Walking; what counts?

misssmarita
misssmarita Posts: 130
edited January 11 in Fitness and Exercise
How much of your walking do you log as exercise? Like walking to work/class, to or from the bus, and so on.... Does that count? It is walking, but it's not really intentional exercise.

Replies

  • jesindc
    jesindc Posts: 724 Member
    Walking definitely works. I count my commutes. I wear a heart rate monitor pretty often, and depending on how fast I'm walking, I burn between 80-90 calories per mile which definitely adds up (and encourages me to walk more)
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    How much of your walking do you log as exercise? Like walking to work/class, to or from the bus, and so on.... Does that count? It is walking, but it's not really intentional exercise.

    If it's something you do every day, and is enough to give you a few hundred calories, just change your activity setting from sedentary to lightly active rather than add walks in every day.
  • anarose13
    anarose13 Posts: 222 Member
    there was a study done that i read in womans world the other day that said participants lost an extra 2 lbs a week by thinking about all the "regular" exercise they were doing in a day. meaning if you give yourself time and credit for all the walking, lifting, and pushing you do through the day your body will reward you with weight loss. it doesn't mean stop going to the gym but a pedometer doesnt stop recording just because your not working out anymore unless you make it so why would you cut yourself short too?
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
    I don't log any of that, unless I'm walking (fast) with the specific intention to exercise.

    If its part of your normal routine and its something you were doing when you gained weight in the first place, then you're cheating yourself to count it as exercise (especially if you eat back those 'burned' calories).
  • WinnerVictorious
    WinnerVictorious Posts: 4,733 Member
    I don't log any of that, unless I'm walking (fast) with the specific intention to exercise.

    If its part of your normal routine and its something you were doing when you gained weight in the first place, then you're cheating yourself to count it as exercise (especially if you eat back those 'burned' calories).

    ^ this.

    if you specifically set out to walk some distance as exercise, then log it. if it's just walking that you do during the course of every day living, then it's accounted for as part of the multiplier in the Harris-Benedict equation that is used to determine your BMR.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    When I go for a walk, then I log it, but I'm not following the "eat all the calories back" program. I eat around my TDEE instead because eating back the calories made me put on weight -- MFP way over-estimates calorie burn.

    Anyway, when I go for a walk, it is a minimum of 4 miles. Sometimes up to 12. I log it to keep track of how much exercise I get in a week (to make sure I am meeting my cardio and strength training goals). I don't count pedometer steps because that's just part of the day, and almost always exceeds 10,000 because I have a 2-year old who is always into everything.
  • agggie550
    agggie550 Posts: 281 Member
    If you really want to track your daily walking, get a fitbit, or some other step counter, but other wise I would agree with most of the other posts, unless you are specifically doing it for exercise I wouldnt count it. I walk around at work all day, i dont count it but when I get home and take my dogs for a long walk or to the park, I for sure count that time.
  • Faye_Anderson
    Faye_Anderson Posts: 1,495 Member
    I don't log any of that, unless I'm walking (fast) with the specific intention to exercise.

    If its part of your normal routine and its something you were doing when you gained weight in the first place, then you're cheating yourself to count it as exercise (especially if you eat back those 'burned' calories).

    ^ this.

    if you specifically set out to walk some distance as exercise, then log it. if it's just walking that you do during the course of every day living, then it's accounted for as part of the multiplier in the Harris-Benedict equation that is used to determine your BMR.

    That would depend on how OP set up their MFP, if they went off MFP settings at sedentary and lose 2lb per week they should count all of it. OP if you set up your calorie goals using your TDEE the walking will already be included.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
    If you use the advice on this page and use the correct activity level you won't need to add in extra exercise :flowerforyou:
  • KeithChanning
    KeithChanning Posts: 202 Member
    I use a fitbit. It records every step (except for dawdling, which doesn't activate it). As I understand it, fitbit passes to MFP your projected full calorie burn for the day, including your BMR. MFP uses that, and your activity level setting, to determine how much of the burn is more (or less) than it was expecting. That becomes your fitbit adjustment. Activities logged through MFP are passed to fitbit and override the fitbit value for the times covered.

