how do I count calories burned while playing with children?

strongandhealthy78

So. . . I'm staying at my parents' house and got to see my nieces while my parents talked with their parents (my brother and his wife). We played and played and played with the three year old and five year old. Games included board games like Blokus and make believe games that included picking them up, swinging them around, putting them down, hugging them, rolling along the floor, and more!

How would you count this in numbers of calories?

I searched the site but it couldn't find any more information. Thank you for reading. Best. :flowerforyou:

jehembee

Maybe aerobics?

kao708

Honestly, I wouldn't count it. You probably burned some decent calories depending on how long this activity occurred but I'd just count it as a cushion for the rest of the week.

cmriverside

You know, that's just a bonus to your daily living. Not worth worrying about. If you start obsessing about every little movement you make, it isn't much fun. Just log planned aerobic or weight resistant exercise that is of a specific duration and intensity. So unless you were swinging Junior around for 20 minutes at a sustained tempo enough to count as planned exercise.....you get my drift.....

Spanaval

I just count that sort of stuff as "life" and don't add it. But then, I'm in the camp that doesn't count scrubbing floors and cooking for 20 people to be exercise either. Those are bonus points.

ocukor1

You don't.

Melanie_RS

you could do a 'Create Exercise' and put in your activity and guesstimate calories burned.

I definitely say board games don't count - but the other calories...how long did this last? I'd give it two calories per minute if you were constantly exerting yourself.

BeyondThePixels

I wouldn't count it. But if you really want to know, invest in a heart rate monitor. It will come in handy for any physical activity you want to measure.

tammyc226

i would probably log it as the mildest aerobics in the database

jenlynell

I'm not sure how accurate this calculator is but it includes tons of activities.

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

strongandhealthy78

Thanks for the suggestions. I looked it up online and, with my weight, came up with a significant amount of calories burned. The play was intense with a lot of swinging and lifting 40 lbs of children up and around over and over again. I'm in the "if I do something different for a sustained amount of time then I always log it" camp. It's worked so far. All the best.

crisanderson27

You don't.

This.

Because if you do...this guy ^^^^ will make another thread condemning you and others who log trivial activities to the darkest depths of hell.

WifeNMama

You don't.

This.

Because if you do...this guy ^^^^ will make another thread condemning you and others who log trivial activities to the darkest depths of hell.

Lol

So, anyway...
Swinging 50 lb. of squirming kids around is a workout. I'd say calisthenics, maybe?

lhabedank

you dont