Exercise you dont "count"

13

Replies

  • cstringfellow2013
    cstringfellow2013 Posts: 172 Member
    I only count stuff I am doing that I wasn't doing while I was getting fat...

    I gardened, I walked stairs at work, I did housework etc. while I was getting fat...

    So I count my weight lifting and HIIT...

    What a succinct way to put it. This is exactly what I do.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    I don't count Juggling with chainsaws.
  • jwooley13
    jwooley13 Posts: 243
    I only count intentional, purposed exercise. It doesn't have to be intense, but something that I went out of my way to do. It's certainly not the only way to do it, but I think it reflects that extra effort a little better.
  • thomaszabel
    thomaszabel Posts: 203 Member
    I count workouts at the gym, running, and biking. If I go out and do yard work, chopping wood, mowing the lawn, or anything else, I don't count it.
  • sarainiowa
    sarainiowa Posts: 287 Member
    I only count my planned workouts.

    Everything else from cleaning, cooking, walking the dog, taking the steps is just a "bonus" to myself. And on those days I'm a few calories over, I don't have to get hard on myself because I know I've done some extra things that day.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    I don't count Juggling with chainsaws.

    Do you log lost limbs though?
  • KombuchaCat
    KombuchaCat Posts: 834 Member
    Pretty much the same here, although if I do a really strenuous cleaning/organizing that is not in my normal routine I might count at least some of it.
  • nsimon24
    nsimon24 Posts: 115 Member
    I don't count Juggling with chainsaws.

    Do you log lost limbs though?

    It's only a flesh wound!
  • _mlee_
    _mlee_ Posts: 90
    I have actually seen sex logged on MFP. Can somebody please wear an HRM and tell me how many calories it actually burns? ;) lol I am curious!
  • nsimon24
    nsimon24 Posts: 115 Member
    I only log planned workouts like my runs or walks, otherwise, it's life.

    Can't figure out why anyone would want to log housework - even the heavy Spring cleaning stuff, unless it was out of curiosity as to how many calories would be logged!
  • UrbanLotus
    UrbanLotus Posts: 1,163 Member
    I only count things where I am wearing my HRM and doing a workout - so taking a walk, housework etc doesn't count
  • ncl1313
    ncl1313 Posts: 237 Member
    I sit on my butt at a desk all day, and I have my profile set as sedentary. I also have a 2 year old who I chase around for two hours after I get home between cooking and picking up and finally getting him to bed. I don't log that stuff. I also don't log the 10-15 squats I do at my desk throughout the workday or the run up to the third floor and back just to get away from my desk.

    I pretty much log everything else though. If we go to the park, I log the 1.5 miles round trip walk, and some additional calories for the hour or so we spent running around and playing. If I mow the lawn, pull some weeds, do some house maintenance, do some heavy cleaning, shovel some snow...that's all stuff outside my normal routine that takes some physical effort, so I probably add it. I suppose I could change my setting to lightly active, but if I'm not getting activity every single day, I feel like gives me more calories that I actually need. I don't know...to each his own, I suppose.
  • ninja8tofu
    ninja8tofu Posts: 76 Member
    I count most of my actual exercise except stretching and warmups. I do sometimes count housework if it is one of my very intense cleaning days. I always see people say, "It didn't help me when I did it when I was fat." Well, I actually didn't do it when I was fat. I was too sick most of the time and I hired others to do it. So, If it takes me several hours once a week or ever two weeks, I count an 1-2 out of the 5-6 it actually takes. I like to keep track. I have a big house/family, so it's a lot of work and not something I do every day.
  • Kate
    Kate Posts: 35 Member
    I do plenty of activity that I don't count, but I see others doing so.
    Mine include . . .
    Housework
    Parking far away from destinations
    Climbing stairs at work
    All the walking I do at work
    Yardwork

    What are yours?

    I wouldn't consider any of this "exercise". Exercise is when you purposefully work out to improve your cardiovascular fitness or your strength and you work up a sweat (so I count my runs, fitness classes, dvd's, bike rides, etc). I never count things like when we got to the zoo and walk all day, even though I don't "normally" do that, it's only a few hundred calories at best, it likely barely covers any miscalculations in what I ate for the day/week when I had to estimate. When I see these things listed as "exercise", it makes me sad. Those things are life.
    Sorry can't agree. Anything that gets your heart rate up is "exercise" whether it is at the gym or behind a snow shovel or a garden rake. I personally don't count them however unless it is a sustained activity. I spent a couple of hours raking out my gardens and lawn the other day and I sure counted that..it certainly got my heart rate up!
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,288 MFP Moderator
    I have a Jawbone, which captures a lot of my activity for me, but I didn't always. Before I got the Jawbone, I often logged housework on the weekends, since I work a desk job and did a heavy cleaning of my house each weekend. :) I think I logged meal prep on Thanksgiving because I was literally on my feet and cooking most of the day (and then, darnit, I did cleanup too!)

