Fairness

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biggphatdaddy
biggphatdaddy Posts: 50
in Fitness and Exercise
I know for some people every calorie burned is important...But I pose a little question I am having with my own (I dont know how to put it)...morality...Is posting household things in your exercise queue fair? Like my situation for instance...Mowing the yard...yes it is a good burn of calories, and I am walking, the entire time, but is it fair to put in the exercise diary? I dont know....I'll keep doing it for now, I just am curious to hear some opinions...

Replies

  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
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    I totally think it is fair game. Same goes for any "above and beyond" chores like chopping / hauling wood, weeding, tilling a garden, etc etc
  • sydstar
    sydstar Posts: 9 Member
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    I don't think theres a right or wrong answer to your question. Its not always about fairness. Its about people who sit and dont exercise tracking everything they do to show how far they've come from being a couch potato. I personally dont mark that down, but if people use it as a motivational tool to help them keep on getting up and moving, then more power to them. I say whatever works to get you motivated and to your goal.
  • Jenks
    Jenks Posts: 349
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    If it were me I would. My level of activity is set as "sedentary" and because mowing the yard is not sedentary at all I would count it.
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
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    what to add is anything where you get your heart rate up and you're going outside the "normal" level of cleaning...

    i don't log in things like doing the dishes, but i would certainly log in something like mowing the lawn (i use a push mower, no BP Gas in my house!); I also count gardening as I grow a lot of my own food and it takes a lot of work.



    k
  • GrammaPower
    GrammaPower Posts: 49 Member
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    I'd say - ABSOLUTELY - fair game! If you can "quantify" it! It counts!:bigsmile:
  • msciccone1
    msciccone1 Posts: 288 Member
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    When I am cleaning my home you bet your booty I am with HRM and getting my heart rate on. I am going up and down 3 levels of my home and if that isn't a workout then I don't know what is. Again if I am doing the dishes or just picking up clothes for a few minutes then I don't cause its not really getting my heart rate up but mowing, moving furniture, heavy cleaning, etc. are all game :bigsmile:
  • trainguy917
    trainguy917 Posts: 366 Member
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    What does fair have to do with anything? This isn't a game--it's your life. Your base calorie allowance is based on how many calories you would burn if you sat around and did nothing at all. Any activity that significantly alters how many calories you burn in a day is worth noting. It doesn't matter how you burn calories, only that you burn them. If you burn 1200 calories push mowing your yard, are those different than 1200 calories you burn, say, running a half marathon? Your body certainly doesn't think so. Why should you?
  • glfprncs2
    glfprncs2 Posts: 625 Member
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    I wear a Bodybugg, so I don't log my workout expenditure into MFP at all. I just know, on average, how many calories I burn on a given day (usually between 2500-2700), set my calorie limits in my nutrition guide, and go from there.

    I generally add lawn mowing in on an easier fitness day because if I push mow the entire lawn and run the weed eater, I'll burn a good 600-700 calories in in just about 75 minutes of yard work. If I mow on the same day I do a serious cardio workout, I get to EAT more because my daily calorie burn will be above 3000 calories on the day.
  • sarahsmom1
    sarahsmom1 Posts: 1,501 Member
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    yeah another push mower me too. I also have my veggie garden and fruit trees. Its so fun picking and eating and getting the fruit picker out to get the apples, apricot, plums etc yummy. Couse i'm eating and picking at the same time
  • VeryKerri
    VeryKerri Posts: 359 Member
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    I agree, I think it is a total personal choice. I choose not to. My thoughts on this are that I got heavy while doing all those things. I only log the actual workouts I do. I am not saying this is right or wrong. This is just my opinion.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    Well, it's more a concept of what you do normally than anything to do with morality. Morality is a judgement you levy on yourself and as such really doesn't enter into your normal daily activity.

    If mowing lawns is something you do 4 or 5 times a week, then it should be accounted for in your activity level and not used as exercise, but if it's a one off, and done infrequently, then as a calorie burning activity, you should include it. This stands for any activity that burns significant calories.

    By that I mean, if you clean the house every day, don't add house cleaning to your exercise, as you should be factoring that into your daily activity. But Likewise, if you only wash the floors once a week, and it's a long time (say an hour and a half, if you have a lot of hardwood floors), then you're probably burning a couple hundred extra calories, and should be counted.
  • lilmissy2
    lilmissy2 Posts: 595 Member
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    I would increase my 'activity level' before I added it in as exercise, although of course don't leave it increased if you don't do those things every day. I think it depends how long you do it for because I have a feeling that the 'estimated calories burnt' include the amount of calories you would have burned doing nothing at that time (because it's very difficult to measure these independently and the amount you normally burn in say half an hour to an hour is so little so it doesn't really make sense to adjust - they are all estimates afterall). So I guess I partly agree with Banks, if you don't do it often but also if you aren''t logging several hours then I think logging it as exercise should be fine.

