Things I DIDN'T count as "exercise" last week....

IsMollyReallyHungry

For me, I ususally do not count things I have to do anyways.

But I have a HRM and if I think it is going to be exertion I wear it and I log it on here according to my HRM. I tried it once for house cleaning and it did help me to keep moving to make it low intensity. I got much more did and in a shorter period of time. No stopping to watch TV, chit chat on the phone, etc, etc. I never even got the idea to count it until MFP. I now like wearing it for house work because it makes me to keep moving my body to stay over 100. This works for me and I don't feel guilty logging it then.

It seems to work for some of my MFP friends. They are losing weight, but I am not sure how many eat these calories.

I still don't count it as my workout but it helps on weekends when I tend not to workout but one day if that.

pinbotchick

I truly admire you and all that you have achieved. When I started on MFP, I logged a sedentary lifestyle and will admit that logging every activity really helped me do more. For people starting this lifestyle change, I think it's fine to log all the activities. The more I did, the more I felt better about myself and the more I would cont to do.

Now that I've been here a year and lost 55 pounds, I'm more realistic. I am more active and have changed my profile to lightly active. I realize that working out with my clients, short walks and shopping are not great energy expenditures. I figure these things are included in my upgraded daily energy expenditure to lightly active. But, I really needed those boosts when I first started here.

What each person logs needs to be realistic and help motivate themselves is different based on their weight and self confidence. The more out of shape you are, the more motivation you may need, thus, you may need to log more tasks... Please keep this in mind as advice is dispersed here.

I hope that everyone is successful in there endeavors!!!

Azdak

I truly admire you and all that you have achieved. When I started on MFP, I logged a sedentary lifestyle and will admit that logging every activity really helped me do more. For people starting this lifestyle change, I think it's fine to log all the activities. The more I did, the more I felt better about myself and the more I would cont to do.

Now that I've been here a year and lost 55 pounds, I'm more realistic. I am more active and have changed my profile to lightly active. I realize that working out with my clients, short walks and shopping are not great energy expenditures. I figure these things are included in my upgraded daily energy expenditure to lightly active. But, I really needed those boosts when I first started here.

What each person logs needs to be realistic and help motivate themselves is different based on their weight and self confidence. The more out of shape you are, the more motivation you may need, thus, you may need to log more tasks... Please keep this in mind as advice is dispersed here.

I hope that everyone is successful in there endeavors!!!

That's a good perspective. Thanks for adding that. I get concerned sometimes that people are mistakenly thinking they are doing more than they are, but you gave it a new angle.

muth3rluvx2

I truly admire you and all that you have achieved. When I started on MFP, I logged a sedentary lifestyle and will admit that logging every activity really helped me do more. For people starting this lifestyle change, I think it's fine to log all the activities. The more I did, the more I felt better about myself and the more I would cont to do.

Now that I've been here a year and lost 55 pounds, I'm more realistic. I am more active and have changed my profile to lightly active. I realize that working out with my clients, short walks and shopping are not great energy expenditures. I figure these things are included in my upgraded daily energy expenditure to lightly active. But, I really needed those boosts when I first started here.

What each person logs needs to be realistic and help motivate themselves is different based on their weight and self confidence. The more out of shape you are, the more motivation you may need, thus, you may need to log more tasks... Please keep this in mind as advice is dispersed here.

I hope that everyone is successful in there endeavors!!!

That's a good perspective. Thanks for adding that. I get concerned sometimes that people are mistakenly thinking they are doing more than they are, but you gave it a new angle.

Indeed -this is extremely well said and I think the perspective many have been reaching for when logging all those activities that others argue against adding. Personally, I tend to log something as exercise if I'm doing it for more than 2 hours solid - even household chores. I can work up quite a sweat, depending on what I'm doing. Other things like laundry involves alot of lifting, carrying, bending, hauling AND stairs. I won't count a load or two or three done throughout the day but if it's on going and pretty much non-stop, then yes - I add it. I don't do laundry like that every day. But generally, work-outs are workouts and everything else is everything else. Once in a while, like said above, if I'm feeling really down about things, I might put something "normal" in just to feel better about my accomplishments over the course of the day or week.

PoiBoyBlue

I spent almost 8 hours cleaning my house this past week. After I sat down, when I was finished, out of breath and sweating I thought "Wait... this may not have been substantial if it was an hour, but I had to have burned something in 8 hrs. Did I?" And looked it up. I burned over 1000 calories, not counting what I burned from having to move the furniture around, according to MFP.

I relaized the same after my own bit of "Quality Time," as my fiancee and I aren't lightweights in that department...

it comes to a point where you have to realize that doing anything other than resting burns extra calories, and they can be counted if you do it long enough. I would say if you do anything for more than 5 minutes at a time it's burned a decent enough amount to be thought of as exercise. Cooking in the kitchen, for an hour, for example, is still light activity that will have burned at least 50 calories