Should I log this as exercise?

ProjectSYD

So yesterday my girlfriend came up for the weekend so we had our date night (we went to an all you can eat buffet so I didn't end up tracking that meal). Afterwards we decided to go geocaching and while we were out we would walk to the liqpur store to buy some drinks for the pool later (spoiler, we were too tired from all the walking to drink or swim). So I ended up calculatog the distance and we walked nearly 8.5 kms (most of the walk I had 15lbs of bottles in my back pack). We were out for nearly 3 hours. This is not normal activity for me - normally I'd sit at home and watch a movie so I figured I'd track it anyways. Also today we decided to go out to the pool (no drinks for me I have to drive her home in a bit) and we raced in the pool and tossed around a football for a couple of hours (also not something I usually do I don't like swimming that much despite owning a pool). So I tracked that also.

Is it wrong to track it? Or should I be?

blankiefinder

If you didn't end up tracking an all you can eat meal, why bother tracking your workout? I would just let those calories burned help offset your cheat meal.

zoeysasha37

I personally wouldn't. Id consider it just part of my daily activities and move on. It would be one thing if you where planning on walking three hours and then swimming for three hours each day but it was just a one time thing. I wouldn't even bother logging any of it.

azulvioleta6

Too tired to drink? Does not compute...

Yes, track it as walking, at whatever speed you tend to walk.

SherryTeach

If I don't track the meal, there isn't much point in tracking the exercise either.

grza36

MFP greatly exaggerates calories burnt from exercise, and it sounds like you have a predisposition to under-report your calories. The safest bet for you in my opinion would be to not track activities that you don't partake in for the express purpose of exercise, if at all.

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grza36

ProjectSYD wrote: »

grza36 wrote: »

MFP greatly exaggerates calories burnt from exercise, and it sounds like you have a predisposition to under-report your calories. The safest bet for you in my opinion would be to not track activities that you don't partake in for the express purpose of exercise, if at all.

I actually do the opposite I always log much more than I consume.

That's cool, I mean I have no reason to doubt you, but results-wise you aren't going to see any benefit to running the risk of overestimating calories burnt through exercise if weight loss is your goal. Do what you want but in my personal experience "knowing" my exercise calories burnt has slowed my progress more than expedited it, largely because it gave me a sense of false entitlement to that extra beer or handful of chips.

runningforthetrain

blankiefinder wrote: »

If you didn't end up tracking an all you can eat meal, why bother tracking your workout? I would just let those calories burned help offset your cheat meal.

^This

barbecuesauce

ProjectSYD wrote: »

blankiefinder wrote: »

If you didn't end up tracking an all you can eat meal, why bother tracking your workout? I would just let those calories burned help offset your cheat meal.

Yeah the point of the question was in regards to days where I do track all of my meals - I should have left out the all you can eat portion. Like today we were playing volleyball in the pool (and we swam some laps) the intent was to get extra cardio in.

I think if you have to ask "should I track this?" the answer is no.

8.5 km isn't nothing, but how did you do it? Were you just ambling along? Were you hustling? Were you in motion for large stretches?

It's better to overestimate food and underestimate exercise--or if you don't, to keep your eyes open to the possibility that you could have a smaller deficit than you think you do.

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callsitlikeiseeit

I wouldn't.

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grza36

ProjectSYD wrote: »

Iav

grza36 wrote: »

ProjectSYD wrote: »

grza36 wrote: »

MFP greatly exaggerates calories burnt from exercise, and it sounds like you have a predisposition to under-report your calories. The safest bet for you in my opinion would be to not track activities that you don't partake in for the express purpose of exercise, if at all.

I actually do the opposite I always log much more than I consume.

That's cool, I mean I have no reason to doubt you, but results-wise you aren't going to see any benefit to running the risk of overestimating calories burnt through exercise if weight loss is your goal. Do what you want but in my personal experience "knowing" my exercise calories burnt has slowed my progress more than expedited it, largely because it gave me a sense of false entitlement to that extra beer or handful of chips.

