How Strict are You??

♥jewelchristian♥

Do you count EVERY SINGLE calorie you consume? Do you count the calories you would normally burn just going about your business? Or do you just count your exercise calories? I have seen a lot of folks on here who count calories for absolutely everything they do. It just seems a bit obsessive to me. I actually was one of those people when I first joined MFP, counting my walk to the bus stop (less than 3 minutes), daily housework (emptying the dishwasher). What about you?

♥Faerie♥

I obsess over the calories I consume, but not the ones I burn. The only ones I count as burned are when I am actually exercising, like on the treadmill. Counting normal things I do day to day, nope, that's just living!

bellanean

I don't count housework or cleaning, I dont even count taking my dogs for a walk, I feel like thats just everyday life. The only time I count my calories is when I work out and go off of my HRM.

clahut

I'm the same. I log everything that I eat as accurately as I can, but I only log 'extra' exercise. That is, anything that I do out of the ordinary - so gym visits or long walks at weekends. I did start off logging my 10 min walk to the train station in the morning - but I've gotten over that!

Amandac6772

I count every calorie I eat but only the calories I burn doing regular exercise and HEAVY household cleaning...not the just picking up all the millions of toys everywhere.

Tammyblack

now you mention it it does sound a bit obsessive - yes I count everything - I find it motivating and keeps me aware that every little bit of movement helps!

jrich1

I count meals/snacks, I dont log everything (taking a bite tasting while making dinner) etc and yes samples at the store are calorie free :laugh:

I dont think it should be logged unless its an exercise, logging 300 cals for scrap booking it not exactly exercise and its going to cause them to have problems becuase they arent getting an accurate calories burned for exercising

jrich1

now you mention it it does sound a bit obsessive - yes I count everything - I find it motivating and keeps me aware that every little bit of movement helps!

You have to be careful because a lot of those things are already included in your daily activity and I think a lot of people double count calories in this way

carrieberrie

I do add every single thing I eat. I only add my exercise calories because that is something I wouldnt normally do. Cooking, cleaning, shopping....etc ....... are things I do everyday anyway so I do not add them.

sigmastar

I've found that being strict with counting calories is important because it keeps you honest. If you aren't strict, it is easy to consume a few hundred calories every day simply by ignoring a handful of M&Ms or those five french fries you stole from your friend. By forcing yourself to count every one, you are giving yourself the incentive to say no to the candy and fries, and you'll be surprised how much snacking it prevents. That being said, 'obsessing' can become unhealthy. Make sure that the calorie counting doesn't interfere with HEALTHY weight loss, and allow yourself every now and then (maybe once or twice a week) to cheat on something fun!

Also, with regards to exercise, I personally like to only count actual gym time and other "fitness" activities. That way, I end up loosing more than I expect to, which I find exciting!

ArchyJill

I don't think it's a bad idea to track every little thing when you first start (keeping in mind jrich1's note about double counting), it gets you used to thinking about what things "cost".

These days I just count what is above and beyond normal activity for exercise, but I log every last little thing. If I can't log it (serving size? contents?), I don't eat it...makes passing up those samples easy.

jeffreyhansencarlson

Don't forget to consider your fitness profile settings....

abyt42

Strict about intake calories (the teaspoon of mustard, the oil on the bottom of the pan filled with spinach and garlic, the two tootsie roll pieces.... just every bit going IN.) I didn't get this weight doing less activity than I'm doing now: I did it by eating poorly and moving less.

I only count exercise I have to change shoes/clothes to do, not my normal activities. I clean normally, but don't normally herd students through a two hour maze while picking stuff up and lugging it around....which I entered as "cleaning." I also don't normally move households, so I counted that activity.

00trayn

I'm not 100% strict with either one. I'll enter activity that is above and beyond my normal work day of sitting at a desk for 8 1/2 hours, light/short walking, and a bit of activity at night like cleaning. I'll log long shopping trips as light walking (like 2.0 or 2.5 mph according to the database on here, or wear my HRM) and any actual exercise like the gym or a workout DVD. I never eat all my exercise calories anyway, so whether I log more than actual exercise isn't necessarily crucial.

For food, I log ALMOST everything that I eat. I never log the small piece of chocolate that I allow myself every few days (it's the single wrapped Dove caramel chocolate, maybe 40 calories for one), or what I put into my tea (one small scoop of creamer and some rock sugar). For the most part, I log everything else that I can find information for. And when there isn't the exact info that I can log (like a restaurant with no nutrition info), I make my best guess. It helps me to make sure I don't have lots of extra calories coming in that I'm not counting. The tea never adds up to more than 50 calories.

melodyg

I log just about everything in my food diary.... I don't always log spices, though I am just now starting to at least log in spice mixes (homemade taco seasoning, spaghetti sauce spice mix, etc.) I don't log an extra bite here and there while making supper (and I do mean, one or two bites, not constant grazing). I don't always log calorie free drinks (tea, black coffee, random diet drinks) but I try to do that too.

