Do you count walking to get places as exercise?

yasoyyo
yasoyyo Posts: 15
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey all!

I'm fairly limited from exercising due to some injuries I have, but I tend to walk a fair bit in my everyday life - to/from uni is at least 40 minutes (total) each day, I always walk up the 4 floors to my flat and the 3 floors to my classes, and I often opt for walking to places (to tango classes, doc's appointments etc.).

I was wondering - is this part of my "daily activity" or should I actually register it as exercise? I mean, I've imagined most people do at least some walking a day (although I've heard it's not as common in the US where everyone has cars and use them more), but I find it hard to tell what's "normal"!

Replies

  • Sinisterly
    Sinisterly Posts: 10,913 Member
    Oh my gosh, you look like Rose McGowan.

    Anyway, I wouldn't count it unless:
    -Steady pace
    -No stopping whatsoever
    -HRM

    Otherwise, I wouldn't bother, really.
  • crissi725
    crissi725 Posts: 82
    This definitely counts as part of your daily calorie burn! Every bit of movement costs calories. A good guide is to try to reach 10,000 steps a day. More is great! If your injuries mean that you can't go to the gym and work with machines, then try some hand held free weights. I keep mine at my desk and do a few reps, working on different back, arm and shoulder muscle groups throughout day. Cardio is great for heart conditioning but if you have injuries, talk to your doctor about how you can work on getting your heart rate up safely.
  • Unknown
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  • Shmolveig
    Shmolveig Posts: 1 Member
    I count longer walks (more than 10 Minutes each walk). So if you walk 20 Minutes to Uni and 20 Minutes back, I'd totally count that.
  • Dwinklepleck
    Dwinklepleck Posts: 8 Member
    When you origionally set up your goals you should have been prompted to set your daily activity levels. If you put you sit around all day (lowest slug setting, and my personal setting) then i would include anything above and beyond that. If you set yourself as more active then i think you have alredy accounted for that exercise.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    It's a perfect example of what makes up your activity setting - something you do as part of your daily life / job.
    So no, don't log it as separate exercise but be realistic about choosing an activity setting which reflects that you aren't spending all your time sitting down.

    If you went for an "extra" walk for exercise then you could log that.
  • GrandMaKandy
    GrandMaKandy Posts: 259 Member
    I count all my walking as exercise, use a phone app like MapMyFitness or Endomondo there are others that you can link to MFP to keep track, I now have a FitBit as well that also counts how many steps I do a day, it motivates you to do more. I do not go to the gym or anything else.
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
    I think it would depend on what you have your activity level set to - if you set it to sedentary then your goals will not have any exercise built in and you should count it separately. Your walk to uni probably involves carrying weight as well. Make your walk purposeful and as energetic as you can and log it. I understand that the cals given on the database for walking are reasonably accurate but many on mfp eat only about 50% of their exercise cals back.

    You could always swing your arms and turn your walk into a power walk :wink:

    Good luck
  • novembersuse
    novembersuse Posts: 77 Member
    Absolutely! If you were jogging these distances you'd probably count it. Walking just takes longer but a mile is still a mile. :smile:
  • yasoyyo
    yasoyyo Posts: 15
    If your injuries mean that you can't go to the gym and work with machines, then try some hand held free weights. I keep mine at my desk and do a few reps, working on different back, arm and shoulder muscle groups throughout day.

    Unfortunately my wrists can't support any weight whatsoever these days :( But thanks for the tip anyway!

    I always walk very quickly, often because I'm in a hurry (in that case I usually break out a sweat), other times just out of habit. I chose the custom option to set my goals because I trust other calculators more than MFP, and in my goal of 1450 kcals some daily activity is already included. I wouldn't log all of my walking in any case - just what seemed outside of what's "normal" - but I guess to be sure to still have a deficit my best bet would be to not log it?
  • katatoniczka
    katatoniczka Posts: 29
    I usually count walks that are not part of my usual routine. I don't count sprinting to catch a bus or climbing stairs all day at school because those activities are why I told MFP I was lightly active
  • mickey9694
    mickey9694 Posts: 74 Member
    I never do
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    I walk alot and always count it as exercise. I would look at your daily life without walking and set your activity level for that, then I'd count the minutes you're walking every day. This because some days I walk for 2 hours,others 1 hour, others 1.5 hours and that way I've got a better idea of how much I burn. Also, are you walking in a hilly area? There are alot of people who say not to count walking on MFP, but it is great exercise and burns calories--also gives you great legs, and just recently read that walking fast and swimming are the two best ways to fight celulite. By the way, I used to have more celulite, and now I hardly have any--I'm 59. Good luck to you. Best.
  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
    I am actively on my feet all day. I just set it into my activity and level and forget all about it as it is a PITA to try and log with any accuracy unless you are wearing some sort of fitness gadget.