    Like most of you with a Fitbit, I keep my activity level set to sedentary and let my Jawbone tell me when I've earned more calories. I only actually log an exercise if it is fairly intense (I run a few times a week - well HAD been, before I came down with the plague... will be getting back to it soon), and almost NEVER log housework anymore unless I'm doing heavy lifting and work up more of a sweat than normal. So, really, the only things I log nowadays are my runs. Yay for technology.

    If the Jawbone is anything like the FitBit, it should be able to track your runs just fine.?

    I just recently switched from a Fitbit Force (special snowflake - one of the people who got that rash that caused the recall) to Jawbone Up, so am still trying to figure out how to use it. I'm pretty sure you're right, but I haven't been running for the past few weeks (thanks to a chest cold and tummy bug), so haven't figured out how to track the runs yet. I'm sure it's simple - I just haven't done it yet. :)
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,288 MFP Moderator
    I don't count Juggling with chainsaws.

    Do you log lost limbs though?

    That's totally weight loss! I'd log it!
  • Hadabetter
    Hadabetter Posts: 942 Member
    I enter all my activities as 1 calorie, so it doesn't really matter what I count or don't count. Having said that, I enter just about everything because I'm trying to justify having my activity level set high.
  • thatismesammyg
    thatismesammyg Posts: 71 Member
    I don't count any cleaning or yard work except for shoveling. I will strap on my HRM and count those because shoveling in WI is freaking intense.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    I use a Fitbit which tracks my step based activity and sends the info to MFP. So I don't track anything. I would log biking, swimming, etc. - but haven't done much of those lately.
  • f1redshoes
    f1redshoes Posts: 79
    Anything that I haven't specifically set out to do as a workout. I might log things like yoga or stretching for TIME but not for calories (ie. put 60mins but then 1cal).
  • doctorsookie
    doctorsookie Posts: 1,084 Member
    If its something I don't do on an everyday basis, I count it. I don't do laundry every day and I do six loads on Sunday. I log that because I am burning extra energy and need more food to account for it. If you don't eat enough it can affect the way you lose weight just as much as eating too much. I log shoveling snow but I don't log grocery shopping or sex. I don't judge anyone for logging things i wouldn't normally log because if they are set at sedentary they are eating a really low amount of calories and if they clean one day a week, they will be hungry from burning those extra calories and I would want an extra snack too if it was me. :bigsmile:
  • Bounce4
    Bounce4 Posts: 288 Member
    I don't count Juggling with chainsaws.

    Do you log lost limbs though?

    That's totally weight loss! I'd log it!

    lmao

    Yes but he probably needs fewer calories now too :P
  • mlt2908
    mlt2908 Posts: 123 Member
    I usually only count the cardiovascular stuff I do as a specific workout, such as running, elliptical, walking, or Zumba. In the winter, I did count shoveling snow several times as it was a lot of work and I worked up a sweat.
  • dianalee9
    dianalee9 Posts: 134 Member
    I only count stuff I am doing that I wasn't doing while I was getting fat...

    I gardened, I walked stairs at work, I did housework etc. while I was getting fat...

    So I count my weight lifting and HIIT...

    ^^THIS^^
  • Operation_Shred
    Operation_Shred Posts: 173
    Cougar hunting.
  • Elsie_Brownraisin
    Elsie_Brownraisin Posts: 786 Member
    Nope, though I might eat an extra pie or three if I have been lifting heavy boxes all day as part of an office move or if I have washed all my windows inside and out.

    Though I should probably log the maritals, it is much more acrobatic than it used to be. One of the benefits of getting fitter is being able to use a mini trampoline in the bedroom.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    I only log stuff that's outside my normal daily activity- so even if I was to walk about the mall for 2 hours- I'd log is as leisurely walking for probably an hour. It's not "exercise" but it's more than what I normally do - so it gets logged.

    Heavy cleaning- heavy gardening- any semi labor intensive thing that's more than a couple min chore (like helping my BF work on my bike- I had to wrestle the bike for about 10 minutes- but that was it- didn't' log it- still got huffy.

    so anything sustained and outside the norm for me.
  • Bella0531
    Bella0531 Posts: 309 Member
    I only count my weight training, runs & yoga. Everything else I consider my life.

    Ditto (except, sub spinning for yoga). :happy:
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    sex... *kitten*... lifting food with a fork... squatting to the toilet
  • WonderWoman_5
    WonderWoman_5 Posts: 101 Member
    I do plenty of activity that I don't count, but I see others doing so.
    Mine include . . .
    Housework
    Parking far away from destinations
    Climbing stairs at work
    All the walking I do at work
    Yardwork

    What are yours?

    Actually, you do probably count it...in your overall activity level which is where you should account for it.

    I was assuming the OP meant like how some people count housework as workouts.

    Two points - First, it is no one's business what someone else counts as a workout. Second, how do you know that particular activity is not a workout for that person? This is one reason why folks keep their diaries closed.


    I agree

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