Confused about what counts as exercise!

ashleyisgreat

Hi, guys. I'm new to this, and I have seen some conflicting info here about what we should log and what is just daily activity. I am set to "sedentary," and I REALLY am sedentary. There are days when I don't do anything except get up to make food and go to the bathroom. Eeek. Trying to slowly change that!

Anyway, I did some pretty intense housecleaning the other day and I searched the forums to see if I should log it. I saw tons of people saying "if it's not part of your everyday activity, log it." I also saw people saying "if you didn't work up a sweat, don't count it." I ended up logging it, but now I'm a little confused about what counts.

Do I always need to be sweating to count it as exercise? If I walk around at the mall or something for 2 hours, do I count that? I am not working up a sweat by any means, and my heart rate probably stays pretty low, but it's definitely outside of my normal day-to-day activity. Count it?

Thanks for any input you might have! I am learning so much about nutrition and exercise here, so I really appreciate anything you might add.


*EDIT* Sorry for posting this twice!

tacguy

You know what exercise is. There are no short cuts. If you want to change to happen, then you have to do "something".
Don't log something as exercise just to make yourself feel like you've accomplished something when you really haven't. You'll be cheating yourself.
If you new to this, that's OK. Start with walking - briskly - and keep at it ( a leisurely walk around the mall stopping every two minutes doesn't count!). Work your way up to jogging and maybe join a gym or start a home workout program.
Do something different!

Good luck!

Joe

rosebarnalice

Here's a suggestion: invest in an inexpensive pedometer. Keep track of your steps on a sedentary day (or several-- probably better to get an average), and then see what the difference is on a house-cleaning or mall-walking day.

ilovedeadlifts

i personally wouldn't log anything unless i broke a sweat doing it, with the exception of a long walk.

JustJennie1

You don't need to be sweating to count something as exercise however I certainly wouldn't count house cleaning, walking around the mall, walking around a fair etc. as "exercise" because it's not. It begins to get ridiculous if you count every little activity you do as 'exercise'. It wasn't counted before you gained weight so why should it count now?

jessykab74

You know what exercise is. There are no short cuts. If you want to change to happen, then you have to do "something".
Don't log something as exercise just to make yourself feel like you've accomplished something when you really haven't. You'll be cheating yourself.
If you new to this, that's OK. Start with walking - briskly - and keep at it ( a leisurely walk around the mall stopping every two minutes doesn't count!). Work your way up to jogging and maybe join a gym or start a home workout program.
Do something different!

Good luck!

Joe

This exactly!! I honestly do not log any of that stuff. I painted the inside of my whole house, mow my grass every week (push lawn mower)....sometimes sweat. Shoot I even walked around Disney World parks for a week 8 plus hours a day. I look at that extra stuff as a bonus!

fougamou

A hot topic on this board...

There are the purist that believe that only intentional workouts should be logged, then there are those who log everything. Me? I think a calorie burned is a calorie burned no matter how it was burned. The key is to avoid double counting.


I am taking a in between path, I believe. I have a Fitbit which estimates my daily calorie burn. It syncs with MFP and will give me an adjustment if the Fitbit is estimating a greater calorie burn than MFP is. That has worked for me.

coreyreichle

i personally wouldn't log anything unless i broke a sweat doing it, with the exception of a long walk.

^^^ This.

Generally, I'm in the camp of "If you didn't sweat, it's not exercise" because you weren't doing it long enough to really engage any muscles.

Yes, housecleaning can be exercise. There's times where I'm breaking a sweat scrubbing toilets, bathtubs, and floors. Lifting furniture to clean under it, etc etc.

But sweeping the floor, and mopping? Not unless you are sweeping and mopping a hangar floor; or a gym.

Even still, I wouldn't really count those. I would doubt the calories would amount to much anyways. And, if you don't log them, you're just increasing your deficit anyways.

Alwayssohungry

Since you are soooo sedentary why don't you just resolve to move more during your normal day. I don't log day-to-day chores or activities. I do log additional walking, running or biking. If I hurt myself I would stop doing those things, but would still do my day-to-day activities.

