Things I DIDN'T count as "exercise" last week....

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Azdak
Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
The 18 holes of golf (walking) that I played

The 2-3 mile walks I take with my dog

Cutting the grass and hauling 5 bags of yard waste to the curb

The 20-40 flights of stairs I climb each day at work

The squats, deadlifts, lunges, et al I demonstrate each day to my clients

The 500-1000lbs of weight plates and dumbbells I have to pick up off the floor of the weight room every day at work after the pampered yuppie kids leave them laying around

The quality time I spent with Mrs Azdak on Saturday morning

The furniture I moved before and after vaccuming the house

What I DID count as exercise:

The 45 minutes on the stairmaster that I did on Monday.

The 30 minutes on the cross trainer and weight training I did on Tuesday

The 30 minute run I did on Wednesday

The 30 minutes on the cross trainer and weight training I did on Thursday

The 60 minute run I did on Friday

The 30 minute interval workout I did on Saturday.

FWIW, that's how I keep track.
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Replies

  • MLgarcia3
    MLgarcia3 Posts: 503
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    nice! Unless it's actual exercise, I don't count it either..
  • chic243
    chic243 Posts: 15
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    good job and you shouldn't cleaning vacuuming moving frnitue all that stuff thats not exercise no matter what show says exercise is intense physical involvement not lets do the garbage or water the plants that is delusional
  • AnniePanny
    AnniePanny Posts: 4 Member
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    lol, gotta love the quality time exercises :p
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    you don't count golf? The course I play at is crazy hilly and I don't have a buggy. It is definitely considered exercise for me :P
  • dobergfell
    dobergfell Posts: 30
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    I am curious, at what level do you have your "Normal daily activities" setting? My daily activity is set to sedentary because of my low physical activity lifestyle and job. If I take the dog for a walk, doesn't that burn more calories than sitting in front of a computer screen? Should I NOT be counting those calories?

    In my opinion, if you have your settings established appropriately on MFP, you should count any physical activity that is "out of the norm".

    What does anyone else think?
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    you don't count golf? The course I play at is crazy hilly and I don't have a buggy. It is definitely considered exercise for me :P

    Too much starting and stopping. If I am not waiting, I can walk 18 holes in under 3 hr easily. But since I rarely get my heart rate above 100, no I don't consider it exercise--it's just casual activity.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I am curious, at what level do you have your "Normal daily activities" setting? My daily activity is set to sedentary because of my low physical activity lifestyle and job. If I take the dog for a walk, doesn't that burn more calories than sitting in front of a computer screen? Should I NOT be counting those calories?

    In my opinion, if you have your settings established appropriately on MFP, you should count any physical activity that is "out of the norm".

    What does anyone else think?

    People tend to be selective about tracking their activities. They remember every second of possible "exertion" but forget the hours they spend doing essentially nothing.

    The activity settings are averages. That means, over time, the odd day of extra motion will be balanced out by the long stretches where you are, from a physiological standpoint, essentially inert. Not to mention that a number of studies have shown that, after doing extra activity (housework, yardwork, etc) people tend to *decrease* their casual activity in the hours afterward, so it is often a wash. But, again, most people don't pay attention to that part of the equation.

    And if the activities are already part of your routine, then they most likely are already part of your equilibrium.

    Again, this argument comes up all the time, and there is no completely right or wrong answer. I am just trying to add another perspective.
  • abyt42
    abyt42 Posts: 1,358 Member
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    I tend to count as exercise activities where I'm focused on making myself be more fit. I admit I counted moving, however...it's definitely an unusually physical activity for me. But I don't count the 3/4 mile of walking I do during the work day, since it's piecemeal, and slow.

    Usually, for me, I have to change clothes before it's a workout.... if it's just my normal day, it's what I was doing when I got big!
  • fitgirl4life
    fitgirl4life Posts: 111 Member
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    Totally agree with this post! Exercise means I change clothes, put on my HRM, and focus on getting my heart rate up. I I don't count anything that doesn't make me get into at least "fat burning zone".

