Calories Burned Driving

MissesOfficer

In the next few days I have to do a far amount of driving, should I enter this in the system? I googled it, and I would burn around 420 calories on my 2.5 hr drive (which I have to do both thursday and friday).

mszSHOGAN

How exactly does one burn calories while sitting down and slightly moving their arms? And I seriously mean that in a non-sarcastic way....

mrsyac2

in my opinion no because driving isn't exercise unless your fred flinstone and using your feet

weasleman42

I am skeptical about adding calories for driving. It seems as sedentary as an office job. What do others think?

artschoolgirl

I personally do not log things like driving or anything outside of gym/exercise time. Unless you are intentionally putting effort in to a workout and trying to burn calories, it shouldn't be logged. Once again, this is my opinion.

alapointe

I agree I only log gym/excercise or if i am working in the yard and it is really hard work than i will count that. I don't count mowing the lawn (mine is not huge though) and i don't count the half mile walk to and from work either. I also down play my calories burned to the nearest hundred. If my HRM says 658 I only count 600.

That is just my opinion though and so far it seems to be working.

MissesOfficer

Yah I don't know how you burn that many either, but 3 sources all came up with approximately the same numbers...I usually don't count anything other than a workout, unless I do some hard-core cleaning or something like that... but those 2 days that I'm doing lots of driving I won't have much time to actually work out... so thats why I was pushing it...

rosabella

Those calories are already factored into your daily calorie burning, your bmr, which is how many calories you burn each day sitting around doing nothing, which is about what driving is! :laugh:

stratdl

Maybe those websites were wrong about the amount of calories burned. :ohwell: How often do you see long-haul truck drivers who look as fantastic as Tami or Banks? :bigsmile:

j_g4ever

Maybe those websites were wrong about the amount of calories burned. :ohwell: How often do you see long-haul truck drivers who look as fantastic as Tami or Banks? :bigsmile:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

MissesOfficer

Alrighty then...

Delphi

Actually, you do burn calories while remaining idle, although it is not much. I wear a GoWearFit armband daily and I burn on average anywhere from one to 1.3 calories a minute while simply sitting or being inactive, same thing when sleeping. It's different for everyone, but if you want to know exactly how many calories a day you are burning then get yourself a calorie counter but I would recommend either the BodyBugg or the GoWearFIt!

nightangelstars

Yeah I have days where I do lots of driving too (I drive back and forth between college and home, a two-hour drive, and then sometimes hike down to Muskegon and back which is an additional hour) but i wouldn't count that into my calories. I would assume that's just normal metabolism, not extraneous effort calorie burning like when you work out. Also, if you don't count it and it does burn cals, that certainly can't hurt you, right? Better to err on the side of caution! :drinker:

TamTastic

Maybe those websites were wrong about the amount of calories burned. :ohwell: How often do you see long-haul truck drivers who look as fantastic as Tami or Banks? :bigsmile:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Thanks for that!! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

TamTastic

I would say that driving is in with your lifestyle...so when you choose active, sedentary, etc...it's already a part of that. At least that is what I would think!!

I've never counted driving personally!

lynniejones

My hubby drives truck and judging from the size of his and most trucker's bellies...trust me don't count it. :laugh:

jsbhatt

Has anyone considered that the size of truckers bellies could be due to the fact that they don't have much choice when it comes to eating healthy. I am a truck driver and I just recently started watching my calorie intake and I never realized how much crap there is at truck stops. Even the meals that you would think are healthy are still 700 to 1000 calories. Since I have started watching my calories I have lost almost 20 lbs since the beginning of the year (thanks largely to the fact that I have a fridge in my truck and can keep healthier food) and I do not excersise at all. Maybe my metabolism is high or maybe it's because I am DRIVING 11 hours a day.

SHBoss1673

Maybe those websites were wrong about the amount of calories burned. :ohwell: How often do you see long-haul truck drivers who look as fantastic as Tami or Banks? :bigsmile:

Wow, that was an unexpected little shot in the arm today! :flowerforyou:

Thanks!

SHBoss1673

Has anyone considered that the size of truckers bellies could be due to the fact that they don't have much choice when it comes to eating healthy. I am a truck driver and I just recently started watching my calorie intake and I never realized how much crap there is at truck stops. Even the meals that you would think are healthy are still 700 to 1000 calories. Since I have started watching my calories I have lost almost 20 lbs since the beginning of the year (thanks largely to the fact that I have a fridge in my truck and can keep healthier food) and I do not excersise at all. Maybe my metabolism is high or maybe it's because I am DRIVING 11 hours a day.

