Does Driving Actually Burn Calories?

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  • JenSD6
    JenSD6 Posts: 454 Member
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    Accelerate, break, shift up, shift down, break, honk, accelerate, give finger, break hard, yell out window, brake, shift... Ahhhh rush hour... gets the old ticker pumping.
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,375 Member
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    Only if it's one of these

    graphics-flintstones-720165.gif
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,375 Member
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    maybe if it's this car

    Flintstones.jpg

    Doggone it! I read all the way through, and I missed this! I actually made a comment about driving a Flintstone's car to a friend who posted her burn for "driving". She didn't even delete me! :bigsmile:
  • bert16
    bert16 Posts: 725 Member
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    maybe if it's this car

    Flintstones.jpg

    ROTFL :laugh:
  • Caelrr
    Caelrr Posts: 26
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    Everything burns calories!! Did you know being cold burns more calories than staying warm? Try taking cold showers or falling asleep being a little cold. When your body has to work to keep it's temperature up it burns more calories. Not something I'd be willing to do, but I was curious one day & looked it up. (: Getting enough sleep is good for your metabolism... try to get enough sleep each night & eat right during the day!! Anyways, I wouldn't say driving burns enough calories to really matter. It's better than just sitting on the couch watching television, though!!
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    Yeah. I wore my HRM while driving, out of curiosity. I think that due to a heightened awareness of surroundings and trying to be on top of things keeps your heart rate up higher than just sitting at home. Mine was higher anyway. I suppose if you suffered from road rage it would be even higher. haha My 'normal' heart rate is 60, driving it's in the 90's and I 'feel' calm! Driving thru Fklanta or La traffic would probably put it in the 110's lol.
    Also, my husband drives heavy equipment, sometimes for 16 hours in a row. The bumping, bouncing, looking behind him, etc., all day, burns more than while he's sitting.
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,375 Member
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    Could it be driving, as in the driving range? Golf?

    They have "Golf, using power cart" in the database. Maybe I don't understand golf, but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of work involved in driving a cart.
  • TigerBite
    TigerBite Posts: 611 Member
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    That's like me logging the calories I burned typing this response ... LoLz! Some people are ridiculous, I doubt they are going to be susessful doing that.
  • favhrnstr
    favhrnstr Posts: 55
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    Could it be driving, as in the driving range? Golf?

    They have "Golf, using power cart" in the database. Maybe I don't understand golf, but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of work involved in driving a cart.

    This is to distinguish it from using a push-cart for your clubs or carrying your clubs (where you average 6-7 miles in 18 holes). Even if you use a golf cart, there's still swinging the club and a fair bit of walking.
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,375 Member
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    Could it be driving, as in the driving range? Golf?

    They have "Golf, using power cart" in the database. Maybe I don't understand golf, but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of work involved in driving a cart.

    This is to distinguish it from using a push-cart for your clubs or carrying your clubs (where you average 6-7 miles in 18 holes). Even if you use a golf cart, there's still swinging the club and a fair bit of walking.

    Thanks for the explanation. :smile:
  • ForumLurker
    ForumLurker Posts: 36
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    I've seen people log some weird stuff, like "Cooking or food preparation."

    I'm guilty of logging cleaning as exercise. :smokin:
  • favhrnstr
    favhrnstr Posts: 55
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    Could it be driving, as in the driving range? Golf?

    They have "Golf, using power cart" in the database. Maybe I don't understand golf, but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of work involved in driving a cart.

    This is to distinguish it from using a push-cart for your clubs or carrying your clubs (where you average 6-7 miles in 18 holes). Even if you use a golf cart, there's still swinging the club and a fair bit of walking.

    Thanks for the explanation. :smile:

    My pleasure! I log golf if I use a cart. I do NOT log the 30-min drive to the club! Ridiculous. The only reason to do this is if you are calculating every calorie you burn in a day rather than estimating it?
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,375 Member
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    Could it be driving, as in the driving range? Golf?