In the exercise log, I mostly record anything that is meant as exercise. If I spend a day walking around (at the zoo or similar) I will log 1/4 - 1/2 of that. If I am moving heavy furniture or boxes around or doing heavy duty cleaning or yardwork, I would log that as well (yardwork is not a usual activity for me... and if I did it, my allergies would declare I couldn't do anything else I'd planned for exercise that day!)

immacookie

I try to count everything I put in my mouth... try being the operative word. I don't have access to MFP on my phone and I refuse to use a computer at night so I'm sure there are things that slide through, but I try to be as accurate as possible.

That said, I do not log my exercise. I used to, but it was too difficult remembering the EXACT number from my HRM from the night before (again, refuse to use a computer at night), so I just keep that calculation in my head.

ETA - no I don't count my normal daily things as "exercise" - like Saturday we went to a garden show and walked around for 3 hours, I don't count that as exercise.

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egbkid

I log everything food wise, most times in the morning before i leave for work i fill in what i am taking for lunch and snacks. I try my absolute best every day not to eat anything more than what is in my lunch bag.
Excercising, i count the 20 minutes it takes me to get to and from work walking. But my office building is connected to a mall. I usually take a spin around there on my lunch and breaks. I do not count that because it is usually just a stroll. If I am have to run to the library; it is a rush walk as it is about 7 minutes each way...pushing it on a 15 minute break!
I also log all my walking as the slowest, 2 or 2.5 MPH; only because i do walk slow, i have short legs! I know i walk faster than that, but not quite as fast as the next level up, so i would rather round down than up.

Behavior_Modification

I don't have it in me to log everything all the time so I have decided to skip the things I don't struggle with as much which is water and exercise. Since I do struggle constantly with my eating habits I am diligent to record everything I eat, even if I don't get to finishing my diary until the next day or even 2 days later (once in a great while). If it goes in my mouth and contains calories, I will log it.

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IsMollyReallyHungry

I religiously log my food and intentional exercise, meaning a workout. If I am doing serious cleaning I put my HRM on to make sure it is high enough to be a real workout. This helps me get more done and I burn more calories than normal. If I don't put on my HRM for house work, then I don't count it. I stop, talk, sit, clean, etc unless I have the HRM on......:-)

I always get in more than enough water but I usually log it also. I also under value my calories burned on purpose because this site really exaggerates actual calorie burned.

♥jewelchristian♥

If it goes in my mouth and contains calories, I will log it.

what goes in your mouth that doesn't contain calories??? :noway: :laugh:

ummmmm.......water, yeah that's it! Water :devil: :laugh:

OlenaS

I am similar to most - I log almost everything I eat, as somebody mentioned, if it is a 20-30 cal little piece of something and I have not previously found it in the database, etc, I'll just skip.

I only log gym exercise (or workout dvd, etc), and actually I log cardio only. I read an article here posted by someone a while back that strength training increases your heart rate because of pressure, not same way as cardio. So I log the actual exercises I do (weights and reps), but not the calories (like circuit training from database). I am not sure if it is right or wrong, it's just how I have been doing it. I understand your body burns calories repairing muscle tissue after strength training, but I don't know how many calories or how to estimate that.

When I first started, I was eating all or majority of my calories back... but then it was suggested to me by a trainer at the gym to eat 1,200 cal no matter how much I exercised... I almost had a heart-attack... I thought it was so low... I had a doctor's appointment that week and asked her. She said it was ok!!! She told me once I reach healthy weight, I would need about 1,600 to maintain. So I am still trying to figure this part out... I am not able to eat 1,200, I don;t find it to be enough, I am more comfortable with what MFP give me - 1,500.... If I am hungry, I would eat some of my calories back, but most of the time I do not nowadays... We'll see how this works.

(Again, this is just my personal situation, just sharing I always find it helpful to see what others are doing.

sandra80

i count every calorie i eat and i count every excerscize calorie burned but when it comes to cleaning and cooking and normal walkin here and there i don't count it unless it's out of the ordinary. 5 days a week i'm in a cubicle barely moving for 9 hours but on the weekends i spend about 4 hours up and around my kitchen cooking and about 4 hours doing all my deep cleaning. i count that, but not the everyday wiping down of the counters or packing lunches etc. i figure if i'm moving around i'm burning something.

lilac67

I log most things, but mustard or vinegar, no. Extra green veggies, not always. I do count housework, but when I do the housework, I do squats to get the dishes in and out of the dishwasher, and like toe touches into the laundry basket to fold clothes, stuff like that.

sas16

I do count all the calories I consume. But I only count the calories I burn during my actual workouts.