When do you count it as exercise?

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lostkat12
lostkat12 Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay I am pretty new to this calorie counting business only started a month ago. I signed up with some friends and things are going well, we are all losing weight. The issue is we are having endless fights on wether walking and biking is exercise. I set my lifestyle as sedentary because I am in school so that is mostly sitting. I do however walk a fair amount. I don't have a car so I walk or bike between 2-10 miles a day, just to get around (think of how much you drive, well I walk the same amount). My friends opinion is walking counts and should be added or I should change my setting to lightly active. My opinion is they do not count going to the grocery store, work, and shopping as exercise why should I? They are just the things I have to do to survive, so I have not been adding them. I only add exercise that takes place in a gym.

My other issue is if I do start adding my walking and biking I am going to ballon into a killer whale. It told me yesterday walking 6 miles burned about 600 calories. Which would mean at 226 lbs I would often be eating 1800-2000 calories a day. Most days I only eat 800-900 calories, what am I supposed to do? I am afraid if I eat more then I am going to stop losing weight and gain back the 16 lbs I lost.
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  • Sherbog
    Sherbog Posts: 1,072 Member
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    800-900 calories a day.....not good! As far as how you decide to report exercise is secondary to providing your body with the proper amount of calories.
  • MightyDomo
    MightyDomo Posts: 1,265 Member
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    Is there a reason you are eating under 1200 calories daily?

    I set my calories at 1200 as it is a pretty good deficit and eat back most of my calories (I don't always eat them all back) and I have lost steadily both inches and lbs. I consider anything I do exercise if I exert myself (I walk faster than most, hence higher exertion so I count it) but if I am walking to the bathroom, or walking normally I do not count it. If I sweat because of the activity then I count it, sweating usually notes exertion.

    So if you are sedentry and are only counting higher exertion activies then you, in my opinion, would be doing it right.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    If you're set to sedentary, you should be recording that much walking/biking and eating back those calories. Just because it's something you HAVE to do, doesn't mean it doesn't burn calories. At your weight, I was netting about 1460 calories. That means I was eating up to 1800 or 1900 a day due to my exercise at the time.
  • Shel2Peru
    Shel2Peru Posts: 128 Member
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    800-900 cals. is way too low in my opinion (no stones cast though) However, if you would talk to your doctor they could explain why that is way too low and will eventually likely hinder your weight loss. If you are only eating that few of cals and not eating any of your excercise cals back you are practically starving yourself. I eat 1600 a day and a few of my excercise cals back and have continually lost weight each week for over a month. For the sake of your health I would encourage you to check out the very minimum you should be at which I believe is 1200 cals a day. However, to continually lose weight you really need to be eating a little higher and then slowly lowering the cals as you plateau. Hope that helps!
  • waylandcool
    waylandcool Posts: 175 Member
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    My rule of thumb is if I break a sweat, I log it. It's ok to eat back your exercise calories as long as you are staying on track as your body needs more fuel after a workout to keep it moving. I try to focus on eating more protein early in the day because I like to workout first thing in the morning. Then I try to keep my meals smaller and more frequent as the day progresses. It doesn't always work like that for me but I generally stay under my calorie goal.

    800-900 calories a day is not enough no matter what your weight or activity level. Try eating up to your MFP goal for a few days and adjust things as you go.
  • lostkat12
    lostkat12 Posts: 6
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    That is kind of part of the current fighting, they are arguing if I counted walking and biking my daily totals would range from -200 to 500 mark. I figured I couldn't be doing it too wrong because I am losing weight. I tend to get obsessive about things (think once walked barefoot in a snow storm to make sure I turned off a stove kind of obsessive) and this calorie counter has become my current obsession I am afraid of eating too much and pissing it off. So I eat less then my goal because then I can't make it unhappy with me, we'll that was the case with my other counter, I can't seem to win with this one it is made unhappy by not eating as well (which is why my friends joined and nagged the crap out of me until I did to). Basically I will have no peace until I figure out something to do.
  • kerielc
    kerielc Posts: 1
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    "What you do to survive" should NOT be counted as exercise,but it should be included in your baseline numbers (lightly active). It gets on every one of my nerves to see someone put lightly-moderately active and then count something like "housekeeping" as an exercise. Like you said, that is just part of living. :-)
    On the other hand...my personal experience and observing others makes me think that you should do what works for you. If you are progressing toward your goal in a safe manner then keep doing what you are doing. 900 calories for someone that is 226 pounds seems a little low. If you are happy there and not having fatigue, headaches, grumpiness, etc...then stick with. If you are constantly hungry, eat a little more.
    Congratulations on making the a choice for change! Best of luck!
  • metacognition
    metacognition Posts: 626 Member
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    Sure, add walking to your activity list. At 200 pounds it doesn't matter if you eat back your exercise calories or not - I'd do it if you feel genuine hunger. At this point any small changes will produce effects if you are eating below maintenance.

