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Exercise

Eldow1977
Eldow1977 Posts: 48 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm inspired by a friend on MFP who is including exercise despite being considerably heavier than me. My realization is that I don't have to jump in feet first, join the gym and start doing 30 min workouts three times a week but I could start on something lighter and start with ten minutes. My query is this:- whilst looking at the exercise section I came across "cooking and food preparation" I don't consider this to be an exercise but I am spending more time cooking and preparing fresh meals so should I be adding this?

Replies

  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    You don't have to exercise to lose weight. Weight loss is simply about burning more calories than you consume. You can do it by eating less calories, burning more, or a combination of the two. It's also ok to start slow and build if you want to do that.

    Cooking and prepping food aren't really exercise, but it's part of adjusting your calories in, so it is something to look into. You don't have to cut out any foods unless you have a medical condition, just eat less of them. Cooking your own meals makes that easier because you can enter the recipe into MFP and it will tell you the nutrition information for a serving.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Do you mean logging cooking and food preparation as exercise? If so, then I would say NO.
    I see it on my newsfeed from time to time too :huh:
  • LuckyAndi
    LuckyAndi Posts: 203 Member
    That depends. If you're just cooking at home, no you're probably not doing much to be considered exercise. If you work on the line in a restaurant, yes you are definitely exercising and burning lots of calories.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    edited September 2015
    We had a long thread on this a few months ago and the majority thought that it is part of your Activity Level and so should not be logged. I do log my cooking time, as has a woman who has lost over 100 pounds. Since you are now doing more cooking, there shouldn't be a debate about you adding the extra time. Say you used to spend 30 minutes and now are spending an hour - by all means add that new 30 minutes.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I wouldn't log cooking a meal as exercise. How much activity are you really doing during that time? It's mostly standing and some small arm movements. Maybe if you were doing one of those all day cooking things where you make all your meals for an entire month in one go - but even then I'd be leery of how much you're really burning.
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    I wouldn't log cooking a meal as exercise. How much activity are you really doing during that time? It's mostly standing and some small arm movements. Maybe if you were doing one of those all day cooking things where you make all your meals for an entire month in one go - but even then I'd be leery of how much you're really burning.

    Even if you cook all day I wouldn't add it. Since you did it all in one day the other days you are not doing any.

    That is...unless you dance...jog...do pushups/squats...while you cook...then maybe! :)

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    if it is something you do in every day life- NO
  • OldAssDude
    OldAssDude Posts: 1,436 Member
    You don't have to jump in feet first, but thinking you can count cooking as exercise isn't even the tip of your pinky toe on one foot.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    It's great to see you making small steps to get to your goal :]
    For me, beginning the 'exercise' side of things are a hardship. I was unfit and found it difficult - which I soon realised was the whole point of me starting exercise in the first place! Yes, it was hard - but I started with baby steps. Walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes, three times a week. I was burning moving more and that was the point. Pretty soon I started incorporating very small bursts of jogging - and now, I can run consistently without stopping for a good mile! Baby steps.

    Small exercises are still fantastic - cleaning the house gets me sweating (especially as my boyfriend is very messy!!!)! Find what works for you and enjoy it!
  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
    Exercise is a purposeful activity on top of your routine daily activities. The routine daily activities are already assumed and accounted for in MFP's calorie estimate -- it assumes we all cook, shop, mow the lawn, etc.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    It's part of your daily routine; not extra exercise. If you want to count it, then you'll have to count the calories chewing it as well.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    Threads like this remind me of experiences I have volunteering with my church. In one of them, we put on a meal for 30. I was interested to note the other volunteer's pace compared to mine. They were like chop.......chop......chop,
    compared to my CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CHOP!

    Every month, I help make bag lunches for the homeless. Since I started, we've been finishing in half the time.

    I have restaurant and factory experience, and probably just a natural tendency to do things fast. When I was a sheeter operator, the guy on second shift on my machine was always telling me to slow down.

    Perhaps if my speed in the kitchen was chop.......chop......chop, I wouldn't feel like I should count it. But after two hours in the kitchen, I feel the same as I do after 45 minutes walking and 15 minutes hiking in the woods, and low and behold, there is only a two calorie difference in the burn.
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