your opinion please!!!!!!

MizTerry

As you can see, the answers are varied as I expected they would. I'm just glad there aren't a ton of rude comments like I've seen on other similar posts. I agree with everyone who says you add what YOU want. I mean...I saw a post the other day that someone is counting driving/commuting as exercise. Now that one I think, is kinda stretching it. I mean, I usually sit while I'm driving! I certainly think you burned more calories walking around the store than you did driving there!!! I'd probably log it but not eat back more than half the calories. But I usually don't eat more than half when I workout hard.
But that's just my opinion! Do what works for you!

They have a Flinstone car.

WhoTheHellIsBen

if you want to split hairs like this all day long the honest answer is you are going to be out of shape for a very looooooooooooooooooooong time. If it's not a real work out then don't log it. This also goes for cleaning the house, doing dishes, mowing the lawn, SLEEPING (yes I've seen people log naps before) And all that other dumb crap. Just forget about that stuff and see yourself rewarded down the line when your goals are met.

MinnieInMaine

You'd think it would count for a lot, especially if you're like me and walk really fast down the aisles and pretty much cover all departments of a Super WalMart store. So one day I decided to wear my heart rate monitor and I only burned like 50 calories in the almost 45 minutes I was there.

The only time I count shopping is, like someone else posted, if I'm out all day like outlet shopping with my mother. I know I must've burned calories because my bum is sore from all the walking and I'm tired. But even then, I only count half of what MFP gives me for walking at 2mph because I know I wasn't moving the whole time.

Cleaning is 50/50 for me. If it's the usual chores I don't count it but if I do something extra like scrub the walls, clean the windows, move some furniture around, etc, I'm going to count it.

lowpro1983

I normally don't include what I consider "small daily tasks." Now if I'm spending half a day clearning my house, I sometimes log that. To each his/her own.

lpina2mi

It is not cheating, BUT when MFP is calculating how many kcal your burn by just being alive for day--I have been assuming that my normal and usual habits are included.

That said, once a week a thorough cleaning of the house that included moving furniture to vacuum behind it and mopping floors and cleaning toilets and polishing windows et cetera. Those 2 hours are above and beyond my usual pick-up-doing laundry-cooking. So I log the 2 hrs but not the other usual. I break out in a sweat doing the once a week thing.

During gardening season, the early season and late season chores are heavy, so I count those. The piddly stuff I do in between is not something I tracked in the past (albeit a different tracking software).

So with your grocery shopping--do you take the same long strides, as if you were outside on a path? Is the load in your grocery cart significant? I think you know best, whether your grocery trips counts for anything above what MFP is calculating for your daily being-alive-burn.

MinnieInMaine

In my opinion it definitely counts as exercise - research has shown that simply standing instead of sitting when doing things like watching tv burns calories so walking around the supermarket should count too!!

This may be true but if your activity level is set at sedentary, that accuonts for some of those little extra activities. You're sitting most of the time but of course you're going to move around a little...going to the bathroom, standing around talking to co-workers, walking to the file room, etc.

lauralind5

My thoughts are....did you not go to the grocery store before you started MFP? Or clean your house or whatever typical daily activities we do.

eclarso

I would say it's okay to log light exercise like that, but just don't get too carried away with it or use it as an excuse to overeat. Try only eating back 1/3 to 1/2 of your exercise calories. That way you can reward yourself a little bit, but still stay on track for weight loss.

dovetail22uk

I still walked around the shop when I was gaining weight!

In my opinion, don't log it unless it raises your heart rate for a sustained period. You're only kidding yourself. Especially if you are expecting to eat those "exercise" calories back!

Edited to add that the heart rate thing is for cardio. Obviously different for strength training etc.

Jennikitten

I personally count it because I put my lifestiyle as sedentary and I don't eat all of it back. I tend to use it more of a gage of my fitness

ronkelley2

thanks everybody learned many things!!!!!!!!