    You can always manually adjust your calories if you find you are losing too fast (like I did) or not fast enough.
  • Oxxygi
    Oxxygi Posts: 250 Member
    Yes! I wear pedometer. I'm also limited in exercising, but I can walk. When I have time I take long walks for 3h or so and I burn a lot of calories.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    If you were doing those walks prior to trying to lose weight then no I wouldn't count them. Anything I don't do for purposeful exercise doesn't get logged, it is part of my daily activity.
  • RunnerElizabeth
    RunnerElizabeth Posts: 1,091 Member
    I don't. I don't own a car and live in the city. I walk somewhere between 3 and 10 miles a day. My body is used to this. I've been doing it for 12 years or so, long before I had any weight to lose. It's not excercise, it's transportation. I do set my activity setting as lightly active though.
  • ichigomaybridge
    ichigomaybridge Posts: 22 Member
    I walk a lot too. I have a lot of other commitments so I don't often find for exercise as such, but I walk everywhere I can.

    However, I got fed up with logging my walk to work every day, etc., so I added those calories to my base calories so I didn't have to log them. I aim for somewhere between the two for net daily.

    But... if I do something above and beyond normal (eg. walk into town - usually anything more than a mile or so) gets logged separately because that is not included in the base rate. Sometimes, I don't log it though and just take it as 'bonus loss'. :wink:
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,021 Member
    If it's part of your daily life, I would include it in your activity level setting. Your body has probably adapted to walking to and from school, climbing the stairs to your flat, etc., so it is not exercise, in terms of its effects on your body, in the same way that going to the gym and doing an hour of intentional exercise would be. Sure, walking to class burns calories. But walking that is not difficult for you (because you do it every day) is probably not burning as many calories as you think because your body is already efficient at it.
  • jenna40_2go
    jenna40_2go Posts: 101
    I agree it's part of your activity level. I would try to add more walking at a greater pace. I waitress and I have my activity level set for that. I wore the hrm for a small shift just to see what I burn. WOW! 1400+ for just 4 hours. And we weren't even busy!! I don't count it as I am what you would call a career waitress lol. My body is use to being on my feet and moving fast for work. I have to find my exercise elsewhere. It sucks but I have to be honest with myself if I'm going to lose this excess stuff.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    How you account for that activity is completely up to you...you can account for it either in your activity level or you can account for it after the fact and log it. Personally, I include my regular walking in my activity level.
  • alyjb1121
    alyjb1121 Posts: 186 Member
    It's a perfect example of what makes up your activity setting - something you do as part of your daily life / job.
    So no, don't log it as separate exercise but be realistic about choosing an activity setting which reflects that you aren't spending all your time sitting down.

    If you went for an "extra" walk for exercise then you could log that.

    this is exactly what I was going to say. Exercise is defined by that outside of your normal routine, if it is normal for you then it is not getting your heart rate up or pushing you. It should be figured into your activity level when you found your BMR.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,330 Member
    It depends. If you put your activity level in as sedentary you should count it as sedentary would be sitting around all day, not walking as much as you are. If you selected something like lightly active for activity level, then things get a little fuzzier.
  • cllewis737
    cllewis737 Posts: 1 Member
    I do, I use the Endomondo app on my phone, which has a step counter (and syncs with the myfitnesspal app). I only use that for walking farther than a half mile, but I'm very happy with it. I also use it for other exercise (like riding my bike). It will take the calories I burn and add them to the calories available for me for the day. I LOVE that.

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