Fake Activity Calories?

elsinora

Not to be a jerk here but I'm gonna sound like it - who cares?

If people want to micromanage every percent of a calorie and obsess over whether you burned 10 or 15 calories "checking email" then so be it, to each their own.

BUT

I'd rather just go out and play with my son or go for a walk or lift some weights and KNOW I made progress instead of worrying about the minute differences "washing dishes" has on my waistline.

Weight loss is not some Vegas casino that you can cheat by padding the numbers - it requires effort and honesty. Especially with yourself.

/soapboxrant

I was wondering because there aren't any threads on this. Also I have lost around 120lbs in total and frankly, it gets more and more difficult over the years to shed the last couple of stone.

I exercise a lot and count my calories but it would be more of a relief to even add that extra 100-300 if I could.

unmitigatedbadassery

Not to be a jerk here but I'm gonna sound like it - who cares?

If people want to micromanage every percent of a calorie and obsess over whether you burned 10 or 15 calories "checking email" then so be it, to each their own.

BUT

I'd rather just go out and play with my son or go for a walk or lift some weights and KNOW I made progress instead of worrying about the minute differences "washing dishes" has on my waistline.

Weight loss is not some Vegas casino that you can cheat by padding the numbers - it requires effort and honesty. Especially with yourself.

/soapboxrant

I was wondering because there aren't any threads on this. Also I have lost around 120lbs in total and frankly, it gets more and more difficult over the years to shed the last couple of stone.

I exercise a lot and count my calories but it would be more of a relief to even add that extra 100-300 if I could.

Please, don't think this was targeted at you. It's just something that I have seen pop up from time to time on here and it kind of irks me a little to think that people seem to think that they are cheating the system but only lying to themselves. Good luck to you!

malilini

I count vacuuming My vacuum weighs about as much as a baby whale, so I definitely break a sweat by the time I run through the whole house. Or just general hardcore cleaning, involving moving furniture, viciously scrubbing, etc.
But really, I eat as many calories as I need that day to stay full. If I'm actually hungry, I will eat more regardless of what went down exercise wise. Being relaxed about my calorie targets has really helped me stay on track.

gimpygramma

If you don't normally move around ... like in a desk job or something .... and you move around it would burn calories you don't normally burn. I noticed since I started wearing my bodymedia that when i was doing stuff around the house it logged as activity and made an adjustment on my exercise diary here on MFP.

My experience is similar. My Fitbit gives me a positive adjustment on days when I am baking or cooking a big meal...The layout of my kitchen is not very efficient so the steps add up. My setting is for sedentary....I think if I'd chosen even moderately active, I would not get a positive adjustment.

sam45890

I have always logged everything! Including cleaning and food prep most days. I still lost weight doing it and reached my goal.

beattie1

I don't log my every day cleaning like washing dishes and wiping the toothpaste out of the bathroom sink, but once a week or so when I clean like scrubbing the shower and mopping the floor and doing laundry (I live in an apartment without a washing machine, so while putting clothes in and out of the machine isn't work, lugging the baskets to the laundry room and back is), I log . . . my job is primarily sitting so those are extra calories burned. Also, I don't like cooking dinner as food preparation, but when I cooked Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, I logged that because I spent about six or seven solid hours chopping and beating and moving around pots and pans.

::shrug::

I agree with this - If you spend several hours standing, chopping, preparing food for a lot of people it takes more energy than sitting. As I put myself down as "sedentary" when I joined I log long periods of light and moderate activity - like more than normal-for-me cooking and cleaning.

kimcalica

The other day I spent two hours cleaning my son's playroom. I was squatting and bending while arranging all the toys and i filled a couple boxes with old toys and brought them upstairs, anyway, after that day, the backs of my legs hurt worse than any of my workouts I'd had in the last two months. I was in rough shape. You can't make fun of cleaning like that! You can't really scale it!

Firefox7275

I have mine set to lightly active since I work a stand up and walking around job 49 hours a week so I don't log anything extra since I already have it set for lightly active. If you're somewhere between sedentary and lightly active, then people put themselves as sedentary and then add their activities. If you're sitting and sewing for 6 hours a day rather than laying on the couch watching TV, it's going to burn more calories. As far as preparing a meal.. yeah, opening up a can might not take much, but for some people it can be a two hour standing on your feet, sprinting here and there, chopping, slicing, pounding, stirring, shaking olympic event. My Bodymedia fit logs more calories for when I cook dinner than it does for taking a walk!

