Suprising Activities that are Considered Exercise?

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  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    For the article, I'd probably add painting a room. At least if you do it kind of quickly. I don't know who is going to paint a whole room just to burn some calories, but if someone wants to get a Starbucks after, I could see that :)
  • Byrdsong1920
    Byrdsong1920 Posts: 335 Member
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    Saw "breast feeding " on a status update the other day...I plead the 5th, but I understand.:)

    I salsa dance Fridays....that's like Zumba for 3 hrs....no such thing as a slow salsa song! Fun and serious burn.

    U can make washing dishes an exercise, my friend does squats as she washes dishes! Lol!

    Just "Do u" and ...have fun!

    Shan, atl
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    i saw one lady's exercise log on here a year ago and she was logging "intercourse, vigorous" 6 days a week.

    i don't think it was Kim Khardasian, but i can't recall.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    We're right back to the beginning. EVERYTHING burns calories. That's were the term Basal Metabolic Rate comes from. The calories you burn every single moment of every single day just existing. The very fact that you move around a bit during the day burns more calories. Every move you make burns a few calories over your BMR. Problem is very few people are eating their BMR, especially not those searching for innovative ways to say they burned calories.

    You can make a list of putting on your socks, combing your hair, brushing your teeth, pouring cereal, etc but it's all part of the calories you burn everyday which is where we come to your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Everybody should have some idea of what their TDEE is without adding any intentional exercise like running, cycling, aerobics, lifting, etc. You don't have to come up with creative things like making Thanksgiving dinner in order to satisfy your need for more calories.

    If people set themselves a realistic budget then you shouldn't be needing to make up exercise calories to justify eating more. One step to learning to live a healthy life is to not see every activity as a way to earn more food. Food is fuel for your body. It's not your friend, it's not your reward, it's not going to fix the bad things in your life.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    It is really weird what folks will log, lol.

    But I did have one of the popularly-ridiculed ones matter a lot. I was losing weight really well in the spring, and then I took a break from logging and weighing until late summer. I went back to the level of calories I saw working in the spring (from my chart). I saw the amount of calories I ostensibly burned from exercise. Except it didn't work in the late summer. I was like WTF?

    It really was the gardening that did it. It was hours of gardening a day, only logged as 45 min max. That made enough difference in my TDEE that it was not the same TDEE in the fall without all those hours spent working in the yard.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    It is really weird what folks will log, lol.

    But I did have one of the popularly-ridiculed ones matter a lot. I was losing weight really well in the spring, and then I took a break from logging and weighing until late summer. I went back to the level of calories I saw working in the spring (from my chart). I saw the amount of calories I ostensibly burned from exercise. Except it didn't work in the late summer. I was like WTF?

    It really was the gardening that did it. It was hours of gardening a day, only logged as 45 min max. That made enough difference in my TDEE that it was not the same TDEE in the fall without all those hours spent working in the yard.

    I think that's a thing people miss too- the TDEE is not a fixed number- it fluxates as your body changes and as the season changes (many people have a seasonal hobby- and or kids with seasonal sports)... it's not a fixed number- you always need to re-evaluate it!
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Sandwich making
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,655 Member
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    For the OP - I wouldn't log this as exercise, but I was genuinely surprised at how many calories my Fitbit said I burned while changing light switches and power receptacles throughout my house. It was mostly the running back and forth to the circuit box that did it. I could see someone logging a "general home repair" activity or something similar.
  • Followingsea
    Followingsea Posts: 407 Member
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    I've seen furniture assembly in the MFP database.

    Some days where I've spent an 8 hour day wrangling electric stands/medical equipment in and out of boxes and on and off of pallets, I am tempted to use it...
  • Daniloveshockey94
    Daniloveshockey94 Posts: 348 Member
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    Uh really...
  • Lindsay_1984
    Lindsay_1984 Posts: 85 Member
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    Video Games. I get a pretty good workout from "Just Dance" for Wii. Similar calorie burn as I get doing a 3.5mph walk.
  • vanguardfitness
    vanguardfitness Posts: 720 Member
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    lots of fidgeting at the computer chair. Probably those Wii video games that involve dancing
  • cassi9879
    cassi9879 Posts: 57 Member
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    Wow! Of all the places I posted this question MFP had the most responses! Quite the array of answers too.
  • mel4bee
    mel4bee Posts: 225 Member
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    I chew gum lol :) and I play Just Dance on the wii. I think it is sooo much fun and it goes by soo fast.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Cleaning the bathroom (or anything really)

    One of the reasons housewives in the 40s, 50s, 60s were thinner than we are today as a society is because they were constantly looking after the house, lifting things up, vacuuming. It really does burn a lot of cals.

    The average US house in the 50s was around 900 square feet.

    Now, always having to wash dishes and/or clothes by hand - yeah, that added up to some serious work!
  • cassi9879
    cassi9879 Posts: 57 Member
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    On your journey, what funny/surprising activities have you found to burn calories?

    I would say the TEF due to protein consumption. It's hard work.

    What's TEF?
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    Saw "breast feeding " on a status update the other day...I plead the 5th, but I understand.:)

    MFP doesn't have a way to calculate calories for nursing moms, so we have to do an estimate either in exercise or food to make sure we eat those calories back. I wish that counted as exercise during growth spurts.

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