Logging Activities

Cat52169

I just have a question. Do you log all your phsyical activities? I only log the activities outside of my normal daily routine. I see people log doing laundry and cleaning house but is that really accurate? I mean your body's used to those activities. Isn't it what you do in addition to your daily routine that counts? If I logged everything I do in a day I would have 3000 calories to eat and I know that isn't right. Just a thought.

LaDiablesse

I only log my exercise. I don't log the normal every day things I do.

megarooni

I log cleaning when I clean the office. It is not something I have done before and I try to do lunges and things like that as I am doing the vacuuming etc... I do not log when I clean at home because that is a regular routine that I consider to be like walking from my bed to the shower in the morning.

ASPhantom

No, I don't log anything that is a part of my regular day.

No grocery shopping, laundry, dishes, walking to mail box, chasing my kids, playing on the playground, none of that.

If I exercise, then I log it. Daily stuff is daily stuff.

limex

I only log things outside my daily activities. If I'm doing a serious cleaning, like going through old boxes or spring cleaning or unusual things like that, I'll log it. I think it also depends on what lifestyle you set too. I put mine as sedentary because I have a desk job, so if I spend 2 hours cleaning, that's way more than my normal activity.

loverachel18

I only log my exercise, not what I already do normally.

fitnhealthyccthatsme

I log daily activities because it is what encouraged me to keep going when I first started here 4 months ago. Calories burned are calories burned whether sitting at a desk, doing laundry, reading, watching television, cleaning house, etc... .

Of course you burn more doing exercise, but daily activities help you burn calories which count if you want them to count.

My results after 4 months of logging daily activities & exercise have resulted in 21 pounds lost so it's working for me. Also, just because I burn it, doesn't mean I eat it. Hope this helps.

frannyannemum

I only log my exercise. I too see people logging cleaning/hoovering/gardening as additional exercise. I think that any extra household activities are just a bonus to the calorie counter but never record how many calories are burned.

PlumLovin

I usually don't log general house chores b/c that is daily life however if I do something out of the norm then I will log it. I steam mopped my entire house the other day & I logged it b/c it took me over 2 hours & I did exercise moves while I was at it. I had to do some cleaning & didn't have the time to do an actual workout. Oddly enough I was more sore the next day than I was when I started the 30 Day Shred! But Hey, that's just me....

jjs22

Well, I think the _useful_ aspect of MFP and calorie counting in general is to see the good and bad effects of things you have control over. MFP tries to "hide" all the details of your day-to-day life that are not likely to change.

When you set up your MFP account, it asks you to describe your lifestyle. Something like : "I'm really sedentary" or "I'm pretty active", etc. Combining that (vague) info with your age, weight, etc., it tries to estimate the number of calories you burn each day without doing any specific new exercises. So if you said something like "I'm pretty active all day long", then it has _already_ taken those activities into account; to then add lots of these activities to your log would be double-dipping. It's kind of like taking the standard deduction on your income tax, rather than itemizing; not super accurate, but it saves you a lot of tedium.

Anyway, its important to realize that the whole calculation is based on a crude estimate of the calories burned by a "normal" person on a "normal" day that fits that very vague description. So if you, a unique individual, follow the MFP calorie target with extreme precision, and log every single bit of _additional_ activity (i.e., exercise), you will probably lose weight at a rate that differs somewhat from what MFP predicts. The whole point is that although a tool like MFP is not perfect, it is much, much better than nothing.

Again, think of it as shining a spotlight on things that you _do_ have the choice of modifying, while the things that are automatic are conveniently whisked out of the way.

MikeSEA

I don't actually use MFP in that way so no, I don't log any of my activities. I calculate my maintenance cals, take 80% of that and put that in as my daily caloric goal. I also adjust the macronutrients accordingly. Because my maintenance calculation already accounts for how active I am generally, I assume eating my exercise calories would be a no-no.