Logging Question

Equus3nMom
Equus3nMom Posts: 42 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi there,

I'm an equestrian by profession. I ride and give riding lessons. My question is, though my work is highly physical (I ride at a very high level and it is intense), I don't log it in. Because I'm overweight at this level of activity, I figure my body is adjusted to it.

Does that make sense? I only wonder if I might be setting myself up for problems meeting my caloric requirements. I don't want to get into a "starvation mode" because I'm really burning a lot more than what my logged workouts say.

Experts, give me your opinion on this. Or, lets say, my average is to ride 2 horses per day after I've cleaned the stalls. If I add an extra horse, maybe count that? Or simply count in everything or only the 'extra' workouts I do at the gym on the bike trail or pilates?

Replies

  • jessieleah
    jessieleah Posts: 204 Member
    I'm absolutely not an expert, but from the little knowledge of acquired in the past few months, you shouldn't log daily activity as exercise. I recently learned about TDEE, and when you calculate that, it takes into account your daily activity level in determining how many calories you need to consume to maintain. So I guess my (not very) educated opinion would be to determine your TDEE by taking into account the horse riding. Then shave off a few hundred calories from that to create your deficit.
  • hoyalawya2003
    hoyalawya2003 Posts: 631 Member
    Jessie is spot on, if you want to calculate the TDEE. If you are just using the site as is and letting it calculate your calories, the activity setting is where you would account for it. (You are most definitely not sedentary!) Then you would just log your "extra" exercise.

    And there is no such thing as starvation mode. If you don't get the calories exactly right, worst that will happen is that you will be hungry, cranky, and lose a little too fast, or you won't lose because you overestimated your activity level and/or exercise calories.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    If you're not using TDEE (I'm not), then you can and should add in the horses as exercise OR change your activity level.

    Are you riding for 1 hr? 2? I was a rider for 12 years (about to get back into it), so I know it can be intense. If it were me, I would keep my activity level reflective of my day job (what I do for ~8 hrs daily) and then log all riding separately. You don't have to eat back ALL of your exercise calories. Things like mucking and such are primarily strength (vs cardio) and don't actually burn that much.

    You also don't have to worry about "starvation mode." If you're losing VERY rapidly and cranky/hungry, up your calories. Better to lose slowly and sustainably than aggressively and miserably.
  • Equus3nMom
    Equus3nMom Posts: 42 Member
    Thanks everyone. I figured it wouldn't be counted, but it is intense. 45 minutes per horse and not easy to talk while doing.
    Interesting though about no starvation mode. Everything I knew before said that if you go hungry as in headaches (which I do get sometimes these past few days) that the body does start storing fat because its "starving". Or at the very least it makes it a lot harder to get rid of. I'm targeting belly fat to get under a 35" waist. I was diagnosed pre-diabetic with high cholesterol two weeks ago.

    I'm losing weight and inches though so its working. :-) I'll stick with just logging true exercise not day to day activity.

    Also, noob here.... what is TDEE?
  • jessieleah
    jessieleah Posts: 204 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets


    This explains TDEE and how to find yours.

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