Calories Burned Driving

Yes, I count it if it falls outside the normal driving I do. I drove 4 hours to another city and counted it.

Here's where the good sense enters into the equation. Don't use that burn as an excuse to stuff a hostess bar in your face. If you get hungry, EAT. Get some whole grain carbs. I had some bread with chickpeas curry. Did that exceed my normal calorie intake? Yes. Do I care? No. My body knows better than any tool how much food I need.

I suggest: Stop obsessing over numbers and scales. Use the tools for guidance and record but listen to your body for definitive advice.

Logging "Driving" makes about as much sense to me as logging "Watching TV". You're only deluding yourself and your body certainly won't be fooled.

(Actually having driven for 12 hrs a day on Saturday as well as getting out of the car and running into the doctor's offices and hospitals to pick up lab specimens should count!) You are using your brain the entire time you drive, which requires calories to operate. And heck if I can find the energy after driving for twelve hours straight for anything other than dinner and a bath before bed. Especially here in Arizona when it is 120 degrees out and you have that sweat pouring from your body, your body has to burn extra calories to keep the sweat coming so you stay cool. I can understand not counting driving calories if you are only maybe doing an hour a day, but if it is more than that, you should count them, in my opinion. Here is a good article I came across regarding calories burned while driving. www.ehow.com/about_5452973_calories-burned-driving.html

I was about to remark that maybe none of you drive in/around LA county - I'm in the car for up to 3 hours a day, and I'm definitely tireder when I finally get where I'm going. Stop&Go driving is mentally and physically strenuous. if you're on I-10 in Arizona on a Tuesday at midnight, it might be casual, but on I-10 in L.A. on a Tuesday at 5:30pm, it's BRUTAL. Just try to relax - I dare you.

Don't know about driving. A regular passenger car in normal conditions is probably not that much more taxing than a desk job. But there are activities that seem stationary that actually are burning energy. I am a musician by profession. I play wind instruments, classical and jazz music. When I play, I am standing but stationary. But, playing a wind instrument engages the lungs and the diaphragm (a large smooth muscle), the heat rate increases, etc. I mark my activity level sedentary and log all my activity. It acts as a better motivator than assuming that certain activities are just "part of my normal activity". So, between references and my HRM, I have found that I can burn up to 200 net kcals per hour playing my instruments. My son is a violinist, which is also done while standing still, but burns even more energy per hour. So there are some things that athletes might assume are "non-active" things that actually use energy.

I was about to remark that maybe none of you drive in/around LA county - I'm in the car for up to 3 hours a day, and I'm definitely tireder when I finally get where I'm going. Stop&Go driving is mentally and physically strenuous. if you're on I-10 in Arizona on a Tuesday at midnight, it might be casual, but on I-10 in L.A. on a Tuesday at 5:30pm, it's BRUTAL. Just try to relax - I dare you.

Experiencing mental stress is not the same thing as running on a treadmill.

Yup, it's Friday. *sigh*

Don't know about driving. A regular passenger car in normal conditions is probably not that much more taxing than a desk job. But there are activities that seem stationary that actually are burning energy. I am a musician by profession. I play wind instruments, classical and jazz music. When I play, I am standing but stationary. But, playing a wind instrument engages the lungs and the diaphragm (a large smooth muscle), the heat rate increases, etc. I mark my activity level sedentary and log all my activity. It acts as a better motivator than assuming that certain activities are just "part of my normal activity". So, between references and my HRM, I have found that I can burn up to 200 net kcals per hour playing my instruments. My son is a violinist, which is also done while standing still, but burns even more energy per hour. So there are some things that athletes might assume are "non-active" things that actually use energy.

calorie burn from playing an instrument is in the area of 10-20 calories an hour. your 200 is including BMR.

In the next few days I have to do a far amount of driving, should I enter this in the system? I googled it, and I would burn around 420 calories on my 2.5 hr drive (which I have to do both thursday and friday).

but if you were not driving for that long you would have probably burned more just living, which is included in your caloric intake already. Don't log it.

Just driving a car...I wouldn't count it. But racing a car, that's a different story. Back when I use to race GT on road courses, I'd be soaking in sweat after only 30 mins on the track, and usually the next day, my arms, back and core where a little sore. That I would have counted.