Another question about logging exercise :P

peanutbutterpretzels

First, thank you for opening my post! And sorry!! I these questions can get a bit annoying since so many people ask them here lol...

I currently have MFP set to lightly active because I don't believe that anyone can be completely sedentary, and in my house we have stairs which I tend to go up a lot etc etc. I also go to school 5 days a week, so there I'm going up and down stairs as well as walking to my next class. NORMALLY I would log my exercise but today I'm not so sure. I read a previous topic that said that the exercise you do is accounted for in the setting you pick. An example of the exercise I might do each week is like this:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 30 minutes on the elliptical, 300 calorie machine burn plus ~5 minutes of light weight lifting afterwards
Tuesday and Thursday: nothing, or sometimes (maybe twice a month max) a 25 minute walk home carrying a heavy book bag
Saturday and Sunday: nothing, or sometimes a slow 30 minute walk around the park in the afternoon (also maybe twice a month max)

Do you think it would be reasonable then to assume that the calories I burn are accounted for in my lightly active setting? Or no?

I'm trying to lose some weight here, ideally 6 pounds by 2013 but I honestly don't mind if it takes longer. As long as I lose them plus maybe a couple more by February 22 I'm good haha

*Edited for obvious spelling mistake

1ocean1girl

No I think you should still log the things you do. The lighty activity setting is just normal walking around; to get dressed, in and out of the car, around your house, ect. So all the extra exercise you're doing (all that you listed) should be logged in your excercise

peanutbutterpretzels

Okay! Thanks I'll go do that (:

c53204

I think 'normal' day to day things should not be logged. The definition of exercise is not fixed, but I look at it this way....

Do I and other people walk up and down stairs daily?
Do people walk to the shops and carry groceries home?
Do people walk or cycle to work?

What about builders? Most are very active, yet they may well go to the gym after work?

But if you or other people do those, then it's not really exercise. To me exercise gets me out of breath, sweaty and raises my heart rate.

peanutbutterpretzels

I don't log normal day to day things though! I'm just wondering if I should log today's elliptical workout, or not since I'm not sure if it's included in the lightly active category or not... my elliptical workouts definitely get me warmed up. I do resistance level 10 but toady I did resistance level 12 for 28 minutes and level six for the last two minutes. I was sweating so much!!

llangstraat

Agree with poster below.....

"No I think you should still log the things you do. The lighty activity setting is just normal walking around; to get dressed, in and out of the car, around your house, ect. So all the extra exercise you're doing (all that you listed) should be logged in your excercise"

Scott_Chaput

Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)

Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)

Teachers are constantly standing and walking back and forth, salesman are always up and about walking around talking to people... Going up and down the stairs a little bit and walking to classes still sounds sedentary to me.

Sedentary doesn't mean you're a sloth that lays in bed doing nothing all day. Lightly active to me means someone who is up all day like in retail not a student walking to class then sitting down for 45 minutes.

Maybe I'm wrong but you can't cheat the system. If you put yourself as lightly active and you shouldn't its going to reflect on the scale.

Scott_Chaput

No I think you should still log the things you do. The lighty activity setting is just normal walking around; to get dressed, in and out of the car, around your house, ect. So all the extra exercise you're doing (all that you listed) should be logged in your excercise

MFP defines sedentary as someone who spends most of the day sitting, like an office job... People with office jobs still get dressed and walk around... I think some people are trying to explain their way into "lightly active"

claritarejoice

If you keep your setting at lightly active, I would still add your Mon/Wed/Fri workouts as additional exercise, but personally I would not count your Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun walks because you are already lightly active. On the other hand, you could change your activity level to sedentary, and in that case I would add it all in as additional exercise. Whichever option you prefer is fine.

I also work at a university on the 3rd floor, walk up and down the stairs all day, and walk 40 minutes to and from work every day. However I spend most of my time working at a computer - it is a sedentary job. So I picked the sedentary activity level, and then I add my 40 minute walk to and from work as additional exercise, plus of course my actual workouts. However I don't log anything else like stairs, grocery shopping, etc. because even at the sedentary level you are still burning calories from normal daily activities. This is what works for me.

I respectfully disagree with 1ocean1girl. The normal walking around she mentions is counted in the sedentary activity level. You have to look at MFP's descriptions for each activity level. What type of work are you doing for the majority of your day? Is it a lightly active job (student could qualify), a highly active job (aerobics instructor, construction), or a sedentary job (computer)? In all of those cases you would still get dressed, walk to your car etc. Obviously few people are completely sedentary - it's only a label MFP has given for the type of work that you do the majority of your day. It's just a tool to help with accuracy. My TDEE at the sedentary level says I'm still burning like 2000 cals a day before exercise.

I hope this makes sense and helps.

claritarejoice

Sorry you are getting different opinions here - but I think it's helpful, you can consider the advice and then make the decision that's best for you. I agree with Scott_Chaput and c53204, and honestly calorie calculators and most people on MFP would take this position as well. I disagree with 1ocean1girl and llangstraat.

Scott_Chaput

Sorry you are getting different opinions here - but I think it's helpful, you can consider the advice and then make the decision that's best for you. I agree with Scott_Chaput and c53204, and honestly calorie calculators and most people on MFP would take this position as well. I disagree with 1ocean1girl and llangstraat.

Exactly... You can try and explain that lightly active means ANY activity of any kind so you can get more calories (I'm not saying you're doing it maliciously) but the only person who's going to end up hurt from that is you. You can't lie to the scale.

peanutbutterpretzels

If you keep your setting at lightly active, I would still add your Mon/Wed/Fri workouts as additional exercise, but personally I would not count your Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun walks because you are already lightly active.

The above is what I think I'll do. I think I'll only log the workouts I actually complete in the gym or swimming pool, but other activities that I do outside of gym I won't log. I can't see myself eating a sedentary amount (1385 according to MFP) as it'd just feel too much like I'm restricting my intake again and result in massive binges. But the lightly active amount (1500) I feel I could manage a lot better with besides, I think I'm a lot closer to my goal weight than I thought I was this morning! Just weighed myself a few moments ago and I'm only .4 lbs heavier than the weight I was when I first woke up...which makes no sense because normally I'm at LEAST 1 pound greater. Probably bloating lol

Thanks for the help Scott_Chaput, claritarejoice and others! Appreciate it

AmberJo1984

Cleaning and basic daily activities are counted in your setting... but, not exercise. Log all exercises (i.e. strength training, elliptical, treadmill, etc...).