Welcome to the community. I'm not sure I understand your question and I don't understand the specific situation you are dealing with. Do you mean you have difficulty controlling the variable at a given level for the duration of an experiment? Or are you questioning the coding of levels for the data table? I don't understand the integer question at all...sorry. Perhaps someone else will.
The assumption in experimentation is the factors that are being manipulated can be set at specific levels for the duration of the experiment (or treatment). Now we all know there could be some variation around the setting and should plan the difference between levels accordingly (e.g., bold level setting). If the variable can't be controlled, but can be measured, perhaps using regression would be helpful.
"All models are wrong, some are useful" G.E.P. Box