I've personally added "Sitting at Work" as an exercise...

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Replies

  • auroranflash
    auroranflash Posts: 3,569 Member
    I've had a desk job for 5 years, I attribute my washboard abs to this. Anyone need me to squeeze them out a diamond? *bicep flex*
  • atomiclauren
    atomiclauren Posts: 689 Member
    Working in a library, I can attest that shelving books can be a decent workout depending on speed, reach, etc (not like running a 5K by any means :smile: )

    As far as sitting at work - those are the calories you burn just by being alive :drinker:
  • StrawberryThief
    StrawberryThief Posts: 115
    No. This will be accounted for if you've picked 'sedentary' for your activity.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    i lold at 5K too but that wasnt nice - everyone has to start somewhere.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    but if you TRACK something then you can EAT BACK those calories to LOOSE Weight!
  • rsm1972
    rsm1972 Posts: 283
    MFP counts your BMR (the cals needed to keep your body alive), the cals needed to digest your food, plus some activity (depending on what you set it at). My BMR (had it tested in a lab) is around 1600, or 1.1 cal/minute. That's if I did nothing at all. Your 89-140 estimate for sitting includes BMR plus digestion--and isn't that much more than the 67 I burn not moving a muscle. I wouldn't add it.

    I totally agree with you :):)
  • drmerc
    drmerc Posts: 2,603 Member
    sounds like a solid plan to get fat
  • AckieJ
    AckieJ Posts: 199 Member
    Can I add "Searching all over the office building for the IT guy or one of my bosses because they are never ever in their office when they get a phone call and they don't respond to pages"?

    Wait... do we have the same IT guys or bosses?? lol
  • Wenchilada
    Wenchilada Posts: 472 Member
    Same question, different situation.

    As I'm a student, my job is part-time and not every day. Also, my job is somewhat physically taxing. I work reshelving books in a library. So I spend 2-4 hours on a day that I work doing the following:
    -pushing a 50-300lb wheeled cart (depending how many books are on it)
    -walking briskly (3mph maybe?) carrying ~5lbs of books
    -stretching/squatting, lifting/pushing large stacks of books

    Should I be logging THIS? I've started logging it, but it seems to burn more than I'd expect . . .
    I'm not counting my really basic activities through the day, like walking around campus or whatever.

    Nah, but you might want to try setting your activity level to "lightly active" to reflect that.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    Not only that, you should write a book about it.

    Call it "Sit on your *ss to get Ripped."
  • lrob100
    lrob100 Posts: 122 Member
    Take it from someone who SAT on their REAR for 9 years on the computer at work - and went from 150 to 251 - NO, sitting at work does NOT burn that many calories. No I didn't exercise either and ate too much---but trust me, if I had burned that many calories per day sitting at my computer while I work, would never have had the problem that led me to this weight loss journey!
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    That would be included in your daily activity calories already...
  • auroranflash
    auroranflash Posts: 3,569 Member
    Not only that, you should write a book about it.

    Call it "Sit on your *ss to get Ripped."

    And the sequel, 'Ripped *ss in 7 Days'
  • DoomCakes
    DoomCakes Posts: 806 Member
    Never count your daily stuff into an "exercise" category... these are things your body is used to. It should already be counted into your TDEE since you burn calories for EVERYTHING you do. Sitting, drinking, staring blankly at your computer screen and pretending to look intense in thought and busy. It's like people who say "I prepped dinner tonight, let me track that for exercise" It's not exercise! It's your daily life. That's why MFP doesn't set your calroies at BMR.
  • NoMoreFlubbering
    NoMoreFlubbering Posts: 95 Member
    actually I think logging 'sitting at work' a good idea - if only because it would prompt me to do less of it!!! Knowing that I spent 8 hours or so just sitting and not moving (by moving I mean even just walking around the office) would be a good motivation to do more activity.

    I'd love to be able to log this, negatively. -700 calories for being a lazy-*kitten*. Take the stairs.
  • FitBeto
    FitBeto Posts: 2,121 Member
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  • yowza101
    yowza101 Posts: 196 Member
    I sit for my job and I don't think what you read is accurate. But if you get up and go doing your day then you may burn a few calories but I don't think it's as much as they say. If that was the case, I would be a size 0...hahahahaha.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    sounds like a solid plan to get fat
    Not only that, you should write a book about it.

    Call it "Sit on your *ss to get Ripped."
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    Not only that, you should write a book about it.

    Call it "Sit on your *ss to get Ripped."

    And the sequel, 'Ripped *ss in 7 Days'

    That's already a movie.