I've lost 60lbs in the past and I'm on my way to losing it again although this time around I'm trying to do more physical activities for leisure like hiking, swimming, etc.

My calorie intake mfp calculated was based on me working a job where I was sitting down all day but that's no longer the case I'm up on my feet 40 hours a week. I also underestimate calories burned - I spent over two hours in the pool but only imputed 45 minutes. I also don't eat the calories I burn from exorcising.

Hey great that's great, the thing about activities like hiking or being in the pool though is that they're pretty ambiguous when it comes to physical exertion and it's impossible for a program like MFP to accommodate that. For a lot of people, myself included, the solution to this problem is to continue to simply view them as leisure activities, supplement them with an exercise regimen, and enjoy the benefit of slightly quicker results when that margin of error works in your favor.

Francl27

I don't like the way MFP works, that's why I switched to TDEE-20%, but yeah, I would definitely log it.

MsJulesRenee

There's an option of "walking with 15lb infant" in the cardio section.

mumblemagic

I would track it, as I'm doing the walk to mordor challenge and I need the miles!

rbiss

You need to track meals and exercise. Without both, it's not really helpful.

snowflakesav

track the meal and the activity.

blossomingbutterfly

rbiss wrote: »

You need to track meals and exercise. Without both, it's not really helpful.

I agree. Tracking both is the best way to go. Even if you want to do a cheat day or meal or whatnot, I think, at least personally, it's best to know what I'm consuming so at least I can have that knowledge. The more you know.

kshama2001

My activity level is set at Sedentary so I do log when I'm active, which would definitely include the activities you described.

I would have guestimated for the buffet as well.

(I don't eat back all my exercise calories.)

PAV8888

I am a bit confused with all this tracking vs not tracking and this "leisure vs exercise".

Your body doesn't really care if you spent calories because you were exercising as opposed to leisuring. It also doesn't care if you eat more calories because you just like snickers bars, or if you're eating them because you don't want to obsess about a meal once a week.

Your weight will reflect both your overall intake and your overall expenditure regardless of whether you chose to track the values, or not (and whether you succeed in doing so!)

Calorie counting is inherently not precise (errors in counting, errors in the database values, random changes in the nutritional value of the food)--some would argue up to 20%. Thankfully errors often cancel one another out.

Exercise counting is inherently not precise (perceived exertion doesn't match reality, you don't account for your rest periods, BMR is already included in the burn you see, your muscles are/aren't adapted to the particular exercise, and much more).

So why would you deliberately try to introduce MORE variation to the whole endeavor by picking and choosing WHAT you count?

Counting your exercise doesn't obligate you to eat back the calories. Counting your food doesn't prohibit you from going over your goal.

MFP's caloric allotment already includes your targeted deficit. If you keep to the deficit you claimed you were going to follow, you should be eating back your real/true exercise calories. "I never eat exercise calories back" equals "I randomly eat less to speed up my weight loss"

It should be fairly easy for most people who have been using MFP for a few months to go back and calculate a correspondence between their purported deficit and their actual weight loss. And to even figure out their actual TDEE, if they so chose. Assuming they've been tracking...

itsclobberintime

You can if you wish, but no real point without logging your meal as well.

snickerscharlie

ProjectSYD wrote: »

I also don't eat the calories I burn from exorcising.

I hear that's quite taxing, so the burn rate should be pretty good.

In all seriousness, I would leave well enough alone. The exercise hopefully negates the buffet. And, if not, it's only one weekend.

Sued0nim

snickerscharlie wrote: »

ProjectSYD wrote: »

I also don't eat the calories I burn from exorcising.

I hear that's quite taxing, so the burn rate should be pretty good.

In all seriousness, I would leave well enough alone. The exercise hopefully negates the buffet. And, if not, it's only one weekend.

Sued0nim

The calorie burns you are logging look massively over-inflated to me

You can cheat the numbers..but not your body ...it has no idea what numbers you've logged just what you put in and burn

Amerielle

If you don't eat your exercise calories back anyway, why all the angst about logging or not? Log it, don't log it, doesn't matter. It's obvious you really want to so go for it...you body will tell you if what you are doing is working.

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