    Eat at least 1200 - 1400 calories per day and count them precisely. Most people of average weight feel dead at 1000 calories per day, and it takes a lot more to maintain at a higher weight. I'm surprised there are no side effects - hunger, binge eating, headaches, hitting "the wall" during exercise. So make sure you are logging everything exactly - be sure to log a little extra if there is oil, fat, or cream in a dish.

    You will have a hard time staying active or pushing to higher intensity exercise if your intake is too low.

    I'm active and eat close to 2000 calories a day at half your weight.

    Unless there is a thyroid issue I'd wager that over 90% of the population could lose a lot of weight at 200 lbs / 1400 per day. Your body will relish the increased food and it will not hinder your weight loss.
  • kathymhardy
    kathymhardy Posts: 266 Member
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    (think of how much you drive, well I walk the same amount).

    I drive just over 40 miles a day, to work and back. Doubt you walk that much, lol.
  • lostkat12
    lostkat12 Posts: 6
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    I do sometimes find myself hungry enough to eat my cat and I did have one scary incident when I thought I was going to pass out after biking ten miles (I had only had 112 calories that day, I was aware I was pushing it...I was not prepared to find the world spinning and everything too sore to move. It scared me and I did start making sure I had at least a granola bar with me when going more then 2 miles out.) I guess I am just thought losing weight=super hungry. I am new to this and really nervous about messing up.
  • barbaratrollman
    barbaratrollman Posts: 317 Member
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    I'd say that your friend is right. If you set your lifestyle to "sedentary", but then are getting in lots of physical activity (Not "sedentary"), then you should enter at least some of the large amount of walking and other activities you are doing. Otherwise, your setting should probably be "Lightly Active" or more, depending upon how physically active you are.

    I would imagine that would burn more than 900 calories per day, even if you were just sitting at a desk with no physical activity at all.
  • Aello11
    Aello11 Posts: 312 Member
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    OP --- read this

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

    once you know your TDEE and BMR I think you will find you are eating way to little --- you DO NOT have to be hungry to lose weight.
  • jordanlell
    jordanlell Posts: 340 Member
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    I'm also in school, and I also walk everywhere I go, so probably about the same as yourself. I set my activity level is set to "active", and I'm netting over 1800 a day and STILL losing. Not to mention I'm currently 168lbs, which would generally indicate that I should have to eat less than you to lose weight at the same rate.

    What I'm saying is that you could eat 1000 cals more a day and still be losing, easy. And it would be much healthier, though it might take a bit longer. This isn't a race though, it's for life and most importantly, for health. Eating only 900 cals a day is depleting your muscle mass, depriving your body from nutrients it needs to function, and it isn't sustainable.

    I recommend looking up how to calculate your TDEE, it may be quite eye opening.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Time for a little common sense...

    Are you losing? Yes ---> Are your energy levels good? Yes ---> Keep doing what you're doing.
    Are you losing? Yes ---> Are your energy levels good? No ---> Eat a little more.
    Are you losing? No ---> Are your energy levels good? Yes ---> Eat a little less.
    Are you losing? No ---> Are your energy levels good? No ---> That sucks.
  • Yooperm35
    Yooperm35 Posts: 787 Member
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    Most days I only eat 800-900 calories, what am I supposed to do? I am afraid if I eat more then I am going to stop losing weight and gain back the 16 lbs I lost.

