Exercise Calories

nadiambe13

So, I was just looking through the activities and their calories, and was surprised at some of the options. Cooking? Cleaning? Playing Piano? I mean, yes, it makes sense that these activities expend energy, but do you guys count these sorts of things?

And if you do, do you eat those calories? I definitely would eat more calories on days I ran or gardened for a long time, but 20 minutes of cleaning? an hour of piano? Is it worth it to consume the extra calories if you do those things?

And I walk frequently because I don't own a car, and will sometimes wear a pedometer, sometimes not. But, should I count all the extra walking I do?

Thoughts?

lilybug13

I only count the things that are outside what I would normally do...

mok33

I agree.... if I don't break a sweat or know it's part of a workout, I dont 'eat' those types of calories....

tammyr76

I only count them if I do it for over 20 mins and it has my heart rate up..Gardening,Yes I count it if i'm weeding and trimming limbs and such,,cleaning I count if it is some major moving for over an hour....piano playing ,No i would'nt count it...
As far as your walking counting ,,i would only count it if you walk over 15 mins without stopping....I only eat back half of calories but only if my intake is going to be under 1200 calories for the day.....

nchapman2008

you should not count things which are your normal daily routine as the amount of calories we are supposed to intake in one day include some sort of exericise, usually 30 minutes of exertion anyway x

lindalee0315

I, too, only log it if it is extra, and I'm exerting myself. I counted "gardening" this weekend, because I was digging up huge amounts of soil, planting flowers, weeding, lugging mulch around. Even then, though, I didn't put in the full three hours I was doing it. I wouldn't count "piano playing" or normal walking.

abbandmegmom

I only count cleaning when its heavy duty cleaning.

wheelieblade

playing guitar or drums isn't something I would count, but playing the sax would probably get my heart rate up as am useless at it

nadiambe13

That's what I thought too! Okay! Thanks!

As for the walking, I think I may count some of it...for instance, choosing to walk from work to home is 3 miles, and roughly 30-40 minutes! lol But I don't think I'll necessarily eat all those calories. I'm always hesitant to eat back my exercise calories...

MsLadyVirgo

i wouldn't count those things. this website gives you a calorie goal based on your lifestyle. i only log workouts.... and yes, i would understand logging gardening, but not household cleaning unless it's major cleaning for long periods of time.

i wouldn't log the pedometer steps. just make a note of it in your exercise journal.

Good Luck! :-)

SarahofTwins

I'll only count those calories of cleaning, housework, etc if Ive been doing it for awhile. If its only 5-10 mins here and there then no I dont consider it to be excercise really. Also I eat a little of my excercise calories, not all of them though.

miriamtorason

Typically, I break down what I do. If I call it "tidying" - which is cleaning up after myself, my husband and my toddler, clearing off a table... I don't count it. I counted it originally in my decision to mark myself as lightly active. Clearing out our storage room and turning it into the toddler's bedroom? Mom is coming to visit, clean everything and don't forget to scour and dust the baseboards? THAT, I count. I also count the occasional non-urgent cleaning, but that is usually of the "scrubbed the bathroom" variety, not the "vacuumed the living room" one.

I don't count cooking on a daily basis. If I'm doing something special, though, like Thanksgiving, or some other sort of Big Deal Meal, I will count it - it's above and beyond, and my oven is a health hazard to my little one, so I have to scramble over baby gates all day to get into and out of the kitchen. So I count it.

Would I count piano playing? Only if I had myself marked as sedentary and didn't otherwise account for it.

This is all just me, though, so YMMV.

ladyhawk00

Depends on your fitness level, what your activity level is set at, and the frequency of the activity. For many people, cleaning for an hour is a workout (generally talking about people who are obese or morbidly obese). For others, it's not at all.

If your activity level is set at sedentary, you will need to log more than someone who set their level at active. Sedentary activity level accounts for very little activity during the day.

As to whether you need to or should eat those cals, depends somewhat on how much you have to lose. If you have a lot to lose, it's less critical that you eat as much of your exercise cals. Someone with a lot to lose can withstand a much higher deficit than someone close to a healthy BMI. However, it's still not a good idea to under far under goal on a regular basis, as there are other aspects to consider besides just weight loss.

I discussed that in my post here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/222019-60-lbs-in-60-days

In general, for what you have to lose, I would recommend logging the things that are challenging for you (watch your heart rate - if it goes up significantly, log it; ideally, get a good HRM). But if you're depending on MFP's numbers, be conservative with how you log it. If you clean for 2 hours, maybe only log 1 - 1.5.

Slimithy

Just for my own edification; is the "Piano Playing Exercise" a euphemism for something else many of us do that breaks a sweat and burn calories?

nadiambe13

When I said piano playing, I meant actually playing piano!