When does Exercise become an every day activity?

AmberJo1984

I try to make exercise a daily activity. I think the daily activity we shouldn't count, though, is more like climbing stiars and cleaning your house.

californiagirl2012

We all exercise and log it as exercise and then either eat or not eat the extra calories. And from what I've read and gathered on here, Exercise is defined as anything done outside your normal, every day activity, correct? But what if exercising IS a normal, every day activity for you? What about the people who exercise EVERY day? When do you stop counting your exercise as Exercise?

I exercise every day. I don't count exercise calories. I never did and I never will, especially when I needed to lose fat. The little bit of extra calorie deficit will not hurt you if you need to lose weight. Now that I'm under 12% body fat I simply eat a few extra calories if I feel I need it. I've listened to my bodies needs long enough to know when it's truly needed. You can always ask your doctor but I can say I did not lose lean body mass, I stayed very strong at the gym eating at a deficit and not counting exercise calories, and my DXA scan proved that I did not lose lean body mass.

I spent way too many years running marathon after marathon, lifting weights, martial arts, biking, hiking, backpacking while continuing to gain weight to ever again think that calories don't matter even when you are eating healthy and not a binge eater.

sarahisme18

Exercise shouldn't be seen as something you do above and beyond simply to burn max calories and lose max weight... at least in my opinion.

I think exercise should be seen as something that is part of your routine, maybe daily, but certainly a few times a week. It should be seen as a way to increase strength, endurance, and maintain overall health.

Here's the difference:

If you look at it in the first way you run the risk of 1) becoming obsessive and seeing it as a way to punish yourself for eating poorly, and 2) a short-term routine to get you to your weight loss goal, and then you stop.

If you look at it in the second way, you will, hopefully, see food as a way to fuel your activity and help you achieve your goals, whether it be fat loss or muscle gain or endurance gains, or whatever. You'll figure out how many calories and what type of calories you need to HELP your exercise and meet your goals.

JustJennie1

I walk my dog every day 2.5-3.5 miles on some pretty tough terrain -- hilly and rocky -- and I always log that as exercise because I walk brisk, I'm breathing heavy and I break a sweat.

I also log the other exercise I do: gym, exercise DVD's etc.

chubbygirl253

I set my activity level for an average REST DAY. So that is generally sedentary. And anything above and beyond that I can log. As for the other 6 days a week, I exercise about 4 hours a day. And I log it as exercise. If I included it in my lifestyle activity level then I would go over by 3000-4000 calories everytime I took a rest day. Not happening! Plus, you have to remember that not all exercise is equal. Most of us vary our workouts so even on a day to day basis they can have very different burns. Tuesday I burned about 1000 more than on Monday. An hour of yoga and an hour of stair climber machine is an hour either way but yoga is about 75% less calories burned.

girlonabikedc

I ride a bike everyday for work. Because its part of my daily life, I don't log it as "exercise". However, I run almost every day too. But I specifically set aside that time & activity for fitness (as opposed to a daily routine like walking, climbing stairs, or commuting to work, etc) so I log. I guess what I mean is that I log based on intention...

I intend this activity for fitness = logged as exercise

This activity is intended to accomplish something in my normal day-to-day life (walking to errands, riding to/from work, climbing stairs) = daily activity & not logged separately.

YaGigi

I log only exercise. When I have actually change into gym clothes and break the sweat.

I don't log walking my dogs, cleaning up my apartment, shopping or walking around. I did all that before bd still got fat. It's unfair to log it exercise now and eat back these calories.

anonymousKel

I use Sports Tracker to help get accurate cals plus when running I use Nike+.....set my activity level to sedentary (if you read the small print it tells you what cals you need if you just stayed in bed all day) so anything extra can be counted. On a rest day (fri) cos I work out every other day I tend to log a few brisk walks to the train station etc but dont usually bother if I've done boot camp or boxing. Eat back a small amount of cals over the 1200 limit except for weekend when I go up to the limit some days. Avgs out at above 1000-1200 a day when I have a good blow out.

Hope this helps x

gmallan

I think I'd prefer to leave my settings as sedentary mostly because even though I exercise almost every day I do have the occasional rest day and my calorie burn varies so much (pilates or lifting vs a 12km run). This way I can eat my min calories for working my desk job and adjust it according to my level of activity. I should note that I don't go on MFP's base calorie level for me (1200).

tracy10221

I have my settings set to Lightly Active because I am a SAHM with an almost 2 year old and a 4 month old. I am on my feet all day cleaning, playing & chasing kids, running errands, etc. What I do during the day is my activiness that I don't log exercise for I also workout about every single day, but my actual workouts vary each day. Today was just some light cardio, yesterday was spin class, the day before was a run and weight lifting. All of those things get added into my exercise diary. If you are exercising outside of normal activy (ie what you do every single day seperate from exercise) then you should log it. If you have your profile set to very active but you are just running errands, then you should change your account settings.

darleyschroeder

ITA with Mrs. Hyland; if you are typically an active person you should consider setting your activity level to "active," and then only log what you think goes above and beyond your typical daily exercise. I also tend to agree with hauer01; if you are able to get a good sweat going, I think you can safely log it as "exercise."

Me, I'm kind of a lazy creature by nature, so I set my activity level to "sedentary" and then log just about everything I do as "exercise" -- a walk with the doggy, my fitness DVDs, and even house cleaning

We are the same here! I know that I go through lazy streaks and that I go through working out every single day streaks. I set mine to sedentary as well. I'd rather not over estimate what I am doing.

NocturnalGirl

It depends on how you set your calorie goals. If your activity level includes these exercises then don't add them. If you are going by MFP's method then do include them. But it also depends on what you call exercise as some people seem to have wacked ideas.

justal313

if you are sweating, you are exercising, lol. If you're smiling and joking you're not.

What if you do both at the same time? I can work up a good sweat and smile while I do it :-)

Then you might be some kind of Witch. We're keeping our eye on you.