How far do you go to log exercise calories?

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  • LotusF1ower
    LotusF1ower Posts: 1,259 Member
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    Personally, I log only the workouts I do or long walks that I undertake that are not within my normal routine. For instance, if I should take the five mile walk home from work, I will log that, as I usually drive to and from work - however, on the odd occasion, I have used that walk as my exercise for the day. My usual workouts are treadmill runs three times per week.

    I have, in the past, logged gardening, but will no longer do so, I figure gardening calories to be overestimated and any I do burn from that or housework or shopping, will just have to be freebies, adding to my daily calorie burn - I will not keep tabs on it though.
  • LotusF1ower
    LotusF1ower Posts: 1,259 Member
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    Personally, I log only the workouts I do or long walks that I undertake that are not within my normal routine. For instance, if I should take the five mile walk home from work, I will log that, as I usually drive to and from work - however, on the odd occasion, I have used that walk as my exercise for the day. My usual workouts are treadmill runs three times per week.

    I have, in the past, logged gardening, but will no longer do so, I figure gardening calories to be overestimated and any I do burn from that or housework or shopping, will just have to be freebies, adding to my daily calorie burn - I will not keep tabs on it though.
  • think48
    think48 Posts: 366 Member
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    I have seen post on how to enter grocery shopping to sex as exercise, Really? I guess each person to there own. In that case, why not enter your showers or getting dressed. Wasnt you having sex and grocery shopping before? I personally, if it dont happen at the gym or a walk down the road it dont get logged. I dont want to give myself an excuse to eat more. Some days I end up eating my exercise calories, some half, some very few. I am not going to starve myself, nor give myself a reason to say it is okay to eat a bowl of ice cream.
    So many ppl refer to being on a diet on here. Diets DONT work ppl. They are just a temperary fix. If one does not learn and adapt to new eating habits and regular exercise, then one is doomed to gain back what one has worked so hard to lose.
    Another thing how long do some of you sit staring at your computer screen? Been there done that, internet can be so addicting. Kinda glad that I only have access to it on my cellphone at home. Otherwards, I think I would be stuck on Farmville or Yahoo. I am not tring to make anyone mad or hurt feelings. Although if anything I typed hit home, maybe you should take a moment and think why? The truth hurts sometimes.

    Wow. I don't see why it matters so much what others log? This is a nice way to start your entry into the forums.
  • Nich0le
    Nich0le Posts: 2,906 Member
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    To each their own....I tend to agree but remember everyone at MFP are in different stages of making changes in their lives and when they realize that the little bits of life don't help create change and then frustration sets in then they will make bigger efforts to reach their goals but everyone has to start from square one. :wink:

    Personally I do not count anything but my outta breath end up wet with sweat workouts, everything else is just a bonus. Do what keeps you motivated!
  • sillygoose1977
    sillygoose1977 Posts: 2,151 Member
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    Take back what I said. It was rude.
  • rdale8200
    rdale8200 Posts: 18
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    Believe it or not sex makes a huge difference all around. It does burn extra calories, unless you go at if every day in which case it would be part of your daily routine which sounds like it takes all the fun out of it anyway! It also relieves stress which in turn can help reduce caloric intake. If someone wants to log it great! It must have been wonderful. If it bothers you then unfriend them or don't pay attention to their updates! This is supposed to be a supportive community and if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all.
  • ChubbieTubbie
    ChubbieTubbie Posts: 481 Member
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    I don't know...I only have sex once a month, and I work pretty hard to keep him out of my pants, so it's probably exercise. :laugh:

    Seriously, though...I don't log grocery shopping, I do shop for an hour and a half and load and unload tons of stuff once a week though, it's not like it's an 'every day' activity. I do log, however, if we go to the zoo or the aquarium or something and we're walking around for 4 or 5 or more hours. My activity level is set at 'sedentary' though, so walking around for 4 or 5 hours is more calories burned than MFP would normally give me. I don't log the times I carry my kids up and down stairs, to the car/store/etc. and when I carry both boys, I'm lugging around 60 pounds! I usually only count exercise if I'm wearing my HRM and actively set out to exercise, with the exception of those days listed above where I'm walking most of the day.

    But who cares what other people log? Why does it make a difference to you at all??
  • Bobble2610
    Bobble2610 Posts: 40
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    I log everything I don't do on a daily basis...

    Like if I go to an Amusement Park for a full day, that's a day spent walking around (or standing in queues) that would normally be spent on here :p so I count it...

    I usually drive to work, but on the days I take the train, I log my walk to the station, cos it's 15 minutes each way at 4mph (I use a GPS Cardio programme on my phone). I also log walking my girl to school, which I do whenever I'm not at work...