AbbieZabba

Did you break a sweat???
There's my opinion :flowerforyou:

suzafied

I dont add my walking at all.. I just look at that as extra calories burned.. Like last night I walked (very fast) in between Bed Bath and Beyond and the Apple Store in the mall a few times before the mall closed and didnt record that.
And it wasnt just one quick walk.. I parked outside of BBB and knew I needed to buy a kitchen garbage can. But I also needed to speak to a techie at the apple store.. So i went to the apple store (fast), booked my appt (which was in 20 minutes, and mall closed in 30). So I went back to BBB, bought the garbage cam, took it out to my car then walked back to the apple store and then after my appt walked back towards BBB where my car was parked.. At this was all done at the West Edmonton Mall which is the largest mall in North America. I didnt record any of that sped up walking on my app..

MelisaBegins

I just recently joined MFP and am still getting the hang of it, but I am using the following method:

To lose a healthy 1-2 pounds per week, MFP suggests I eat 1200 calories a day. I also work out every day and SWEAT (aside from normal life activities like running errands, full-time job, chasing child, etc.) so it is REALLY hard for me to stay under 1500 calories without feeling shaky and miserable.

So, I do add in my cardio/weight minutes each day, but not because I want to "buy back" additional food calories. I do it so that I can have a more accurate gauge of how MY body performs best (frankly, I was tired of seeing that big, bold RED NUMBER when I went over 1200 calories!

Ultimately, I think that it will always boil down to a calories in/calories out equation for weight loss. You are the #1 person you have to answer to on this journey, so be true to yourself and the results will reflect that!

Mummyadams

I only log my work outs (going to the gym, job, Crossfit), everything else (cleaning etc) isn't a 'work out' as far as I am concerned.

carrieous

youre only cheating yourself by doing that. It asks you to rate your overall activity level so i'd just put lightly active if youre actually walking around a bit each day.

Jerrypeoples

how many calories are burned by me logging my foods in MFP

wait, that sentence alone i think was .8745 calories burned...brb

erinxo13

I log it.

ShrinkingShona

If I don't have to put on a sports bra to do it, it's not exercise!

^^^^ This is how I feel. I only count things as exercise if I know in my heart that I am going to some additional physical effort to do it. Hauling my fat *** around doing chores doesn't count for me. I just think of any effect that stuff has on my health as an extra bonus.

There is a secondary issue with counting daily duties as exercise and that is that MFP is notorious for over estimating calorie burning, so if it says you burned 200 calories walking for 2 hours then the likelihood is you only really burned 100 and that would be pretty close to the calories you burn in that period of time just surviving.

auroranflash

Grocery shopping is an exercise in patience and thriftiness and nothing more. Unless you're buying 20-30 bags of 50lb dog food at a time, in which case I would log it as 'light cleaning'.

momof2TONI

I personally would not. I am not a fan of entering calories burned by shopping, cleaning, walking up the stair to my office or anything else that I *HAVE* to do regardless. My exercise is the extra effort I put into it. Regardless if you were on this site or not...you'd be having to shop or clean or walk the dog. So I don't see that those count for much as your body is already accustomed to that exercise and therefore its not really adding to yoru weightloss efforts.

THIS

imthejenjen

I dont count ANYTHING i would do on a normal basis as exercise. (sex, walking in my house or at a grocery store, cleaning etc) In my opinion it IS cheating yourself. I only count the actual time I take out of my day for EXERCISE as EXERCISE.

Mr_Clean

If you did it prior to starting your weight loss journey then I wouldn't count it. It may be just as much exercise as going for a 30 minute walk but if you've always done it then it's part of your normal routine and should already be accounted for when you set up your profile.

1CheakyC

Hi,

I agree if you move then it will have a calorific value.

I use Bootdiets.com to check activity values. If you go to the main screen and scroll down to the bottom under the 'Free Tools' section there is an Exercise Checker. 10 mins of Shopping is 28 calories.

Rockstar_JILL

If you did it prior to starting your weight loss journey then I wouldn't count it. It may be just as much exercise as going for a 30 minute walk but if you've always done it then it's part of your normal routine and should already be accounted for when you set up your profile.

Exactly!! I don't count it unless it makes me sweat!