what activities are included in "sedentary" setting?

2bFitNTrim

There is also the consideration that some people may truly be sedentary. I've known people who were too out of shape to do things like cooking or cleaning...so for them it might be actual excercise.

I think most of us think of housework & cooking as just a part of normal everyday living, and as such, would not need to log in these activities. But for someone who is obese or morbidly obese, these activites may indeed be a challenge for them. I may very well log in my housework when I get to my Spring cleaning. It's hard work!

Hoosier16

I only log specific exercise. And I do think that those are probably overstated because you don't deduct the number of calories that you would have burnt anyway just by being alive.

Agree completely. I deduct 120 / hour from any exercise I do to account for this.

karenjoy

I don't think anyone here is saying that housework does not burn calories, sleeping burns calories, breathing burns calories, your heart beating burns calories, but I don't log it. I think that people need to look at this realistically. OK so it might make you sweat to vacuum your house, but that is not a work out, it is something that you are doing as part of normal everyday life. If you start to walk 5 miles a day then THAT is exercise, but if you log your weekly 'wander' round the supermarket as a 'walk' it really isn't...I could log going up and down stairs (my office is up two flights of stairs and has no lift, I live in a town house and have a lot of stairs, but I don't count any of it as 'exercise'.
This site is about being accountable to ourselves, if you REALLY REALLY think that you are going to get fit and healthy doing housework then great, I actually think that I need to do something that is usually regarded as exercise to do that. It's my choice to feel like that, and at the end of the day I could log that I did 10 hours of running, ate 1200 calories made up of only organic home grown fair trade wholesome food and then did 10 hours of weights and who is going to know what I really did other than me? We are not going to be tracked down by the fat police if we put washing up as a work out, but we might be kidding ourselves. In the end we are the only people who lose out if we are.

mlemonroe2

I have lost 28 pounds so far so I don't think I am kidding myself. If it is something I do above and beyond my normal "chores" I add it. I don't think I am cheating myself.

jmwolffyy

Perhaps a circuit at the gym... an extra filthy bathtub... a mop & bucket station.... two dusters.... a hoover... and iron & board & pile of crinkly clothes...

GO!!!

2 minutes at each station circuit style!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Even better, lets do this at my house!!! I could use the help getting it all the way clean. LOL!

I don't log anything extra EXCEPT the day I had to work on the car to get it to run... Auto repair is in the list of exercises, and I jumped at the chance because between the actual work and the stress of doing it myself I know my heart rate was up!

qtrhrsewoman

I agree with this statement in full. I started logging my household chores, etc and realized that I do this stuff every day. It's part of my normal calorie burn. I will log an unusual chore that is strenuous like when I clean my barn stalls. It is not something I do every day, and really is a huge calorie burn, so I think that can count as exercise, but folding laundry or cooking dinner is something I do on a daily basis anyway.

Tiggermummy

I have my activity setting as sedentary as although i am generally on my feet all day, the pace I could be working at varies greatly, but I do record my daily movements and when heading to and from work, I usually if I can get out the house early eneough will walk to the station.
i've gone from 20 minute stroll to 10-12min power walk, I got my pace up to 6 miles an hour whilst dodging tourists in central london, that is pretty good going, and I've got little legs!
I also log when I do the stairs at work - its five floors, I never used to do it, when i started I couldn't do it without stopping twice, then i got to stopping once. now I can do it without a stop, but I am out of breath at the top.
some days I'll do it once, others twice - record is 3 times in a day. looking forward to not being out of breath at the top, but I think I get back to normal breathing quicker than I used to, had to go and collect a delivery with a work collegue as the lifts were out, he is really skinny, but he had to stop and catch his breath and I didn't!

And I log the wii-fit work outs too, but its down to you to be honest with yourself as to how much effort you've put in.
I do build up a sweat, I now have dumbells that turn the controller & nunchuck into 2kg weights, and I have the raiser on order to make the wii board higher up. hubby works late so I can't always go out in the evenings so the wii becomes my stable exercise boost and anything else is extras.
I will often add only half the calories I get from my recordings as walking with the children isn't at a fast pace!
But for 5 hours of pushing a double buggy around london (at least 5miles) I added 1hour of calories, as it isn't something I normally do.

You can only be accountable to yourself, no matter what we might think as outsiders looking in, a person can only be totally honest with themselves, and if they aren't all we can do is try and encourage gently, without beating them over the head with a virtual baseball bat as it isn't going to help.

TM

stormieweather

Everything you do should already be included in your 'activity level'. The only "exercise" calories should be activities done specifically for fitness (such as biking, running, gym workouts or classes). If you think you are doing more than what your activity level allows you, then change it and increase it.

And yes, a lot of people forget to deduct the normal calories they burn doing nothing - ie: I burn 300 calories on the treadmill for an hour, but if I'd done nothing at all, I'd have burned 70, so I need to subtract that 70 from the 300 to get the actual EXTRA calories.

This is part of the reason some people don't lose weight when eating back their exercise calories.

rebeccaS85

I'm surprised how many people are saying house cleaning dosn't burn calories!! I often sweat when I am cleaning!! The new weight watchers points plus program gives you extra points for doing things like cleaning a bathtub. It's hard work people!!! If it only counts when you sweat, then everyone would be in the same category instead of having to choose if you are sedentary, moderately active, or very active.

I absolutely agree!! I am also a SAHM and I don't usually add my normal cleaning however about once every week or so I do a deep clean of my house and I end up SWEATING so I add that. I don't tend to us all my extra calories earned from exercise. I also add walking if I have spent a day out running errands because I have usually done A LOT of walking.