Kristy7418

My doctor told me I needed my heart rate elevated for 20 min to start out with exercising. So start small and go walking for at least 20 min at a time and get that heart rate up. If you have a smarphone download endomondo app and take it with you walking. You enter your weight height info and it will calculate how fast you walked, how long you walked and apx calories burned (heart monitor is best for this but i don't have the money to get one yet).
If you cleaned and broke a sweat for at least 20 min at a time I'm sure some calories were burned but not sure how many it would be without a hrm.

Gearjammer71

I log chores that I have modified into exercise. (Adding weight to the lawnmower, using ax instead of a chainsaw) You could probably add wrist or ankle weights to your household chores to put some extra work into it. A heart rate monitor will let you know when you're working hard.

KateHill1981

I have been logging a modified version of some exercises. If I go bowling with my two kids and we are there for 2 hours, I try to stay standing up the whole time and only log abot 20 minutes of exercise (120 minutes of bolwing divided by 3 - because I was only bolwling a third of the time, (my kids= the other two thirds) = 40 minutes and split that in half because I don't feel like it was that strenuous.

When I go to the gym and get on the elliptical for 10, 20, 30 minutes or whatever- I log every minute!

Going to the pool for the day with the kids- I am in the water for hours playing. I bring my noodle and do some water resistance moves and some aerobic moves too. I usually count 15-20 minutes of swimming- treading water moderately.

A day at the mall for a couple hours, I'd probably say 10- 15 minutes of walking slow pace.

Activity is activity. I can remember a time when I felt like I was going to pass out on the elliptical machine after 5 minutes and last week I couldn't believe I made it to 40 minutes in a row!

If logging exercise makes you feel like you are taking the right steps then great! But some calculations on myfitnesspal are not totally accurate- if you are eating back your exercise calories be careful what you actually log as exercise. And be mindful of how much effort you are really putting into what you log.

Good Luck!

mountaingirl1961

Well, I'm going to differ with some folks in this thread.

I am a cattle rancher and, well, I note that building fence, irrigating and general ranch work isn't listed as an aerobic activity. FWIW, I also do Crossfit, and I can honestly tell you that I'm just as tired after a few hours of ranch work as I am after a Crossfit workout.

I got myself a Bodymedia Link metabolism gizmo and the tale has been telling. I burn more calories doing ranch work than I do in a Crossfit class. And - trust me on this - I work FAR harder doing Crossfit than I ever did in the gym for all of those years.

On the days I sit in front of the computer or otherwise don't move much I find that I can barely eat a meal before I'm hitting my upper calorie limit. I like to eat, which means it's critical that I get off my *kitten*. So yesterday, for example, I ran out of calories before I ran out of day. I'd spent the day weeding my garden, which means that I spent the day sitting on my butt. I chose to ride my bike to check my cows rather than take the car, specifically so that I had a few calories in the bank to eat dinner with my family. Knowledge is power.

You can't cheat this. If you want to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you're taking in. If you want to be healthy about it and have a chance of keeping it off, you have to do it slowly. I have MFP set to a 500 calorie deficit a day, which is 100 calories more than the default. Any more than that and I'd find myself bonking. I try and stay close every day and shoot for a weekly overall deficit. Last week I didn't make it - I was 350 calories or so over my goal for the week. This week, I will.

Get yourself a metabolism gizmo of some nature - I REALLY like this one, other folks like others - find out what your body is really doing, and fuel yourself accordingly. I find that yes, housework counts. Not as much as ranch work, but I do burn more calories cleaning house than I do on my *kitten* in front of a computer.

tacguy

Well, I'm going to differ with some folks in this thread.

I am a cattle rancher and, well, I note that building fence, irrigating and general ranch work isn't listed as an aerobic activity. FWIW, I also do Crossfit, and I can honestly tell you that I'm just as tired after a few hours of ranch work as I am after a Crossfit workout.

I got myself a Bodymedia Link metabolism gizmo and the tale has been telling. I burn more calories doing ranch work than I do in a Crossfit class. And - trust me on this - I work FAR harder doing Crossfit than I ever did in the gym for all of those years.