    I also don't count "shopping", "cleaning", "standing" or "working" as exercise. I did those things before and still got fat.
  • End6ame
    End6ame Posts: 903
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    The 500-1000lbs of weight plates and dumbbells I have to pick up off the floor of the weight room every day at work after the pampered yuppie kids leave them laying around

    I feel your pain here.
  • WalkingGirl1985
    WalkingGirl1985 Posts: 2,047 Member
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    I count that as physical labor..not exercise but it is good in some way...you are using those muscles.
  • jam3114
    jam3114 Posts: 250 Member
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    Yeah totally with you ...........all the 'normal' activity shouldn't be taken into account but once I get the running gear on & come back with a red face from 'trying' to run 4 miles I know those are the calories I really earned & deserve !!!
  • MissingMinnesota
    MissingMinnesota Posts: 7,486 Member
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    I agree with all but the walking the dog which really depends on the type of dog. :) I used to have St Benard/Huskys and walking them was not a slow walk and it was on our hilly back road so more like hiking but If say I was walking Yorkie around the block a couple times then maybe I wouldn't count that.

    I see people that include cleaning and what not and I wonder how dirty their house is if it takes that much energy to clean it. :huh:
  • aprilgicker
    aprilgicker Posts: 395 Member
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    You always have some good stuff for your post. I think being your client would be very effective.
  • jessmomof3
    jessmomof3 Posts: 4,590 Member
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    Yep, I agree!! I walk at least 2-3 miles on most nights w/ my dh and girls around our neighborhood and keep active all day. I get in plenty of *planned* exercise, so I just count that as a *bonus*, not towards my MFP cals burned. Unless it's my *rest* day and I might go over my cals, then I'll add in the walk. :laugh: It all evens out.

    Find what works for you, but I do lots of hauling laundry and cleaning with 3 kids and I would never count is as *exercise*. Unless maybe I were a house keeper and cleaning houses for hours every day...
  • H_82
    H_82 Posts: 418 Member
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    I agree. If I'm not sweating, I don't count it....I figure it's just a bonus.
  • ChubbieTubbie
    ChubbieTubbie Posts: 481 Member
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    I don't count a lot of things I do like cleaning and whatnot--it comes with the territory of having kids!, but I spend the majority of my time on my butt anyway in front of a computer screen, sitting with the kids and helping with homework, rocking a baby to sleep. Aside from straightening up, cooking dinner and vacuuming every night, I rarely do anything besides sit on the floor and play cars with my boys and watch TV and work behind a desk where I don't get up all day long. I don't count time where I stand in the window and watch my kid do gymnastics, nor do I count it when I'm riding bikes with her, since it's going so slow that it doesn't amount to much, but I do count walking since it's out of the norm for me and my heart rate gets into the target zone even when I'm not power walking. I think if I'm getting upwards of 75% of my HR, I should be allowed to count it. It's not something that I do very often, and it's something that I work at for an hour as part of my exercise routine. Now I'm not entirely sure I should be counting it.
  • missjeannemarie
    missjeannemarie Posts: 18
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    IMHO I think adding most of the things you do that you don't think are exercises should be counted :) I believe that is one of the beauties of MFP and when I go for a walk or mow my lawn and get to count the calories that is awesome. Good luck Azdak -
  • sjaudio
    sjaudio Posts: 52
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    I'm of the opinion, that the "little things" are just part of your lifestyle. If I added every time that I got up off of my couch as exercise, I'd be fooling myself. I'll count walks if I'm out for a long time or going with the intent of exercising, but walking to the corner grocery coffee shop is not exercise. Just moving my frame a hundred yards is not going to get me closer to my goal weight or improve my health. When your doctor suggest that you get X amount of hours of cardiovascular exercise a week, he (or she) doesn't mean standing up and shuffling around your house.

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