AJDistel

I'm a SAHM and from what I was told, that your normal every day activities should not be logged because even though your body is burning calories, your not going "above" what your body is use to. My friend is a waitress and she was told not to log her hours on her feet cause her body is use to it. But she would be considered "active". If you are constantly cleaning and moving, then just bump up your activity level. But normal every day activities should not be added.

Ultimately I do think everyone is different so we really don't know each persons case.

AJDistel

I'm a SAHM and from what I was told, that your normal every day activities should not be logged because even though your body is burning calories, your not going "above" what your body is use to. My friend is a waitress and she was told not to log her hours on her feet cause her body is use to it. But she would be considered "active". If you are constantly cleaning and moving, then just bump up your activity level. But normal every day activities should not be added.

Ultimately I do think everyone is different so we really don't know each persons case.

LorinaLynn

Normal cleaning, I don't log. Inlaws visiting from out of state cleaning... I logged that. If I have to move furniture, it's exercise. I logged painting a room, too. And shoveling snow. I'd probably log mowing the lawn, but I'm hoping to be at my goal weight by then and won't be micromanaging my calories as much.

At first, I logged the walking I did while shopping. But I just bumped myself up to lightly active instead of sedentary to take care of things like that. I do spend a lot of time sitting at the computer, but I'm too active to sit through a whole movie without getting restless.

RMinVA

I notice a small number of people logging non-exercise activities... and I don't mean digging in the garden or such like, I mean stuff like "food preparation".

Surely if you give yourself extra calories for a bit of vegetable chopping would that not lead to double accounting, assuming that preparing meals would be part of normal life activities??

Confused.

I completely agree that whatever activity level you choose would accommodate every day activities!! I only count things that are above and beyond what I normally do: daily exercise, deep cleaning the house, etc. As far as I'm concerned regular housework, the coffe break walk to Starbucks (half mile RT), etc. is all just icing on the cake.

While I understand that it is part of the equation, IMO people should spend less time worrying about how much they are burning and more time worrying about WHAT they are actually putting in their bodies. Nutrition has a much bigger role than exerise in weight loss.

Shamrock40

I am a SAHM and I dont log anything but actual exercise (ie what I do at the YMCA). The only extra thing I add is the "walking" i do when grocery shopping or mall shopping. I count everything else as normal activities. and if I burn a few extra calories doing it, then i guess its my gain (or should I say weight loss).

This is what I do, too. I have a 3-year old and a 4 1/2-year old, so when I load them both up in a Target cart with that huge double seat added on the front, then add 40lbs of dog food, 32 cans of cat food, cat litter, a couple of gallons of milk and all the other groceries I buy, and I'm pushing that sucker around for 90 minutes from one end of the store to the other, you bet I'm going to add walking and pushing a grocery cart. I normally subtract 100-200 calories from whatever MFP says before I enter it so I'm not overstating the calories burned. I also don't normally add housecleaning unless I've had an unusually busy day of it, like walking up and down our stairs to the kids' room and getting/washing laundry, making beds, cleaning the bathrooms, vaccuuming and sweeping. Stuff I usually spread out during the week. If I do most of it in one day, I log it. Depending on how much of a sweat I work up, I'll put "vigorous" or "light" cleaning, and I automatically cut the amount of time I cleaned in half before I enter it in. I also only log food prep if I'm on my feet for a long time with elaborate meal preparation. Once in a while I'll take a Sunday and make a bunch of freezer meals, so I'm cooking most of the day. That type of food prep I'll log. But most of those things I wouldn't consider "every day" activities, so I think I'm ok.

Shamrock40

I was going to put, too, that I am going to buy a HRM to remove doubt about the number of calories burned at any activity.

pwiggy

I will sometimes log light house work, but it is on specific days, such as the day I carry all the laundry down 2 flights of stairs, sort return empty hampers and carry the clean clothing up and put away. I figure that job is a good work out. I will also count the calories when I do something like cleaning the outside windows. I use a long pole and wash third floor windows.

backinthenines

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backinthenines

I'm a SAHM and from what I was told, that your normal every day activities should not be logged because even though your body is burning calories, your not going "above" what your body is use to.

I kind of agree with that. Generic looking after self, kith & kin is kind of "status quo".

I have seen logging websites similar to this one which give calories for "personal grooming" which included bathing, showering, brushing your teeth etc.

Can all those people who lost any weight from bathing themselves please form an orderly queue!!! :huh:

There is also the consideration that some people may truly be sedentary. I've known people who were too out of shape to do things like cooking or cleaning...so for them it might be actual excercise.

The way I look at it is this....
If you have always had staff to do your shopping, cleaning, cooking and child care, and now you have to do it yourself, there might be some argument for logging it.
However, if one is overweight despite shopping, cleaning, cooking and childcare, than those activities alone are unlikely going to earn you extra calories from "exercise".

backinthenines

Perhaps a circuit at the gym... an extra filthy bathtub... a mop & bucket station.... two dusters.... a hoover... and iron & board & pile of crinkly clothes...

GO!!!

2 minutes at each station circuit style!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Even better, lets do this at my house!!!

I like your thinking!!!! :bigsmile:

RMinVA

I'm a SAHM and from what I was told, that your normal every day activities should not be logged because even though your body is burning calories, your not going "above" what your body is use to.

I kind of agree with that. Generic looking after self, kith & kin is kind of "status quo".

I have seen logging websites similar to this one which give calories for "personal grooming" which included bathing, showering, brushing your teeth etc.

Can all those people who lost any weight from bathing themselves please form an oderly queue!!! :huh:

The way I look at it is this....
If you have always had staff to do your shopping, cleaning, cooking and child care, and now you have to do it yourself, there might be some argument for looging it.
However, if one is overweight despite shopping, cleaning, cooking and childcare, than those activities alone are unlikely going to earn you extra calories from "exercise".

LOL @ the orderly queue comment!! And my thoughts exactly about activities!!