Should I log my work as exercise?

KALMdown
KALMdown Posts: 211 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a part time job as a photographer. The hours aren't consistent, some weeks I don't have a shoot and others i'll work 3 or 4 hours a day. Because of this, I put my work as sedentary.

However, on many shoots I am constantly squatting and/or climbing and sometimes running to get a photo. I'm not getting a full cardio workout but it is more than sitting. Should I even bother to enter it in? I have never tracked it with my HRM because I figured it's not a "real" workout. Today, as I was climbing up and down chairs it made me rethink that position. But honestly, do you think it is worth tracking?

Replies

  • SteelySunshine
    SteelySunshine Posts: 1,092 Member
    If you chose sedentary to figure out your TDEE then yes you should log anything that isn't sedentary. Or just enjoy the larger deficit. Eventually though you get to a point where you will need to eat enough to not go under your ideal weight.
  • maca416
    maca416 Posts: 142 Member
    Use a Fitbit, this will automatically log any activity over sedentary & because your days are so different this device is ideal.

    I thought my days were sedentary until I looked at how much I really do walk about & the Fitbit works seamlessly with MFP.

    I kept my setting as sedentary because, like you, some days I do little.
  • pluckabee
    pluckabee Posts: 346 Member
    I wouldn't log it. Even at a sedentary modifier you still get some calories above your bmr, and if you really aren't moving much most days, the days you do move about probably just balance out, not really increasing your TDEE by very much at all..

    I have a fitbit to try an motivate myself to move more since I have a sedentary desk job and on days I really dont move much, fitbit shows calories burned to be under the mfp predicted calories burned for a sedentary lifestyle. I still need to take about 3000 steps just to reach sedentary.
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    it might be uneven but if you fit into the '1-3 times a week' for it being more active i'd choose light, then log everything EXTRA. I would set a standard and only log thing when it's more...

    you don't want up and down cals if you're eating back, so eating steady and burning erratically might work better for you - it does for me. I DON'T eat exercise cals back but I'm a teacher so on my feet a lot, and so I don't log anything from work except netball practices/umpiring even though i'm walking a lot and up/down stairs all day. I class myself as light to moderate, eat 1800 (about 200 cals above BMR) and log out-of-work exercise, but don't eat it back. I've lost 18kg in 173 days.

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