    Perhaps an example will better explain what I mean - Lots of people on here will say they logged 4hrs of walking because they went shopping... now 4 hours of walking will log as a lot of calories, about 1000 for me. On the other hand, if I list my activity level as 'light' meaning I spend most of my day on my feet walking around but not continuously (the example they give is a nurse) it only gives me an additional 150cal/day. If I logged that as 8 hours 'walking' imagine the difference!!
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    People can use whatever framework makes sense to them. Either it's a plan to help them stay committed or it's delusional self-BS--either way, you can do whatever you want, but your body is ultimately going to keep score. The only score that counts is the scale or your measurements.

    In my experience and opinion, the methods we use to count calories--either the intake or the expenditure--are not precise enough to justify detailed claims of "burned calories" with everyday recreational or vocational activities. It's one thing to work hard for 4 hours in the yard and come in and add a 200-400 calorie snack to help stem your appetite, but trying to quantify that and add it as "exercise calories" is a waste of time, IMO. There is no way to accurately determine that number--you might as well just make something up.

    Most people vastly overestimate the amount of casual activity they do on busy days and vastly underestimate how sedentary they are most of the time. Your body tends to even that out over time anyhow.

    Lastly, most people are very poor at gauging the intensity of non-exercise activity. They use inappropriate markers such as "sweating" and "fatigue" when in fact these have little or no correlation to actual effort, i.e. calories burned. Or they rely on HRMs, which are also inappropriate tools for this type of activity.
  • weaklink109
    weaklink109 Posts: 2,831 Member
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    .....Lastly, most people are very poor at gauging the intensity of non-exercise activity. They use inappropriate markers such as "sweating" and "fatigue" when in fact these have little or no correlation to actual effort, i.e. calories burned. Or they rely on HRMs, which are also inappropriate tools for this type of activity.

    Maybe I am missing something here, but if the purpose of an HRM is to gauge your heart rate, which in turn governs how many calories are burned, what difference would it make WHAT activity is being done, if it affects your heart rate? Please explain how you came to your conclusion that an HRM is not appropriate for measuring certain activities.
  • lilmissy2
    lilmissy2 Posts: 595 Member
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    I agree with Azdak by the way. Yes, a HRM will tell you your heart rate and help you to make a better estimate of calories burned in exercise (I think a lot of people here believe that the heart rate monitor gives them an exact amount and that is not true - its still based on an estimation equation). But, think of it this way - if you just wear your heart rate monitor and sit on the couch, you will still burn SOME calories as you will still have a heart rate. Now, if I am more unfit than you, my resting heart rate will be higher and my HRM will tell me I burned more than you even if we are the same weight... is that right? I don't think so. I think the point was that HRMs are more useful for times when you are well and truly getting your heart rate up like in an exercise session and even then you have to remember that amount of calories burned is not directly related to heart rate because heart rate for certain activites will vary so much depending on your fitness level.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    .....Lastly, most people are very poor at gauging the intensity of non-exercise activity. They use inappropriate markers such as "sweating" and "fatigue" when in fact these have little or no correlation to actual effort, i.e. calories burned. Or they rely on HRMs, which are also inappropriate tools for this type of activity.

    Maybe I am missing something here, but if the purpose of an HRM is to gauge your heart rate, which in turn governs how many calories are burned, what difference would it make WHAT activity is being done, if it affects your heart rate? Please explain how you came to your conclusion that an HRM is not appropriate for measuring certain activities.

    HRMs are only accurate when measuring heart rate under certain exercise conditions--i.e. steady-state aerobic exercise. Under those conditions, an increase in heart rate, or the % of one's HR reserve, most accurately reflects an increase in oxygen uptake. There are many other conditions in which an increase in HR is NOT accompanied by an increase in oxygen uptake or in which the increased HR does not reflect a similar increase in oxygen uptake. In these cases, HRMs are not accurate calorie counters. An HRM doesn't measure anything except heart rate. It *estimates* caloric expenditure under the conditions described above. Just because you have a calorie number on your HRM doesn't mean it's accurate. It's not some omniscient miracle device.
  • Manuka
    Manuka Posts: 35 Member
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    I'd say it depends on what you have listed your activity level as when you signed up. I have myself listed as lightly active, this to me includes any house work I do. Therefore, I don't add in housework activities into my exercise diary, I only add proper official workouts that are in addition to my daily activities.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I agree with Azdak by the way. Yes, a HRM will tell you your heart rate and help you to make a better estimate of calories burned in exercise (I think a lot of people here believe that the heart rate monitor gives them an exact amount and that is not true - its still based on an estimation equation). But, think of it this way - if you just wear your heart rate monitor and sit on the couch, you will still burn SOME calories as you will still have a heart rate. Now, if I am more unfit than you, my resting heart rate will be higher and my HRM will tell me I burned more than you even if we are the same weight... is that right? I don't think so. I think the point was that HRMs are more useful for times when you are well and truly getting your heart rate up like in an exercise session and even then you have to remember that amount of calories burned is not directly related to heart rate because heart rate for certain activites will vary so much depending on your fitness level.

    In addition, during rest and casual activities, a lot of factors can affect heart rate--e.g. postural changes--that have little or no effect on energy expenditure. You have to get to at least lower-levels of exercise effort (or the equivalent) before the metabolic demands of the increased activity become the dominant driving force behind the increase in heart rate and thus reflect a true increase in energy expenditure.

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