What counts as exercise

annobrien6175

I have the app set at sedetary just need help figuring out what counts as exercise and what is counted as normal everyday activity

ninerbuff

Intended physical activity that you for fitness and health.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Cylphin60

I count anything that is purposeful, done with burning calories/improving fitness in mind, which is everything from scheduled workouts to walking for the sole purpose of walking etc.

Other events like sports with my grandson/chasing the dogs - while it's certainly exercise, I don't add it. I just think of it as a little margin, a buffer.

Just a suggestion, start by entering only workouts/walking/swimming etc. Don't overthink the other stuff.

annobrien6175

Thank you

Machka9

I don't count walking back and forth to the kitchen or photocopier or toilet at work ... even though I discovered I actually walk about 1 km/day doing that.

I don't count grocery shopping even though walking up and down the aisles does add up.

I don't count housework or yardwork, even if that has me on my feet and moving for an hour or two.

Those things are just normal activity included in my sedentary lifestyle.

But I do count walking as part of my commute, walking at lunch, walking after work with my husband ... and my cycling and weight lifting and when we go canoeing or swimming or to the gym.

maxit

I found this interesting: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/ask-well-does-less-than-5000-steps-a-day-make-you-sedentary/?_r=0

canadianlbs

annobrien6175 wrote: »

I have the app set at sedetary just need help figuring out what counts as exercise and what is counted as normal everyday activity

i guess when i did it i considered 'sedentary' to be all the stuff i was already doing. any lifestyle adjustments or extra activity on top of that basic general lifestyle i counted as exercise.

so i counted my bike commuting, for instance.

active562

Why dont you invest in a fitbit or a garmin? Helps you estimate how much cals ur burning

TonyB0588

annobrien6175 wrote: »

I have the app set at sedetary just need help figuring out what counts as exercise and what is counted as normal everyday activity

The App defines it this way - Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)

So I would expect anything else you do will burn calories outside of the "sedentary" range. Your basic setting should cover what you normally do every day, then you log the extra things that only happen sometimes.

lorrpb

Purposeful exercise is added through the exercise feature, not counted as part of your base activity level.the activity level reflects whether you have a desk job, or an active one like waitress or farmer.

peaceout_aly

annobrien6175 wrote: »

I have the app set at sedetary just need help figuring out what counts as exercise and what is counted as normal everyday activity

Anything where you are intentionally exercising. Occasionally I'll count housework if I'm extreme scrubbing and break a sweat, or if I'm packing/moving boxes.

Savagedistraction

annobrien6175 wrote: »

I have the app set at sedetary just need help figuring out what counts as exercise and what is counted as normal everyday activity

Any activity you do above and beyond normal every day activities. For some people (like a senior citizen or someone recovering from a seriously illness or injury), walking to the store 3 blocks away would be hard exercise. For someone really active, hiking an hour a day may be their "baseline" so wouldn't log it.

NorthCascades

annobrien6175 wrote: »

I have the app set at sedetary just need help figuring out what counts as exercise and what is counted as normal everyday activity

I bet you'll get more useful and informative answers if you give us a few examples of things you're wondering about?

dfc4

Anything yopu do which forces your body to change is physical excescise

Cylphin60

To be fair, anything which burns calories (most everything?) could be counted, but I think the mfp estimates would have to be drastically reduced. Just a thought.

annobrien6175

The app say sedetary is office job desk job sitting down I dont work.but I dont sit around all day either I do housework walk to the shop I know its only ten.minute walk I also have three kids youngest is four and im.kept busy but going by the app this is all still sedetary and not exercise

NorthCascades

Do you have a fitness tracker like a Fitbit, Garmin, or an app on your phone? Most people will tell you that walking to the store isn't exercise, but at the same time, it burns calories, and the way MFP is designed, you should get credit for them. It's a little bit complicated (at "sedentary" it expects you'll walk a certain number of steps) but if you use a tracker, the system will figure everything out for you. And you'll get a few more calories to eat on days when you walk to the store than on days you don't.

annobrien6175

Thank you

Machka9

annobrien6175 wrote: »

The app say sedetary is office job desk job sitting down I dont work.but I dont sit around all day either I do housework walk to the shop I know its only ten.minute walk I also have three kids youngest is four and im.kept busy but going by the app this is all still sedetary and not exercise

Yes, that sounds right.

Go with sedentary for now, see how things are going, and if you're losing weight too fast, then you might want to change it to "lightly active".

MKEgal

For the last few days, I'm thinking that coughing should count as an abdominal workout.


Seriously, though, set your account to sedentary & aim for those calories.
Exercise is for health. Don't count on it for weight loss.
(Neither my dietician nor my weight doc - an endocrinologist specializing in weight issues - had ever heard of "eating back" exercise calories.)