    They have "Golf, using power cart" in the database. Maybe I don't understand golf, but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of work involved in driving a cart.

    This is to distinguish it from using a push-cart for your clubs or carrying your clubs (where you average 6-7 miles in 18 holes). Even if you use a golf cart, there's still swinging the club and a fair bit of walking.

    Thanks for the explanation. :smile:

    My pleasure! I log golf if I use a cart. I do NOT log the 30-min drive to the club! Ridiculous. The only reason to do this is if you are calculating every calorie you burn in a day rather than estimating it?

    I really don't know, you mean like FitBit people do? I've only ever logged intentional exercise, but I drive a stick, maybe I should log driving! :bigsmile: I had no idea a golf course was that big. That explains why I felt like I was going to die, when I had to walk from one end to the other the day I volunteered at a tournament!
  • staps065
    staps065 Posts: 837 Member
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    Now calm down! I'm not going to log my 7 hours of driving in lieu of an actual workout but isn't this interesting?

    Calories Burned Driving a Car

    Driving requires energy. Moving the wheel, using your feet to operate the pedals and turning your head all require calories to power the body. According to CalorieLab.com, on average, a person weighing 150 lbs. will burn about 68 calories an hour driving. A person who weighs 120 lbs. will burn about only 55 calories an hour driving, while a person weighing 220 lbs. will burn about 100.

    Variables

    Calories burned per hour goes up with certain types of cars and certain types of driving. A 150-lb. person driving a bus, heavy truck or tractor burns about 136 calories an hour, and that same person driving a race car burns about 340 calories an hour. Driving a truck, including loading and unloading, will burn about 374 calories an hour, about the same amount in a Whopper Jr. from Burger King.

    Weight Loss and Driving

    Unfortunately, truck driving does not lend itself to weight loss. While the number of calories required to drive a truck is higher than those required to drive a car, a study by the Centers for Disease Control shows that 73 percent of truck drivers are overweight and more than 50 percent are obese. This could be because driving long distances can be boring and eating breaks up the monotony. For instance, a Pew Research poll showed that 41 percent of car drivers had eaten a meal while driving in the last year.

    Read more: http://www.ehow.com/about_5452973_calories-burned-driving.html#ixzz2ZRy1l8Uo
  • dancinmama
    dancinmama Posts: 47 Member
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    I wear a BodyMedia Fit monitor....you burn calories 24 hrs a day, even when sleeping. that said, I have noticed an extra calorie burn when driving..not a lot though.
  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
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    I don't log my driving as an activity, but I will say after a tough leg workout I may say a few bad words to my clutch at the stoplights.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
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    I've seen where people have added calories burned from driving and it is even in the Cardiovascular Exercise database. Do you really burn calories driving? I have a long day trip tomorrow (about 7 hours to destination) and wonder if I'll actually burn while driving. Opinions? Fact? Fiction?

    Thanks!

    The only calories you would burn whilst driving would be the calories you would have burned anyway just sitting on the couch.

    I fail to see how anybody could seriously log this as exercise with calories burned next to their entry, what exactly is it in driving that would burn any calories I wonder?
  • A_Fit_Mom
    A_Fit_Mom Posts: 602 Member
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    Definitely not something I would log. I don't log anything except actual exercise. So I don't log cleaning, cooking, walking while shopping.... Etc. For me, that is all extra and is a bonus.
  • poohpoohpeapod
    poohpoohpeapod Posts: 776 Member
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    we burn calories by breathing, should it count toward activity hell no!
  • jillybean0123
    jillybean0123 Posts: 238 Member
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    I actually do track driving but not for the extra bump in calories. I wear a FitBit all the time and if I don't track it, it counts the bumps in the road (and you feel all of them in an ambulance and Oklahoma roads are terrible) as steps. I only want it to track the steps I actually take so I have to log my driving time.

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