Pushing my kids on a swing

mkeatonmom4667

Is it possible to get a light upper body workout with just swinging my kid on the swing. She is about 35 lbs. I know it would not be that much but just wondering what everyone thinks.

cwolfman13

I guess that would depend on what you mean by "workout" and where you are fitness wise. My kids don't swing much anymore (8 and 10), but I do play around with them in the pool and hang out and play with them on the trampoline. I'm an active person...at least as active as I can be outside of the office...so I just chalk that kind of stuff up to more activity and keeping active, but not really a "workout"

In regards to the MFP methodology of logging and getting additional calories to eat to account for exercise...I'd likely just chalk that up to a bit more activity and wouldn't really bother logging it...me personally.

callsitlikeiseeit

no.

and really, are you pushing a kid on a swing so rarely that it SHOULD be counted as exercise? things like that should be included in your daily activity level, or just as an added extra burn, but that doesn't mean you get any more calories to eat out of it lol

its like people who give themselves credit for cleaning or cooking as exercise. Thats not how this works.

mkeatonmom4667

Do you think taking care of 9 kids is an active lifestyle?

penguinmama87

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

no.

and really, are you pushing a kid on a swing so rarely that it SHOULD be counted as exercise? things like that should be included in your daily activity level, or just as an added extra burn, but that doesn't mean you get any more calories to eat out of it lol

its like people who give themselves credit for cleaning or cooking as exercise. Thats not how this works.

I think it can be a helpful when considering overall activity level, as you say. I don't log cleaning or cooking, but I can definitely get sweaty scrubbing a bathtub or mopping the floor, and my arms feel it if I spend a day baking (I prefer kneading by hand.) Or if I have a teething baby/toddler who insists on more carrying than usual. Right now I spend more of my time sitting down because I nurse an infant several times per day, which takes a lot of calories even though I'm not moving (I do log that because it's significant.)

If you mean "give credit" in a strict sense of logging everyday activities, I agree, probably not necessary. But in a general sense, oh yeah, it can be quite physically taxing and that's worth acknowledging.

mkeatonmom4667 wrote: »

Do you think taking care of 9 kids is an active lifestyle?

It could be, depending on a variety of factors.

lorrpb

mkeatonmom4667 wrote: »

Do you think taking care of 9 kids is an active lifestyle?

I’m sure it’s very hectic and stressful and hopefully rewarding, but the number of children is not directly the equivalent of a physically active lifestyle, like a construction worker or professional athlete. As said above it depends on a number of factors.

mkeatonmom4667

I am not sure what factors you mean. I am spending a lot of my day cleaning and doing laundry for 11 people. My house has 3 floors. I spend a lot of my day just going up and down the stairs waking the kids up for school, cleaning the upstairs bathroom. The laundry room is in the basement so I am up and down those stairs several times a day as well. On an average day I would say I do at least 3 or 4 loads of laundry a day. That might not sound like that much to some but it does get me out of breath. I don’t know if I am on my feet the entire day but a good part of it that’s for sure. If I add in walking the kids to and from school each day that is another 20 mins of activity too. The kids do what they can around the house to help but sense I am the one at home more than them than most of the housework falls on me. I was not as active in the winter months especially with COVID-19 hitting us. The weekends are pretty busy as well running errands and spending the days with the kids or going to church. I do not just sit at church either I am usually in the back of the church keeping my 4 year old occupied during church. I think I am more active than I give myself credit for. I don’t really care as much about the calories and logging every little detail that I do or eat. Just a ruff idea is all I am going for.

callsitlikeiseeit

the way i look at it is this way: if i got fat doing it, I dont get credit for it as exercise. it is part of my daily activity level.

presumably, everyone took care of kids (assuming they have them), cooked, cleaned, etc

For example, we live on a farm. I do not get credit for hauling water buckets, turning animals out, trimming hooves, tossing straw or hay bales, or mucking out barns or coops, or any number of things that I do on a regular basis. I wish i DID lol! Even if its something i dont do on a DAILY basis, it is still something I do often enough that its routine and just another thing that is assumed in my activity level.

csplatt

Are you asking if you should find a way to earn back calories from exercise because you pushed a child on a swing as a daily activity? Short answer for me is no.

penguinmama87

mkeatonmom4667 wrote: »

I am not sure what factors you mean. I am spending a lot of my day cleaning and doing laundry for 11 people. My house has 3 floors. I spend a lot of my day just going up and down the stairs waking the kids up for school, cleaning the upstairs bathroom. The laundry room is in the basement so I am up and down those stairs several times a day as well. On an average day I would say I do at least 3 or 4 loads of laundry a day. That might not sound like that much to some but it does get me out of breath. I don’t know if I am on my feet the entire day but a good part of it that’s for sure. If I add in walking the kids to and from school each day that is another 20 mins of activity too. The kids do what they can around the house to help but sense I am the one at home more than them than most of the housework falls on me. I was not as active in the winter months especially with COVID-19 hitting us. The weekends are pretty busy as well running errands and spending the days with the kids or going to church. I do not just sit at church either I am usually in the back of the church keeping my 4 year old occupied during church. I think I am more active than I give myself credit for. I don’t really care as much about the calories and logging every little detail that I do or eat. Just a ruff idea is all I am going for.