On the days I sit in front of the computer or otherwise don't move much I find that I can barely eat a meal before I'm hitting my upper calorie limit. I like to eat, which means it's critical that I get off my *kitten*. So yesterday, for example, I ran out of calories before I ran out of day. I'd spent the day weeding my garden, which means that I spent the day sitting on my butt. I chose to ride my bike to check my cows rather than take the car, specifically so that I had a few calories in the bank to eat dinner with my family. Knowledge is power.

You can't cheat this. If you want to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you're taking in. If you want to be healthy about it and have a chance of keeping it off, you have to do it slowly. I have MFP set to a 500 calorie deficit a day, which is 100 calories more than the default. Any more than that and I'd find myself bonking. I try and stay close every day and shoot for a weekly overall deficit. Last week I didn't make it - I was 350 calories or so over my goal for the week. This week, I will.

Get yourself a metabolism gizmo of some nature - I REALLY like this one, other folks like others - find out what your body is really doing, and fuel yourself accordingly. I find that yes, housework counts. Not as much as ranch work, but I do burn more calories cleaning house than I do on my *kitten* in front of a computer.

This sure is exercise. I've worked in the woods, dug potatoes - by hand - and now I'm a tactical officer which requires me to carry about 45lbs of gear - rifle, pistol several spare mags and body armor. I wear this equipment all day, walking hallways and stairs - I don't take elevators.
In training, we typically are running, climbing over walls and other obsticals and crawling on the ground. Takes me an hour to mow my lawn with a push mower. Is this exercise? You bet, but I call it an average day. Do I log it as exercise? No. To me, exercise is over and above to help me get better at my "average day".

mountaingirl1961

You compensate for the "average day" in the base caloric burn you set in MFP. The Bodymedia dealio showed me that I'd estimated my basal metabolic rate too low by about 350 calories. If all I did was sit in an office all day, my BMR very accurately should be set as "sedentary". Apparently I'm somewhat above that. If your "average day" includes a life of gear, body armor, and hard physical exercise, then you'd compensate for that with your choice of lifestyle when you set your BMR in MFP.

The OP's question was whether her housework should be counted as "exercise", and based on her sedentary lifestyle I'd say that, yes, she burned more calories than she does on average. Whether she should eat those calories back or not... that's up to her but I'd say probably not, just to give herself some pad for the rest of the week. She may have burned some additional calories but not a lot of them in the scheme of things. If she wants to eat more then she has to exercise more, bottom line.

There's another fitness website called FitDay that has calorie-counting estimates, and it DOES have one for general housework. I like MFP better for a lot of reasons but FitDay does have some stuff worth using, particularly to fill in holes in MFP's database. The OP might want to look up "general housework" to get an idea of what she did for herself on her housework day - not only a cleaner house, but a few more calories burned as well. Win-win!

ashleyisgreat

Thanks, guys. I did count the housework, but I only counted 30 minutes instead of 120, and I ate about half those calories back. I am not asking this question so I can try to eat more without really working, I am asking because I've read so much on here about people who have way bigger deficits than they should have, and I want to make sure I'm really hitting my goal. I am trying to lose SLOWLY. If I have my MFP set to sedentary, then I thought that any work outside of that would need to be accounted for. After reading through your replies here and on the duplicate thread, I've decided to include activity that gets my heart rate up, but only a fraction of it. Thanks!

fabulara

bump

Hezzietiger1

If ur heart rate isnt elevated, if u r not out of breath a little, and if ur not sweating... dont cheat urself. R u here for change and results or to pretend?

ashleyisgreat

If ur heart rate isnt elevated, if u r not out of breath a little, and if ur not sweating... dont cheat urself. R u here for change and results or to pretend?

