What is counted at exercise?

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  • BUZZIEST
    BUZZIEST Posts: 18 Member
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    Working at your desk is not exercise. The calories you burn to sit and work are part of your basal metabolic rate. It should not be counted as exercise.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    exercise by definition is a physiological stressor whether it be a stress to your cardiopulmonary system or musculoskeletal system. It puts stress on the body to cause improvements in resting and active state physiology.

    If it doesnt cause a sustained stress in the body from a restating state there will be no improvements.
  • cookiealbright
    cookiealbright Posts: 605 Member
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    I sit at a desk all day. On Saturday when I clean my house I wear a t-shirt & short because I am sweating. Running up and down the steps, carrying heavy stuff. In and out of the house carrying stuff, taking the dogs in & out. I don't normally do this in a day, normally I sit at a desk. Sitting at a desk is not excercise. Carrying heavy things up & down steps, bending, streatching, scrubbing are and I count them. I also count walking my dog. My dog (& my husband) is not too happy about the new "Let's run up the hill" part of the walk.
  • jotness
    jotness Posts: 2 Member
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    I walk between 5 & 10 miles a day at work & when I did Weight Watchers, they said it didn't count since I did it every day. I had to do additional exercise.
  • sarahertzberger
    sarahertzberger Posts: 534 Member
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    No, I spend my entire day running after my 3 young kids, cleaning constantly, cooking every meal for us, and that has never been counted as exercise, it's just what I do, the only thing that gets counted as exercise is stuff intentionally done for purposes of working out, like going to the gym, running, hiking, etc.
  • Beckaroo94
    Beckaroo94 Posts: 66
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    I include walking to and from uni, but call it slow even though i know it's a fast pace. Sitting at your desk shouldn't be included
  • necee99
    necee99 Posts: 52
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    I think it depends. It's all well and good to say 'excercise must be intentional' but incidental excercise is still excercise. If I've gotten off the couch and gone shopping, for example, I class that as a walk. Why? I walk fast when I'm shopping and burn around the mall. Cleaning? Yup, count it. Why not? I dont' do it every day.

    Stuff where you're stood around not moving that much eg food prep I personally don't count, but if it gets people up and moving then go for it - if you're not eating them back.

    That's the catch. If you're counting all your movement as calories burned (and why not, if it works for you) you can't fall into the trap of then consuming that many extra calories.

    I do TDEE - 20% and don't eat the excercise cals back, so I count the random stuff as well as the hardcore burns. I only eat even a portion back if I've had a huge burn that day from something I consider 'hardcore' excercise and if I'm really hungry.

    If you're doing the MFP standard and convincing yourself that cooking nachos for dinner means that you can eat them without the calories mattering, you're not serious about this.

    ETA that sitting at your desk doesn't burn 480 calories, unless you are sitting on an excercise bike.

    i agree... i have a particular workout from sparkpeople.com that is done only in a chair. i have chronic pain issues so i have to find very low impact workouts. I count shopping too b/c I am sore and tired when i return as if i have been running a marathon. I agree that if you are doing something intentional in your chair like knee lifts, moving around, and if you feel a little winded or out of breath, your heart rate is moving and you are burning extra calories. just make sure you are not counting just sitting there.
  • obsidianwings
    obsidianwings Posts: 1,237 Member
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    Stuff where you're stood around not moving that much eg food prep I personally don't count, but if it gets people up and moving then go for it - if you're not eating them back.

    I would count food prep because 1) at work your not suppose to be eating (or for my self we get a 20 min break were I'll eat an apple or small salad and juice) 2) You walk back and forth and gathering items, carrying weighted boxes (20-50 pounds). 3) if you work around a grill, large oven, or fryer you sweat and that's what a lot of people have been counting as necessary requirements.
    Most people would've figured this into their daily activity level, so to log it again would be double dipping. But if you didn't count it in your activity level then have at it
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
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    If I don't sweat, I don't count it.