    I was netting about 900-1000 calories, athough I was eating 1400-1500 because of my exercise. I was stuck at the same weight (teetered about #3 for 3 months) so I decided to start eating up to my 1200 Net, so I eat about 1600-1700 calories on the days I work out and 1200 on the days I don't. All of the sudden, I started losing weight again! I dropped almost #5 in a week! I've been here before, worried that if I 'ate too much' I would gain weight. It's just the opposite. If you eat what you are supposed to, you WILL LOSE weight!
  • barbaratrollman
    barbaratrollman Posts: 317 Member
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    "What you do to survive" should NOT be counted as exercise,but it should be included in your baseline numbers (lightly active). It gets on every one of my nerves to see someone put lightly-moderately active and then count something like "housekeeping" as an exercise. Like you said, that is just part of living. :-)
    On the other hand...my personal experience and observing others makes me think that you should do what works for you. If you are progressing toward your goal in a safe manner then keep doing what you are doing. 900 calories for someone that is 226 pounds seems a little low. If you are happy there and not having fatigue, headaches, grumpiness, etc...then stick with. If you are constantly hungry, eat a little more.
    Congratulations on making the a choice for change! Best of luck!

    I set my levels to "Sedentary", because my levels of physical activity, both in my job and in my personal life, fluctuate too much to have a set activity level. Then, if I'm doing what many of you consider to be "normal living" activities, I may or may not enter them into my Exercise Diary, depending upon how much exertion that activity took.
    Such as a quick walk to my car in a parking lot or a shopping trip, washing dishes, one load of laundry, no entry.
    However, quite a bit of walking doing a lot of errands, intensive cleaning projects, hours-long, highly active gardening jobs, etc...I absolutely enter those as exercise. Those activities are not "sedentary".

    I'm certain I'm doing the right method for me, as I'm losing weight and getting leaner and stronger weekly and I feel great. Obviously I am not eating more than I'm exercising off. :D

    Experiment with your own body is the best way to find out what works for you.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I think you should eat more. Listen to the other posters and read the links given. They are very helpful. To ease your mind about eating more (I know not everyone is the same, but hear me out), just take a look at the chart below.

    5'4.5"
    CW: 196.4lbs
    2nc01lw.jpg

    Black line - Total Calorie intake for that day
    Blue/Purple line - Fitbit estimated calories burn
    Multi-color line - weight.
  • beckyboop712
    beckyboop712 Posts: 383 Member
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    I have mine set to lightly active because I walk everywhere. 1 mile round trip to work, an extra half mile at lunch and and more distance if I have to run errands to the grocery store, post office or Walgreens.
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    Okay I am pretty new to this calorie counting business only started a month ago. I signed up with some friends and things are going well, we are all losing weight. The issue is we are having endless fights on wether walking and biking is exercise. I set my lifestyle as sedentary because I am in school so that is mostly sitting. I do however walk a fair amount. I don't have a car so I walk or bike between 2-10 miles a day, just to get around (think of how much you drive, well I walk the same amount). My friends opinion is walking counts and should be added or I should change my setting to lightly active. My opinion is they do not count going to the grocery store, work, and shopping as exercise why should I? They are just the things I have to do to survive, so I have not been adding them. I only add exercise that takes place in a gym.

    My other issue is if I do start adding my walking and biking I am going to ballon into a killer whale. It told me yesterday walking 6 miles burned about 600 calories. Which would mean at 226 lbs I would often be eating 1800-2000 calories a day. Most days I only eat 800-900 calories, what am I supposed to do? I am afraid if I eat more then I am going to stop losing weight and gain back the 16 lbs I lost.

    i'm sorta on the fence here when it comes to your exercising. when you were eating 2000 calories were you also walking/riding your bike like you do now? i feel like if this is true then i would not log it because you've always been doing this activity with no results. what has caused you to loose the weight is the amount of food you are eating (very little btw and you really do need to up this). even if you were to up your calorie intake to 1400 you would still be under what you were previously eating. i personally think it's the food change that's causing you to drop pounds not your exercising. you're basically starving yourself to loose weight and as soon as you go back to eating "normal" most likely you will gain the weight back. you need to make a permanent change to your eating habits not just cut your calorie intake in half).

    since you do walk/bike everywhere i would change your activity level from sedentary to active (i have a desk job - i sit all day 8 hours everyday that's sedentary) :)
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
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    OMG!!! You're undereating by sooooo much! Nobody should eat 800-900 cals anyway and at your size and activity level, it's even worse! If you walk and bike that much everyday, you're not sedentary. It's light-moderate activity. EAT!!!!!

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