Well, I want to make sure that the change happens and that I don't end up falling into the pitfall of thinking that all deficits are created equal. I calculated my BMR and TDEE, and I am trying to stay ABOVE my BMR, since all of my reading has indicated that you should always stay at or above that. Now, if I am eating 1650 cals (my BMR) and I do something that burns calories, like walking around the mall for two hours, wouldn't that put me below my BMR? I am asking because I want to do it RIGHT, not because I want to cheat and eat more than I deserve. Thanks for your snark, though. Appreciated.

MzManiak

I log it. I think it's important for me to ensure I'm not eating too few calories. Not logging may be ok for people that can have a 2000-3000 calorie deficit and not be bothered by it... but honestly, I can't.

I would say go by your level of comfort. If you're still hungry, log it and don't feel bad about fueling your body. If you're not, and have a lot of weight to lose, look at it as a bonus. (Just try not to net below your BMR too often)

Try it for a few weeks, see how you do. If it doesn't work, change something. It's all trial and error and estimating. Good luck!

ashleyisgreat

I log it. I think it's important for me to ensure I'm not eating too few calories. Not logging may be ok for people that can have a 2000-3000 calorie deficit and not be bothered by it... but honestly, I can't.

I would say go by your level of comfort. If you're still hungry, log it and don't feel bad about fueling your body. If you're not, and have a lot of weight to lose, look at it as a bonus. (Just try not to net below your BMR too often)

Try it for a few weeks, see how you do. If it doesn't work, change something. It's all trial and error and estimating. Good luck!

Thanks! I have actually learned a lot from your posts. I definitely want to net at or above my BMR, which is what prompted me to ask this question.

MySlimGoals

For me, I purchased a fitbit. That way it keeps track of my exercise for me and enters it in for me. The only time I have to enter my own exercise is if I do something like cycling or swimming because it can't detect either of those. All the rest - is great because it enters the exercise and adjusts my daily calories for me so I keep within the calories and it's absolutely correct. It reduces my calories if I sit down all day, and increases if I go for a long walk or a run which is great. I can also make goals to walk more and see how many steps I've already done each day or during the week so I feel more motivated to do more.

katesmash

Personally, I work a desk job but I'm more active around the office than some others in my office, just by the nature of my job (requires me to walk to various areas of the office, where some people basically stay at their desk the entire day). I still put my settings as sedentary.

On a typical week, I'm not going to log any type of cleaning activity. Day-to-day housework doesn't count as exercise to me. Now if I was doing "spring cleaning" and spent an extended part of the day doing heavy cleaning, I might track *some* of that, because odds are I'm huffing-puffing around the house and very go-go-go. But generally I don't track cleaning.
NOW I did track snow shoveling in the winter, on the days where we had significant snowfall and I was out there for 20+ minutes at a time hauling large amounts of snow.. because it DID elevate my heartrate.. oh you betcha it did!
In the past I've tracked things like mowing the lawn, but I don't anymore.

I do a significant portion of my exercising walking/running. I will track any PURPOSEFUL walking, if I'm thinking of the walking as exercise. I use Runtastic app on my iPhone, which tracks the distance, speed, time etc and automatically syncs it to MFP so I don't have to think about it. Whether it was a 3-4 mile walk/run (I currently cannot run the entire time I'm out, as I'm just a beginner runner), or whether it was a short cool-down walk after spending an hour riding my bike (which I also count as exercise.. and use a similar app to track the bike ride).... I track all of that.

Going for a walk with my kids... I'll consider that a toss-up depending on the amount of time we spend. I tracked it this weekend because we went on a walk for several blocks that was an "on purpose" exercise walk.. yes it was slow, because I have toddlers, but it was still a walk for exercise. But if I just go for a short walk to the neighbourhood playground with the kids, and then sit on a bench while they play, I don't track that. I also didn't track my "racing" with my 3 year old while we were at the playground. He insisted that he wanted to race, so we did laps on the path that goes around the playground we were at. I had no real way to "track" how long we spent doing that, so I didn't track it. Bonus exercise time I suppose!

Walking to the mall from my office to get lunch, don't track it. Walking from my house to the bus stop, don't track it. Taking the kids to the pool and playing... I'll probably track a small portion of that, since I'm not active the ENTIRE time but I am moving around and playing in the pool with them.