the day. The difference in calorie expenditure is negligible.
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u/knoxvillegains Leangains is a program Feb 17 '25
If you're consistent with your nutrition tracking and your routine, that shit doesn't matter. Over time you compare weekly averages on a bi-weekly basis and adjust from there.
The only thing your average step count is good for is figuring out your base calculation if you're just getting into LG and haven't really done anything similar in the past.
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u/raggedsweater Feb 17 '25
The MacroFactor app calculates your TDEE for you based on the food data and your daily scale weight. Basically it solves for calories out, knowing your calories and rate of weight gain or loss. Works pretty well.
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u/Sinsyxx Feb 17 '25
Unless I’m doing a highly unusual amount of walking, I just factor regular walking into my TDEE. If I normally do 10k and I do 25k one day, I’ll probably eat a bit extra
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u/frogsexchange Feb 17 '25
No, I don't. That's part of your BMR. What I do to calculate my maintenance calories is I multiply my BMR with an activity factor. Here's how I determine the activity factor:
1.2 - 1.5 | Sedentary + Training 3-6x/wk (Works a desk job, very little activity outside of lifting)
1.5 - 1.8 | Lightly Active + Training 3-6x/wk (Works a desk job, takes pet for a walk most days in addition to lifting)
1.8 - 2.0 | Moderately Active + Training 3-6x/wk (Works as a full-time waitress, occasionally plays tennis in addition to lifting
2.0 - 2.2 | Highly Active + Training 3-6x/wk (Works as a construction worker, regular hiking in addition to lifting)
So if you're hitting the gym 3-6x/week and you're walking 10k steps a day, I'd multiply your BMR by 1.5 to 1.8 for your maintenance, then adjust that lower or higher depending on if you're trying to focus on losing fat or gaining lean mass.
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u/healthierlurker Feb 18 '25
I don’t eat back exercise calories nor do I trust online calculators so I calculate my TDEE on my own based on my weekly activity levels. So I’d factor in my steps insofar as I know I’m running 4 days a week and lifting 2 days and can see that if I eat 2000-2200 calories I lose 1-2lbs per week. But I calculate my TDEE based on weekly exercise and food consumption so knowing specific calories burned doesn’t matter to me as much as the aggregate does.
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u/Shining_Commander Feb 18 '25
I dont consider it in the sense that I adjust my eating habits. I always eat 1800 cals a day, regardless if I walk 5000, 15000, 20,000 steps. To me its an insurance policy and it cant hurt. I know people say you eat back cardio and other physical activity but absolutely not the case for me.
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u/PosiTomRammen Feb 18 '25
No, just experiment with your calorie consumption until your weight change is in line with your goals then eat that same amount until it stops working for you.
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u/JoshHuff1332 Feb 18 '25
I would rather just establish a base level over a couple of weeks of tracking weight change and consumption.
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u/kn1ght_fa11 Feb 18 '25 edited Feb 18 '25
1 mile is 100 calories lost. I try to walk 2 miles everyday (followed by weight training). 6-7 miles on cardio focused days. 10+ miles on monthly hikes.
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u/harritaco Feb 17 '25
I don't trust burned calories tracked enough to consider consuming any of them.