    As a result, because most of my regular exercise involves walking, I din't think about it. MFP and fitbit have me down as sedentary, and sort the numbers out between them.
  • palmerar
    palmerar Posts: 489 Member
    I think it depends on how far you are walking. Last year, I was in school and working at a restaurant on the other side of town as campus. In the mornings I would take public transportation to school, drop my stuff off at the gym and then walk 1.5 miles to my serving job, where I would perform opening duties (heavy lifting, lots of walking, etc.) After my serving shift Iw ould walk the 1.5 miles back to school and then do 30 mins of interval training. Even though my activity level was set to very active, I still logged my morning walk and lost about 15 lbs in the process. Now, I still walk from public transportation to my job but it is not nearly as far and I do not log it, because it is only about 5 mins rather than 15-20.
  • DamnImASexyBitch
    DamnImASexyBitch Posts: 740 Member
    I only count it when I set it out to be exercise. Treadmill or trail.
  • Synapze
    Synapze Posts: 499
    I log my walks with the dog using Runtastic.

    If I'm on a large worksite, ill use Runtastics Pedometer, as ill stop and start a lot. My normal job is sitting on my a:huh: so i regard it as exercise.

    Didn't think it was worth it until i realised i was walking up to 8km a day on some sites. :O

    Anything in-between i class as everyday and don't bother following it.

    And unless I'm hungry i don't eat it back like some say to do.

    I just listen to what my body wants.
  • annemw333
    annemw333 Posts: 19
    I walk to and from work most days, 1/2 mile each way and I do count it because I have my MFP set to sedentary because I work a desk job. I figure anything above and beyond normal walking around the office is in fact extra, even if I do it every day. When I walk to and from work, I will often take longer routes or push myself to increase my speed as well so it's not as if it's a leisurely stroll. If I am just walking to the store right behind my house or restaurant a block from the house, I don't count that but anything beyond that, I do. Even if only to remind myself to keep moving and not take the easy way every day and driving. So far the way I am doing it hasn't stalled or stopped my weight loss so until it does, I see no problem and I would suggest that for anyone else. Count the movement until it has a negative affect on your goals.
  • WAHMto5
    WAHMto5 Posts: 375 Member
    I do not log any of what I consider "normal" activity for the day, only if I am using it as an exercise sesion.
  • Luthien007
    Luthien007 Posts: 281 Member
    I use a fitbit. It records every step (except for dawdling, which doesn't activate it). As I understand it, fitbit passes to MFP your projected full calorie burn for the day, including your BMR. MFP uses that, and your activity level setting, to determine how much of the burn is more (or less) than it was expecting. That becomes your fitbit adjustment. Activities logged through MFP are passed to fitbit and override the fitbit value for the times covered.

    As a result, because most of my regular exercise involves walking, I din't think about it. MFP and fitbit have me down as sedentary, and sort the numbers out between them.

    I use a fitbit too with the negative adjustment turned on in MFP and both sites are set on sedentary. Incidental exercise is important to me because I want to be active and on the move most of the time, not just in dedicated workout timeslots. I wake up in the morning to a -150 fitbit adjustment in my MFP diary and it motivates me to get going and clock at least 10000 steps on a non-running day. I don't eat back all those calories
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    there was a study done that i read in womans world the other day that said participants lost an extra 2 lbs a week by thinking about all the "regular" exercise they were doing in a day. meaning if you give yourself time and credit for all the walking, lifting, and pushing you do through the day your body will reward you with weight loss.

    they lost weight because they were in a calorie deficit.

    You cannot magically lose weight by thinking differently about your exercise, or by labeling it differently in your mind.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    I'm always lost when people ask if they should log things. It depends if logging it means "I want to keep track of what I did today" or it means "I want to log this as exercise so I can find more calories to eat today". If you only look to log things in an effort to gain more food then I'd say don't log anything. If you're doing intentional exercise to gain fitness and burning several hundred calories or more then log it and decide how much of that you need to eat to be healthy.
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