    Sweat has nothing to do with burning calories more or less.

    ETA: change wording

    It usually indicates the amount of intensity involved, which is related to the amount of calories burned. It's not perfect, but you are burning more calories when you are sweating or panting. I think that not counting as exercise activities that don't involve sweating is a good rule of thumb.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
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    If you want to make excuses for yourself, count everything as exercise. But most people know what real exercise is. If you have a physically demanding job, that figures into your general activity level. I imagine most people here are sedentary, or at most, lightly active.

    This is not that complicated. Either your calorie deficit, supported by exercise, is resulting in weight loss or it isn't.
  • EvelynBfly78
    EvelynBfly78 Posts: 240 Member
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    Get a fitbit, that will figure it out for you!

    That's what I did. I have my daily activity set to sedentary. Then I let the fitbit figure it out.
    Everyone is different. Do what works for you but be consistent. That's the key.
  • leadiax3
    leadiax3 Posts: 534 Member
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    I believe u have to elevate ur heart rate to be exercising. Sitting at a desk is just part of ur bmr.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    Stupid question (and sorry if someone mentioned it, I might have missed it), do you count calories burned during Yoga? (let's say for example morning yoga that lasts max 10 minutes)

    10 min of yoga would be very minimal calorie burn
  • bumblebreezy91
    bumblebreezy91 Posts: 520 Member
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    Anything you have to go out of your way to do, to intentionally burn calories and reach fitness goals, that you wouldn't need do in the course of a normal day (I don't need to go swimming or hop on the treadmill for my day to go normally since I am a CNA and not a professional athlete) is counted as exercise. I don't exactly understand why people with serious goals want to count little daily things when those things will not aid in weight loss (you already do it and you're overweight/obese/other, it's not working to help you lose weight). You have to know that sitting at your desk, playing with your children, driving to work, standing all day, etc. is not exercise and that we're not saying you don't work hard to do whatever it is you do during the day, but your body is used to these activities and you're only hurting yourself/your goals if you count your daily activities as serious exercise.

    ETA: Also, if you reach a plateau, is the activity something you can stop doing or change in ways your body will respond to in order to end the plateau? I don't think you're going to quit your job or start running up and down the hallways when you hit a weight loss plateau.
  • bumblebreezy91
    bumblebreezy91 Posts: 520 Member
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    If you want to make excuses for yourself, count everything as exercise. But most people know what real exercise is. If you have a physically demanding job, that figures into your general activity level. I imagine most people here are sedentary, or at most, lightly active.

    This is not that complicated. Either your calorie deficit, supported by exercise, is resulting in weight loss or it isn't.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    if your going to count sitting at your desk as exercise, expect to maintain or gain... that's like logging pooping... im sure that burns calories too!
    Well, here are a few different sources on calorie burns for pooping. I'm not sure which is correct, and which calorie burn I should log in....

    http://www.poopreport.com/Doctor/Knowledgebase/caloriespercrap.html

    http://www.kgbanswers.com/how-many-calories-do-u-burn-when-you-are-pooping/4209098

    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080607231906AAEr8Bw

    :laugh: :laugh:
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    supposedly I burn 480 calories by working at my desk for 8 hours a day. Should I count that as exercise?

    No you shouldn't
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
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    No. I don't eat back my exercise calories anyways BUT I only log exercise that isn't something I do daily (does that make sense?).
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
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    I don't exactly understand why people with serious goals want to count little daily things when those things will not aid in weight loss (you already do it and you're overweight/obese/other, it's not working to help you lose weight). You have to know that sitting at your desk, playing with your children, driving to work, standing all day, etc. is not exercise and that we're not saying you don't work hard to do whatever it is you do during the day, but your body is used to these activities and you're only hurting yourself/your goals if you count your daily activities as serious exercise.


    :flowerforyou:

    At times I think some folks want to get caught up with truly meaningless minutiae instead of making time to do the exercise they need to do.

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