I definitely hear you on this!

The factors I mean are the kinds of thing you describe - you have a lot of stairs in your house and attending to it daily means you go up and down them a lot, and having a lot of people means a lot of laundry. Walking to and from school is also something. Chasing a toddler or preschooler can feel like a full-time job by itself! I think with all this, the swinging is probably not that much of an impact, but it's definitely something.

I think where you're getting a little bit of pushback is the idea that you would log these activities by themselves as strenuous exercise. Some of the exercises can give you calorie burn information that is estimated way too high. What might make the most sense for you is using the goal setting on MFP and describing yourself as "lightly active" to get an accurate calorie target if you're trying to lose weight. You'll know if it's a good one or not if the weight loss is actually happening (being precise with intake helps here too.) If you're not losing anything, and your food logging is accurate, you're probably not as active as that formula assumes and you should adjust your general activity level downward. On the other hand, if you're losing very quickly, you can probably set your activity level higher and then eat more.

Does that help?

snowflake954

I would say that when you set your goals you have a choice of "sedentary" "slightly active" "active" or "very active". From your description you could fall into the "active" category. You could try that for a month and see if you lose weight, if not, change it to "slightly active".

r4inb0w_in_th3_d4rk

Personally, I don't think so. If you think about it, while you *are* technically pushing her on the swing, gravity and momentum offer a lot of help with that. It isn't something I'd log as an activity.

deputy_randolph

So busy doesn't necessarily equate to "active." You describe your weekends as "busy" with running errands, etc. Something to consider when deciding if you are "active" during these times is how much time you spend in the car, sitting or remaining mostly stationary while kids are doing sports, etc.

If you are trying to determine which activity level to input into MFP for weight loss, I would select the lower choice: "lightly active" vs "active." If you start losing weight more quickly than anticipated, then bump up your activity to "active."

I stayed at home with my kids, and there were bursts of pretty active cleaning and periods of being completely sedentary, like sitting at the table for extended time and helping with homework.

cwolfman13

mkeatonmom4667 wrote: »

I am not sure what factors you mean. I am spending a lot of my day cleaning and doing laundry for 11 people. My house has 3 floors. I spend a lot of my day just going up and down the stairs waking the kids up for school, cleaning the upstairs bathroom. The laundry room is in the basement so I am up and down those stairs several times a day as well. On an average day I would say I do at least 3 or 4 loads of laundry a day. That might not sound like that much to some but it does get me out of breath. I don’t know if I am on my feet the entire day but a good part of it that’s for sure. If I add in walking the kids to and from school each day that is another 20 mins of activity too. The kids do what they can around the house to help but sense I am the one at home more than them than most of the housework falls on me. I was not as active in the winter months especially with COVID-19 hitting us. The weekends are pretty busy as well running errands and spending the days with the kids or going to church. I do not just sit at church either I am usually in the back of the church keeping my 4 year old occupied during church. I think I am more active than I give myself credit for. I don’t really care as much about the calories and logging every little detail that I do or eat. Just a ruff idea is all I am going for.

What do you have your activity level set to? My two kids were very young when I started this and even though I have a desk job, I still set my activity level to lightly active to account for the fact that when I got home I was chasing around a toddler and caring for a new born and doing lots of other things that kept me on my feet...I accounted for that in my activity level. Counting it again by logging it would be double dipping if you're already have your activity level established in MFP to something more than sedentary.

sijomial

mkeatonmom4667 wrote: »

Is it possible to get a light upper body workout with just swinging my kid on the swing. She is about 35 lbs. I know it would not be that much but just wondering what everyone thinks.

No.

It's not a workout in any way, it's just part of being a parent.

Set your activity level to represent your general activity being a busy parent and realise it's a rough average and you don't need to over-analyse every part of your day to give it your best estimate.
After a month or so of logging you will start to get an idea if your overall calories are in the right ballpark and you can adjust from there.

riffraff2112

I wouldn't think swinging would be much of a workout (muscle training wise). If the walk to the park, and chasing the little one around required time and effort I would consider entering that as some sort of cardio, in particular if it isn't a common activity.
Housework I would vote for ditto. Set your activity level appropriately if you are doing hours of housework. It can be pretty demanding