Let's make sure we say this accurately, they have a choice, but if they choose to eat what a truckstop restaurant offers, then they don't have many options, but that doesn't mean they don't have much choice. I would ask how many times they drive by supermarkets during the day, if they factor in 20 minutes at a supermarket and remove that 20 minutes from their stay at a truck stop, voila, you have a day's worth (or more if you're like js and have a small fridge in the truck) of healthy snacks. Is it as convenient as walking into the truck stop? Nope, but then again, that's what made them overweight in the first place. Life isn't always convenient.

iplayoutside19

What kind of driving are we talking about?

If it's straight across the prairie driving, and you have time to play with your radio presets...no I wouldn't log that.

However, if it's on a knarly road in the mountains, you have to be alert to everything around you, and you have to tighten up your core to stay in your seat, and hang onto the steering wheel for dear life.....I would consider it. Just one hour of that and you'd be pretty damn tired.

I'm opening a can of worms here. But there's a reason Sprint Cup drivers have implemented proffessional athlete type work outs in the past 10 years.

Tacosmamma

I just drove 13 Hours j am counting that.. I did it when I should gave been sleeping

cowperson

Yes, I count it if it falls outside the normal driving I do. I drove 4 hours to another city and counted it.

Here's where the good sense enters into the equation. Don't use that burn as an excuse to stuff a hostess bar in your face. If you get hungry, EAT. Get some whole grain carbs. I had some bread with chickpeas curry. Did that exceed my normal calorie intake? Yes. Do I care? No. My body knows better than any tool how much food I need.

I suggest: Stop obsessing over numbers and scales. Use the tools for guidance and record but listen to your body for definitive advice.

wonnder1

in my opinion no because driving isn't exercise unless your fred flinstone and using your feet

!!!LOL!!! I used my kids play car the other day and totally missed the opportunity to count that!

muffintopminx

Logging "Driving" makes about as much sense to me as logging "Watching TV". You're only deluding yourself and your body certainly won't be fooled.

wonnder1

Sarcasm aside, I could see if you drove the whole time without touching your back to the seat. That would work your core. But in all reality, you are most likely slumped as comfortably as you can get. If that's the case, I might count the hour I spend typing on here in a day.

KC45

(Actually having driven for 12 hrs a day on Saturday as well as getting out of the car and running into the doctor's offices and hospitals to pick up lab specimens should count!) You are using your brain the entire time you drive, which requires calories to operate. And heck if I can find the energy after driving for twelve hours straight for anything other than dinner and a bath before bed. Especially here in Arizona when it is 120 degrees out and you have that sweat pouring from your body, your body has to burn extra calories to keep the sweat coming so you stay cool. I can understand not counting driving calories if you are only maybe doing an hour a day, but if it is more than that, you should count them, in my opinion. Here is a good article I came across regarding calories burned while driving. www.ehow.com/about_5452973_calories-burned-driving.html

sushisuzi2

Good question! I drive three hours a day in Los Angeles. I agree. My mind is NUMB from being at work for 11 hours, too.

werkbot

I was about to remark that maybe none of you drive in/around LA county - I'm in the car for up to 3 hours a day, and I'm definitely tireder when I finally get where I'm going. Stop&Go driving is mentally and physically strenuous. if you're on I-10 in Arizona on a Tuesday at midnight, it might be casual, but on I-10 in L.A. on a Tuesday at 5:30pm, it's BRUTAL. Just try to relax - I dare you.

wolfchild59

It burns the same as sitting. I wear a BodyMedia Fit and frequently drive down to Southern California from the San Francisco Bay Area (and back, of course). I average the same exact caloric burn while driving as I do when I'm watching TV. There are occasional spikes, which may or may not be related to wild air drumming while singing along to the radio.

But no, don't log it as anything, unless you also log watching TV.

wolfi622

Don't know about driving. A regular passenger car in normal conditions is probably not that much more taxing than a desk job. But there are activities that seem stationary that actually are burning energy. I am a musician by profession. I play wind instruments, classical and jazz music. When I play, I am standing but stationary. But, playing a wind instrument engages the lungs and the diaphragm (a large smooth muscle), the heat rate increases, etc. I mark my activity level sedentary and log all my activity. It acts as a better motivator than assuming that certain activities are just "part of my normal activity". So, between references and my HRM, I have found that I can burn up to 200 net kcals per hour playing my instruments. My son is a violinist, which is also done while standing still, but burns even more energy per hour. So there are some things that athletes might assume are "non-active" things that actually use energy.

mfpcopine

How exactly does one burn calories while sitting down and slightly moving their arms? And I seriously mean that in a non-sarcastic way....

I wonder if the OP is a troll. Or very, very gullible.