    Not that I've seen it or anything.
  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
    I'm going to start counting the calories I burn laughing at you people. :wink: :laugh: I bet it adds up quickly.
  • lovechicagobears
    lovechicagobears Posts: 289 Member
    reshelving books is a physically taxing job? :huh:
    I wouldn't say "taxing", but it's a lot of squatting and bending. I worked in a library during high school. Since I was already in a fitness program, sometimes squatting once or twice per minute to shelve books on the bottom shelves would kill my legs. I would definitely consider it "lightly active", especially since you're on your feet all day. I'd estimate I did about 75 squats in an eight-hour shift.
  • osualex
    osualex Posts: 409 Member
    I'm going to start counting the calories I burn laughing at you people. :wink: :laugh: I bet it adds up quickly.

    this. i'm gonna log the calories i burned typing this...*eyeroll*
  • lovechicagobears
    lovechicagobears Posts: 289 Member
    I don't add anything as exercise unless it gets my heart rate up into the fat burning zone. I would never consider vacuuming, folding towels, cooking, or grocery shopping as exercise. To me, that's figured into my daily activities since people with sedentary jobs do all of those things as part of their daily life.

    For things like moving boxes into the attic and stuff that uses a bit more energy, I just figure it as a bonus. I don't log it, especially if it's only 15-20 minutes. Moving someone into a second-floor apartment all day, yes. Cleaning my house, even spring cleaning? No. I like to err on the side of caution and underestimate my exercise.
  • pyrowill
    pyrowill Posts: 1,163 Member
    Same reason why you shouldn't add self love. It counts as daily activity. What...who said that....wasn't me....
  • RmYWarrioR
    RmYWarrioR Posts: 36 Member
    You know, You really can't count those calories sitting at your desk, at work. To me those are maintenance calories, those calories that your body uses to maintain normal function. I do count my lawn mowing minutes as Cardio simply because I do it once a week and I use a push mower, not a riding mower. Personally I feel that those people that count calories for sitting in a chair at work, watching TV, washing dishes or doing light house work are out of touch with what fitness and healthy exercise are really all about. They are just making themselves feel good about doing really nothing to speed up weight loss.
  • ravengirl1611
    ravengirl1611 Posts: 285 Member
    I don't add anything as exercise unless it gets my heart rate up into the fat burning zone. I would never consider vacuuming, folding towels, cooking, or grocery shopping as exercise. To me, that's figured into my daily activities since people with sedentary jobs do all of those things as part of their daily life.

    For things like moving boxes into the attic and stuff that uses a bit more energy, I just figure it as a bonus. I don't log it, especially if it's only 15-20 minutes. Moving someone into a second-floor apartment all day, yes. Cleaning my house, even spring cleaning? No. I like to err on the side of caution and underestimate my exercise.

    what I've done before is if I spent 5 hours super cleaning the house so I could put up the christmas decorations say (including digging all the boxes out of the various places I've put them) I dont log the full 5 hours - but only 1/2 if there's been a lot of up and down the ladders (for outside stuff) and only 1/4 if it's inside stuff
  • shayyyface
    shayyyface Posts: 66
    don't look for the easy way out.
    it seems like people are just looking for reasons to add more food into their intake.
    isn't that how must of us got here in the first place?

    my opinion, dont even log your exercise calories, you'll notice a bigger difference, and if you feel you gotta eat more than eat a little more. but just because you sit in a chair for 8 hours doesnt mean you can go home and have an extra slice of pizza. -___-
  • Yieya
    Yieya Posts: 168 Member
    Same reason why you shouldn't add self love. It counts as daily activity. What...who said that....wasn't me....

    hahahaha :laugh: "self love"
  • mercymarque
    mercymarque Posts: 450
    sounds like u would be adding calories to eat... I use to add sitting on stability ball instead of chair but honestly these are things we already do. I personally only add things like exercise dvd, sports, gym, swimming etc. Things that we are just doing now to keep fit or things that make us sweat. Everything else may count but to me it's just part of ur regular burn. JMO
  • elijhasmomma
    elijhasmomma Posts: 270 Member
    As others have said, these calories are built in to your activity level. I really like this calculator:
    http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

    You can play around with it to get an idea of how much you burn on any given day, based on the actual activities you did that day (sitting, running, sleeping, whatever).

    If this is quite accurate my TDEE is way more then what it has been being calculated as 4,335 and my BMR as 2,139 whereas on other calculators like scooby and fat2fit and MFP it is more like BMR is 1,923 and TDEE is 2,317 with my lifestyle set as sedentary since I am a stay at home mom...maybe I need to up my lifestyle setting -__-

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