Exercise

perk25hors397

I ride my horse and clean my barn daily for exercise however there is no option to enter this activity for burning calories! I would like to see that category of adding exercise like bike riding ,walking , swimming etc

Lietchi

I see 4 horse-related activities in the database.


As for the barn cleaning: I wouldn't log that in the diary if it's daily. I would just include it in your activity level setting.

AnnPT77

You can create your own custom exercise in MFP, too. The trick is finding a starting calorie estimate. One option, if the activity is there, is to get a METS value from the Compendium of Physical Activities:

https://pacompendium.com/

. . . then use a METS calculator such as this one to put in that METS value, the number of minutes, and your current weight to get an initial calorie estimate:

https://ergo.human.cornell.edu/MetsCaloriesCalculator/MetsCaloriesCalculator.htm

The Compendium has a fancy estimating spreadsheet you can download that does a similar thing, in a little more nuanced way, so probably better . . . but I know many people are hesitant to download files like that from a site.

Under the covers, MFP uses the METS method to estimate exercise calories. The implication in this context is that once you input your custom exercise with your starting estimate, MFP will do the arithmetic for you to adjust for your future changes in bodyweight or minutes, because it will interpret your starting estimate in METS terms. (It would be a good idea to make sure your current weight in MFP is accurate when you put in that starting calorie estimate, so it can do the arithmetic right in the future.)

No way of estimating exercise is perfect, and some are better than others, but this is one option.

Major caveat: Don't include an activity in the assumptions behind your MFP activity level PLUS log it as exercise. That's double counting. Do one or the other. Or, wear a good brand/model fitness tracker 24x7 or near to, sync it to MFP, and enable negative adjustments in MFP.

Regardless, everyone should treat their first 4-6 weeks on a new calorie/activity routine as a test of their starting estimates, since estimates - including fitness tracker estimates - are based on averages for similar people. Since we're individual, we can vary from those averages, so may need to adjust our goals after that multi-week test period.