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Should I Count It?

storm15918
storm15918 Posts: 88 Member
edited January 20 in Fitness and Exercise
I have a small dilemma. I'm currently studying geology in college and so I have some classes that require me to do field work. The class I'm in now started out with just wandering around on river banks, so it didn't really warrant me adding it to my daily logs. But the class is picking up in intensity and so I'm starting to wonder if I should be logging it. For example, the past two weeks we've gone to a local mountain (I'm in MA so the term mountain is a bit relative lol) and mapped the geology. This requires climbing up and down hills and over rocks and even small cliffs for about 2 to 3 hours. My question is do you guys think I should log this as hiking or something in my cardio for the day? I want to make sure I'm staying over 1,200 calories per day, and I think these field trips might throw that off. At the same time I feel like there's no way I burned the 1,2500 calories or so that MFP gives me. Any suggestions?

Replies

  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    You should probably change it in your profile. If you were "sedentary," that's not true anymore.
  • Queenofthezoo
    Queenofthezoo Posts: 69 Member
    Well, you are definitely burning something hiking for 2-3 hours at a time. But if you are worried about MFP being too far over in their estimate, you could eat back half the exercise calories. But I would not stay at 1200 calories and do that kind of hiking. So maybe do half, and if you are still hungry a little more, and if you feel fine then leave it at that.
    But try to figure out what your BMR is and don't go under that (or so I keep seeing/reading)
    Depending on your weight/height/gender, it is more likely that you should be higher then 1,200, even if that is the number MFP gives you.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Either eat back those calories...yes, hiking is exercise...I do mountain hikes and can often burn upwards of 800-1000 calories doing so. I'd recommend investing in a HRM personally.

    Alternatively, up your activity level so that activity is included and you don't have to worry about it as MFP will automatically up your calorie goal.
  • iulia_maddie
    iulia_maddie Posts: 2,780 Member
    That is called hiking, and yes, you should count it.
  • storm15918
    storm15918 Posts: 88 Member
    It's definitely hiking lol. I was just trying to be clear about the terrain :smile: . I set my profile to sedentary because usually I am. This class is out of the norm for me. I only have it once a week sadly, so it's easier to add to a day than all of them. If I get a job doing this I'll definitely need to adjust the settings though! I'm hoping to get a HRM for my birthday. If I do I'm definitely going to try it out up in the mountains. I'm slowly working up to my BMR from 1,350, but I use 1,200 as an absolute minimum and always stay above that. I think I'll eat back half of the calories MFP says I burned just to be safe. Thanks for the advice!
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    That is called hiking, and yes, you should count it.

    especially if you're only eating 1200 per day. def count it.

    pro-tip: you should probably be eating more than 1200 per day. Check out this link

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy
  • bethlaf
    bethlaf Posts: 954 Member
    What he said ..

    and yes its hiking
    if at the minimum it should be counted as exercise on those days, even if its only counted on a pedometer as steps, its not sitting on your but with the remote in hand , so yes

    IT COUNTS!!!
    you count!!!
  • adam1885282
    adam1885282 Posts: 135 Member
    If you want to get that specific about it, get a heart rate monitor and wear it in the field. That should give you a good count.

    But, I like the suggestion about moving up your activity level, maybe setting your diary to "active" on field days.
  • storm15918
    storm15918 Posts: 88 Member
    That is called hiking, and yes, you should count it.

    especially if you're only eating 1200 per day. def count it.

    pro-tip: you should probably be eating more than 1200 per day. Check out this link

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy

    No worries! I do eat more than 1,200. That's just the absolute minimum I use. If I'm below or near that from exercise or what have you, then I definitely eat more (as I sit here eating pretzels lol). MFP gave me 1,350 to start with, but I just upped it to 1,500, which is near my BMR. I'm working up to it slowly. I was just worried that I might be below 1,200 now which isn't good, but wasn't sure how to count it. I've added some snacks for tonight and my first ever protein shake! (Assuming the powder has been delivered *fingers crossed*) Also thanks for the link. I'll take a look at it :smile:
This discussion has been closed.

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