Question about logging exercise vs. activity level

alfiedn
alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
in Getting Started
Hi!

I've been on intermittently for a long time now and am currently looking to lose a little weight.

Someone posting here along with a discussion I had with a friend made me think twice about what I SHOULD be doing. I am hoping to get some advice from successful people.

Currently, I use striiv in my phone, so I've set my activity level to sedentary since striiv will calculate my walking and running.

My question is, do I then log my other activities such as practicing my violin (which appears to burn more calories than I would have thought) or are those already included in my sedentary activity level?

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Violin? Uh no.

    What is your knowledge level on calories to think it burns a lot.

    You likely burn 80-100 calories every hour just sleeping.

    Now does it seem high?

    Oh, take in to account whatever number is assigned to it, includes that 80-100 you would have burned sleeping.
    So subtract your BMR divided by 24 from that figure.

    That's how many it burn above and beyond what you were going to burn anyway.

    Now is it that much?

    Ya, that would be in sedentary level already. Unless you are Irish dancing with it at the same time.

    What you should be doing is setting your activity level to an honest level. If you don't have a 45 hr week desk job/commute, but half your time on your feet perhaps, that's not sedentary, that's lightly active.

    Then you log real exercise you do, only log 80% of reported calories to subtract that 80-100 already included - and eat that back.

    That keeps the deficit the same from how much you burned that day.
  • GeordieRover
    GeordieRover Posts: 22 Member
    Any thing that requires concentration ,and muscles will burn calories, no doubt holding up a violin and playing the instrument will require both.
    Play guitar myself and know, what you are saying.
    Cheers.
  • IvoryParchment
    IvoryParchment Posts: 651 Member
    Don't dismiss violin. If you watch professionals perform, they can be pouring down sweat. If you're sweating, it means your body temperature has risen, and that means you are burning extra calories. If you aren't feeling overheated in a suitcoat, you aren't burning extra calories. Trying to quantify it is more difficult. That's where the HRMs come in.
  • moontyrant
    moontyrant Posts: 160 Member
    And please don't log "grocery shopping," "food prep," "light cleaning" or other daily activities. Unless your grocery shopping involves carrying bushels of apples across a field, your food prep is chasing an oiled pig and slaughtering it, and your cleaning includes moving furniture up or down 2 flights of stairs, those aren't exercise. Those activities usually fall under normal daily living, with sleeping and watching Netflix.

    This is a surprisingly common goof, so don't feel bad if you've done this before.
  • alfiedn
    alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
    Thank you for your replies! I actually am a professional violinist, so I play a fair amount. I do notice getting tired, but I've been playing since I was 6, so I don't think much of the physical effort that goes into it. I was surprised when I was fooling around on myfittnesspal and noticed that it burned more calories than I expected.

    I definitely don't think about how many calories I burn when I'm asleep! Haha! Thanks for the info, good to know!

    I don't log any of those other activities, but striiv does notice any walking I do and logs it automatically for me, which is why my activity level is currently set at sedentary.

    So is the consensus that I DON'T log the practice?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    No.

    If you were at work for 40 hrs - would you log getting up and walking to lunch, to the car, to the bathroom? Carrying in your laptop, and back out again going home?

    Despite comments if you sweat it's a workout, that would imply if you don't sweat it's wasn't - and that is foolish thinking, since you can sweat from nervousness, anxiety, too much caffeine.
    You can start sweating in preparation for something that doesn't happen, heart pounds, flight or fight response, and nothing happens.
    Other people don't sweat, despite getting hot.
    Your calorie count did not just spike up because your HR went up, but you were standing still the whole time, getting ready to walk on stage in front of big audience nervous (not you, just the thought of it for many).

    So while you do indeed burn more calories playing then you would sitting watching TV or staring at computer for equal amount of time, it's going to be such a low intensity fat-burning activity, just accept the extra 100 calories as either extra burn, or more likely what would match what you would have done at a desk job anyway.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    I was surprised when I was fooling around on myfittnesspal and noticed that it burned more calories than I expected....

    So is the consensus that I DON'T log the practice?

    I wouldn't log the practice, myself. It does burn calories, but MFP's estimates in the exercise database are often grossly exaggerated. (For cycling, they overestimate my calorie burn by 25-50% depending on speed.)

    In any case, MFP's suggested goal and the calories in exercise are only estimates. They're a good place to start, but success requires that you revise your calorie target based on your actual results. If you set MFP to lose 1 lb./week, and you are actually losing 1.25 lb./week, then you're actually running a bigger deficit than MFP thinks (to the tune of 125 calories a day). On the other hand, if you're only losing 0.75 lbs., then your deficit is smaller than MFP thinks. When I had MFP set to lose 1.5 lb./week, my actual loss was about 1.1 lb. Some of that was due to eating over my daily goal (I figured that I would set an aggressive goal even if I didn't meet it all the time), but some was due to underestimating calories eaten. I was happy with over a pound a week, so I didn't make any changes, but if I had really wanted to hit 1.5, I would have decreased my goal by another 200 calories a day.
  • alfiedn
    alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
    Thank you for your help! I think I'll try not logging it and see what happens. I guess it probably depends, too. I mean, I know I burn a lot of calories when performing solo (mostly due to my increased nervousness and intensity in playing), but probably pretty few...say...orchestra rehearsal.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Everybody's different, and weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. So try it your way for two weeks, and see if you gain, maintain, or lose.

    Exercise = workouts. Everything else = activity level. Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-Sexypants
  • alfiedn
    alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
    Nice link! You're right, I do tend to get bogged down in details. Good to keep things in perspective.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Nice link! You're right, I do tend to get bogged down in details. Good to keep things in perspective.
    They say stress increases cortisol & makes you fat, so definitely stop overthinking this!
  • tubaman58
    tubaman58 Posts: 151
    As a musician, I have struggled with logging musical activities, it does consume a fair amount of calories (people who say it doesn't do not understand the instensity involved),. I finally settled on just setting a more active lifestyle, as the days that I don't play are usually very busy days fill of shopping cleaning etc.....

    Bottom line is, establish a philosophy that makes sense to you, and adjust it based on results......

    :)

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