Personally it doesn't matter to me since I don't eat back my exercise calories anyway...

But sedentary doesn't mean doing nothing but lying on the couch watching TV that is the equivalent of comatose or your BMR, sedentary is a range up to about 6000 steps a day. People are basically reinventing words and making up their own definitions for terms that are reasonably clearly defined in exercise science. They are counting calories twice, you have your BMR which is the laying on the couch part, even setting 'sedentary' on MFP adds a percentage extra cals for minimal activities of daily living.

glenette1

I had questions about this myself so one day I put my HRM on while I cleaned for four hours. Now I'm talking about scrubbing, vacuuming, multiple trips carrying things up/down stairs, sometimes moving furniture, etc. I burned enough calories for me to believe on the cleaning aspect. Don't believe it? Try it for yourself.

As for other sedentary activities, I don't see it. I never log those and even if I burn a few calories with them I consider it a "bonus" not a right to eat more calories.

pkw58

I am so guilty if the calories are only suppose to be concentrated activity... I wear a NIke Fuel band and just let it account for all my activity whether it is running/walking/cooking/yoga/horn playing whatever. Since I work a desk job, I set my calories on MFP to a sedentary level. It is manageable for me.

kimcalica

I had questions about this myself so one day I put my HRM on while I cleaned for four hours. Now I'm talking about scrubbing, vacuuming, multiple trips carrying things up/down stairs, sometimes moving furniture, etc. I burned enough calories for me to believe on the cleaning aspect. Don't believe it? Try it for yourself.

As for other sedentary activities, I don't see it. I never log those and even if I burn a few calories with them I consider it a "bonus" not a right to eat more calories.

Like*

Webbygail

I wonder how many calories are burned by worrying about what other people are doing?

I tried to log 'giving a f ck' but it was only zero calories.

Had to =X

Karabobarra

The only time I have seen food prep used as a calorie burn is from one of my friends that is a caterer... in her case I would consider food prep a calorie burn as it is above the normal 30 minute meal prep and she is probably doing a lot more, walking, bending, lifting heavy pans filled with food, and cutting than the normal person making dinner for the family.

I think if it's working for them then great... log it, personally I don't log it unless it's something above my normal daily activity. Each to their own, this is their tool to help them lose weight after all.

NeverGivesUp

haha I had a friend log reading and I told her that is not burning calories. Haha she told me it was really difficult reading and then unfriended me. lol.

malilini

But sedentary doesn't mean doing nothing but lying on the couch watching TV that is the equivalent of comatose or your BMR, sedentary is a range up to about 6000 steps a day. People are basically reinventing words and making up their own definitions for terms that are reasonably clearly defined in exercise science. They are counting calories twice, you have your BMR which is the laying on the couch part, even setting 'sedentary' on MFP adds a percentage extra cals for minimal activities of daily living.

This.
I got my fitbit when I was on "a holiday" from the world (read: couch potato), and those couple of days, it logged a daily calorie burn well below the sedentary estimate. Proper freaking shock and awe at how little I moved. If your default body is couch potato, you burn through your BMR and that's about it. It takes concentrated freaking effort if you have a desk job and not very active hobbies to work up to a "sedentary" daily burn.

beattie1

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

Some people log it as "moving furniture"

MsDover

Unless you're in a coma, every move you make burns calories over your BMR. That counts. I rarely log any of my exercise for the same reason my diary is private.... threads like these that pick apart what other people do. Just because you aren't at the gym or swinging from the chandeliers doesn't mean you aren't burning calories. Ask any mother that chases a toddler around the house! I honestly don't understand why anyone cares what other people log in their food and exercise diaries unless that person is specifically asking for help.

lamby284

how many calories am i burning per hour while coverting O2 to CO2? lol

really i think when you are moving around enough to the point of increasing your heart/breathing rate, then you are exercising. i dont understand how sedentary activities can be counted in. you gotta do some work

lamby284

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

Some people log it as "moving furniture"

omg hahahaaaaaaa. ill now be referring to sex as moving the furniture. thank you

lucypeaks

i class activities such as walking/jogging and workouts at home (i can't get to the gym with a toddler!) as using up the calories,nothing less than that...