Fake Activity Calories?

brainfreeze72

I don't log my normal food preparations every evening when I'm cooking our regular family dinner but when I'm spending hours in the kitchen baking for church or preparing to host a big family gathering or making soups and casseroles for freezing when I'd normally be sitting on the sofa doing not much of anything...then I log it. The same with cleaning the house. If I spend 15 minutes cleaning one bathroom I don't log it but if I spend 2 - 3 hours dusting, sweeping, vacuuming and mopping etc then I log that...I'm up and moving where I'd otherwise be sitting on my butt.

I don't really worry about it unless someone who does it is wondering why they're consistently at a caloric deficit and not losing weight. They're only fooling themselves.

sandradev1

I think that people are talking about two totally different things here:

I don't think that people are really getting hung up on whether this or that exercise is fake or not.

Even in weightlifting, it is considered 'heavy' so long as you are lifting to your limit, which could be 3kg or could be 100's of kg.

It's the same for most people with exercise, so long as you are pushing yourself and trying to do more all the time, then you are improving your level of fitness.

The way that MFP is set up, it is so easy to get into the habit of logging everything you do so that you gain additional calories to eat.

This is why I and many others use
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

It helps you to calculate the calories you should be eating and you do not eat exercise cals back because they are already in the equation. Far more simple.

brainfreeze72

I think it's sort of ridiculous to add cooking as a workout. I'm a cook/baker for a living, so does that mean I should be logging 8+ hours worth of a workout each day? lolz

If you recall when setting up your profile it asks what type of activity level you are at regularly. I am regularly sedentary...I normally sit at a desk for 9 hours a day moving just my hands, fingers and eyes. If I were to spend 8 hours on my feet moving around a kitchen baking foods then that would be a significant increase to my calorie burn for the day. If you were to change jobs to a sedentary one then you'd need to adjust your calories down to allow for the lack of movement.

brainfreeze72

I don't understand why 'sex' isn't an option in the exercise log.

Some people log it as "moving furniture"

Some call it 'walking the dog'.

Bet you look at your friend list in a whole new light now!

But I really do walk the dogs! We have two 75# beasties who need lots of walks. I tried looking it up out of curiosity once and when we didn't go dancing as planned but stayed home in bed we joked about it being "country line dancing".

kazza2cats

I wear a Striiv Pedometer and just log those calories. It works for me!

mommyshortlegs

I don't log any activities that fall within my normal daily activities, including cleaning, considering I have already accounted for this activity when I indicated my activity level as "lightly active." I WILL, however, log cleaning if I happen to have a frenzied block of time completely dedicated to it: with children such typically isn't the case (typically I clean sporadically throughout the day), so the activity of a rare 45-60 min. of non-stop, hardcore, sweat-inducing cleaning, I do count.

I do log any intentional exercise (e.g., jogging), as this is effort separate from my normal daily activities.

crazybookworm

The only thing I log are visits to the gym or any other form of exercise. However, sometimes I do log cleaning because when I am lugging a heavy vacuum up and down stairs, scrubbing my tile, mopping floors, scrubbing toilets, then hell ya that is a workout. I am sweating by the end!

But, I also don't let what other people log as exercise bother me. It's their diary and their preference, why should I let it bother me or annoy me?

wifealiciousness

i only log actual workouts, like i ran 5 miles or di 60 minutes of strength training, even at my job i probably walk 10 miles a day but i dont log that because its part of my day

And I'd assume you've listed your activeness as "very active" on MFP so it will already be compensating?

trud72

@P :frown:

really i was about to add 5000 cal burn for sewing up a sock too!

littlewhittles

I never log activities like this because, for me personally, it feels like cheating. The only activities I log are real exercise - if I've put on a sports bra, or walk/bike somewhere substantial (not just to the mailbox or whatnot). I think if you check sedentary in your goals, you could probably lose by logging these. But I'm lightly active, so I don't think they count.

basslinewild

I only log workout DVDs, running, and gym visits. I don't log food prep or anything like that. I already am on my feet 9 hours a day so my options are set as "active". I don't think logging non workouts would be helpful.

strawmama

When I used Spark People, I seen this a lot. People were logging bathing, eating, reading, etc. I mean, seriously-- you don't go into the shower looking to burn calories.

I personally don't log any cleaning, cooking, etc. type activities--these are all things I was doing before I started trying to lose weight.

thatsillyshana

I just like adding cleaning because it makes me feel like I wasn't wasting time. I would add dancing around singing Disney songs if I could, but I'll just leave it as cleaning.

Mokey41

I think one misconception is that if you are sweating or tired then you must have burned a lot of calories. Sweating is something very individual to start with. I can sweat doing next to nothing, my friend can run 5K with me and be slightly "dewey". I'm actually far more "fit" than she is but she just doesn't sweat.

If you are overweight and lack cardio fitness you will likely work up a sweat doing something that someone thin and fit wouldn't find even slightly strenuous. It's called perceived exertion which doesn't translate into actual calories. If you can stand in the kitchen cooking and work up a big sweat then you need to look at your fitness level rather than dive into a dish of ice cream because you think you earned it.

katejkelley

This topic has been hashed over so many times! Basically, if your typical day is "sedentary" and that's how you've set your personal information, then anything in addition to the "usual" is considered exercise. You may see that things like sewing and food prep don't really give you that many exercise calories. But they do add some - and everything can add up. I sew - which involves a lot more than sitting at a machine. I am up and down (squats), ironing pieces (weight lifts), constant movement - which is way more than my daily grind at a computer. You bet, I add them! And when I'm cooking - I'm on my feet the whole time, moving all around the kitchen, chopping, mixing, lifting, bending - why not add that as exercise. The beauty of this site is you monitor yourself. If you don't want to add those kinds of things to your exercise diary, don't. But don't judge others because they do.

Courtney_0_0

cleaning is definitely a work out. i clean up for at least 2 hours per day: scrubbing, wiping, picking up toys (toddler), up/down to the basement for supplies, up/down the stairs to bedrooms and bath to fetch and pic up along the way--and moving the entire time.

i have no problem with one knocking, say, "typing, minimal effort" or "twiddling thumbs," should they exist, but "cleaning, light effort" is a reasonable (calorically, that is) pre-calculated log entry for my day, likely under what I burn for the constant clean-up.

flanyo

In my humble opinion, most activities that include movement will eventually burn calories but not necessarily burn fat. The good old fashioned notion of 'if you are burning more calories than you are consuming then you are heading in the right direction', for weight loss of course, is a start.
Recording all the activities no matter what they are might be useful to a person to look back and see what they have been doing and notice progression or the opposite. I think you have to find what ever works for you which may or may not be the same as others you encounter? I do see the other side to it of course...

darrensurrey

How much do I burn listening to System Of A Down? :explode:

ljb82

Personally I only include actual exercises (invloving increased heart rate and sweat) on my log rather then movement involved in daily tasks like food prep, cleaning, etc. But to each their own

WeatherGirl8

Yea,I see the "food Preparation" as exercise on here and I'm just thinking WTH? But,to each his own...If it works for them,then cool.

Hey - hunting and dragging the deer is hard work!


But, yeah - no. Unless it really is hard work, don't log it. You'll only be hurting yourself in the long run.

I think food prep can count, but it depends on what you're making. If I'm making dinner for myself or oatmeal and eggs for breakfast or something, there's no way I'm counting that, but if I'm chopping and stirring and mashing and peeling for a huge group of people for a few hours, I don't see a problem with counting it.