Does shopping burn calories?

lardy999
lardy999 Posts: 3 Member
edited September 21 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,

1st post so please be gentle with me.

I'm going on a shopping spree at the weekend and I was wondering if I should log it as an excercise?

From the information that I can find, it would seem that half the time you are shopping you are walking at a slow pace. So 3 hours shopping would be 90 minutes walking at 2mph = 400 calories.

This seems quite high to me. Advice please.

Thanks

Replies

  • happy_jax
    happy_jax Posts: 289 Member
    Oh yes! :happy: I think shopping counts for sure...plus the more you buy, the more you have to carry...so you get your weights workout in too!!! hehe.

    I know some people on here go as far as to wear HRM out shopping...I haven't ever worn mine I must say - and normally log in the same way you suggest. I do agree with you however that the estimates for walking seem high.

    Whenever I enter walking I generally only put two thirds of the amount of time I have actually walked...as I feel for me personally, this is a more accurate level of calorie burn. But just do whatever you feel is right for you. If you get home exhausted (as I'm sure you sometimes do from a great shopping trip...I know I do!) then perhaps we burn more than we think....it just doesn't seem so bad because we're having fun!!?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I think you are right, the only thing you should do when logging exercise is back out the calories you would have burned at rest. this is usually 1 to 1.5 per minute and is already calculated in your caloric allotment. So if you are shopping for 3 hours this is 180 minutes. So whatever number you get you should back out 180-270 calories from the calories burned to get the extra calories burned through exercise and enter that under your exercise.
  • DrenaImani
    DrenaImani Posts: 1
    My suggestion would be to wear a step counter. I have one that calculates the time, steps, miles, etc... If you get one that calculates the time, it will only count when you are walking... otherwise, it shuts off. This gives a more accurate calculation for how long you are walking for and how much exercise you are actually getting. Most pedometers can be set to your stride as well so that you get a more accurate count of the distance you are going. Generally, you would assume that shopping would be considered a part of "daily exercise" but if the trips are longer the the average shopper, and you are walking all over the place, wearing a step counter will calculate exactly how much time you are actually walking and then you can calculate how fast by dividing the distance and the time.
  • balfonso
    balfonso Posts: 370 Member
    Before I got my HRM I used to find out how many calories I'd burnt from "Shopping" from this site. It has lots of activities on it.

    http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

    I've not used my HRM for shopping ....yet
  • 4lafz
    4lafz Posts: 1,078 Member
    Buy a heart rate monitor (HRM) while you are there and you will know for sure. I have found some inaccurate counts on MFP's averages. Get one with a chest strap and that you can program with height and weight.
  • Holton
    Holton Posts: 1,018
    EVerything you do burns calories. In regards to logging shopping as exercise, I would just say BEWARE of eating back all of those extra calories. I personally would not log anything that doesn't cause me to sweat (and maybe shopping does that for you) as exercise.
  • 00trayn
    00trayn Posts: 1,849 Member
    I wear my HRM when I'm doing long shopping trips (mall or outlets or something) and I've burned about 300 calories an hour doing it. I'll subtract out the calories burned at rest (for me it's 1 calorie a minute) and log the remainder. I tend to end up at the malls a lot, so I log shopping on a regular basis. It really is just walking around with a good purpose... haha
  • amelia_atlantic
    amelia_atlantic Posts: 926 Member
    400 calories seems really high to me. You don't want to self sabotage by over estimating exercise calories or underestimating food calories. Buying a HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) is kind of the only accurate measurement of calories burned you could get.

    I personally don't log shopping or house cleaning calories. I feel like they're just a part of life! So, extra calories burned for me without even thinking about it...

    It's completely up to you though! Happy shopping! :flowerforyou:
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
    I know my grocery shopping does! I stopped stocking up on food so I have to go shopping more. Weird isn't it? lol I park as far away from the store as I can. Then I will walk around the perimeter of the lot once or twice (depending on the lot), then go in. I get a good walk in, in a safe place, and no one even notices!
  • karot32
    karot32 Posts: 46
    I wouldn't put it into my exercise log, but that is just me.... Good luck to you!
  • xTattooedDollx
    xTattooedDollx Posts: 426 Member
    If I go for any length of time and I'm mostlt walking, I count it as walking 2.0 a slow pace.
  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
    I was at a huge outlet mall yesterday for a couple hours, and I didnt log anything, I count those as my bonus cals :)
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    I went shopping on Friday, was there for 4+ hours. I counted 2 as walking-slow in my exercise log. I figured I spent part of the time standing at cash registers or displays so didn't count it all. I never go out to the mall and only once a year do I do a marathon shopping trip, so it most definitely is NOT part of my "normal" exercise. I was exhausted afterwards and my legs and butt were sore. So yeah, they were extra calories.
  • lardy999
    lardy999 Posts: 3 Member
    I went shopping on Friday, was there for 4+ hours. I counted 2 as walking-slow in my exercise log. I figured I spent part of the time standing at cash registers or displays so didn't count it all. I never go out to the mall and only once a year do I do a marathon shopping trip, so it most definitely is NOT part of my "normal" exercise. I was exhausted afterwards and my legs and butt were sore. So yeah, they were extra calories.

    Thanks for all the replies. This was pretty much the conclusion that I have come to. My lifestyle is set to sedentary to I think it is ok to include some calories for this. Especially as I'm always shattered when i get home from these expeditions.

    For my 5 hour shopping trip, I'll count 2 hours as slow walking and use most of them.

    Thanks again
  • rose1617
    rose1617 Posts: 469 Member
    I was at a huge outlet mall yesterday for a couple hours, and I didnt log anything, I count those as my bonus cals :)
    That's a great idea.
    I went shopping yesterday and estimated about 600 calories burned (we were shopping ALL day and did very little stopping).
    I didn't log any. If I'm under, awesome.
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