    But hanging washing up, doing dishes, tidying up (which I do ALL the time - having 3 kids is such hard work) I don't log cos they are part of my life and my thoughts are that these might be little extras that I'm picking up without realising it... so if the one extra custard cream puts me 30 calories over on that ONE rainy night, then hey - I've earned it :op
  • scweegie
    scweegie Posts: 59
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    I log most of my acitivity becuase when I set my account up i checked that I sit most of the day. However if you were to check that you were active most of the day you may only log your workouts. Everyone is different.
  • halzuzu
    halzuzu Posts: 60 Member
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    I'd never logged it before, but this weekend I logged cleaning towards my calories. I cleaned for well over 2 hours and worked up quite a sweat and was out of breath. I figured I had to have burned a good amount of calories.
  • anabelle2mince
    anabelle2mince Posts: 13
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    Question, should I enter in all of my exercise, for example I am a cashier at a grocery store, if I stood for 4 hours pushing product across the till and packing peoples gorcery bags, should I count that as exercise? I put it down as fishing from river bank because that was the closest thing that came up. I put only 2 hours down, instead of 4 because I felt like it seemed rather high calorie burnage. What should I be doing? Please PLEASE PLEASE GIVE YOUR INPUT! :)
  • msbanana
    msbanana Posts: 793 Member
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    Question, should I enter in all of my exercise, for example I am a cashier at a grocery store, if I stood for 4 hours pushing product across the till and packing peoples gorcery bags, should I count that as exercise? I put it down as fishing from river bank because that was the closest thing that came up. I put only 2 hours down, instead of 4 because I felt like it seemed rather high calorie burnage. What should I be doing? Please PLEASE PLEASE GIVE YOUR INPUT! :)
    It's your job so I wouldn't count it as "exercise." Make sure your "lifestyle" is set to lightly active- I think that is defined as on your feet most of the day and it MFP will account for that in your calorie alotment up front. What you want to log is ADDITIONAL exercise.
  • bizybeemom
    bizybeemom Posts: 84 Member
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    I'm right there with you! Your normal activities don't usually help with weight loss. I do count heavy yard work, and snow shoveling, because those definately use a significant amount of calories. I work on my feet all day, and I do NOT count that as exercise. Now funny thing, my husband got ahold of my phone and logged "sex" for me to be funny not realizing that ALL my MFP friend could see it! LOL! But I do not log that activity normally! :wink:
  • fancyladymeek
    fancyladymeek Posts: 46
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    Based on what I know about this subject, I think that a lot of people can run into problems with that approach, and that's what I try to point out. First and foremost, all of our methods of tracking both caloric intake expenditure--the food labels, MFP database, HRMs, etc--are imprecise, with an overall error factor of probably at least 20%. In general, people should not be making eating decisions based on an extra 100 or 150 calories supposedly expended on a shopping trip or doing house cleaning.

    The second issue is that "physical activity" is highly variable and it is next to impossible for us to track it on a daily basis. I don't just mean exercise or other large identifiable chunks of activity, but everything we do all day. And it's a pretty large "chunk" of calories--25% or so of our daily "allotment". That shopping trip or housework being logged as "extra" may actually just be maintaining your "average" -- making up for an earlier day when you weren't as active. Human beings tend to be selective in their thinking--we easily remember the house cleaning or the unloading boxes and conveniently forget the day we spent lounging around on the couch.

    A number of studies have shown that A) people tend to overestimate the amount of daily activity they actually perform; B) in response to starting or ramping up an exercise routine, people tend to decrease their casual activity the rest of the day; C) dieters tend to reduce their daily activity; and D) Starting a new job or routine that results in an increase in physical activity often results in a decrease in exercise activity (duration and/or intensity), a compensatory increase in food intake, or both.

    Very informative!!

    I try and over-log food and under-log exercise. I take off at least 5 minutes out of every hour walking to accomodate for the dogs doing their business, me taking gloves/hat/headlamp on/off, waiting for a stop light (although I do walk in place), etc.

    I don't log things like sex, groceries, etc. But I think sometimes folks have physical challenges that makes it so they can't go for a run, or lift weights for 20 mins, etc. Their exercise may be limited to thinks like grocery shopping, etc. If it encourages them, great. If they use it as a way to cheat...well...we're each going to be ready to lose weight and live better on our own time schedule. None of us can force another person to eat/exercise honestly, and since it doesn't affect whether or not we live/exercise honestly, I'm not sure why its a big deal.
  • kmard81
    kmard81 Posts: 212 Member
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    I dont log those kinds of things because I feel like those are just part of my daily activities. The "average" american burns 2,000 a day, and those things are things we all do, so I always assumed they were part of the "average", right? But to each his own! if people want to post evrey little thing, thats their perogative!
  • neebelung
    neebelung Posts: 115
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    Question, should I enter in all of my exercise, for example I am a cashier at a grocery store, if I stood for 4 hours pushing product across the till and packing peoples gorcery bags, should I count that as exercise? I put it down as fishing from river bank because that was the closest thing that came up. I put only 2 hours down, instead of 4 because I felt like it seemed rather high calorie burnage. What should I be doing? Please PLEASE PLEASE GIVE YOUR INPUT! :)
    It's your job so I wouldn't count it as "exercise." Make sure your "lifestyle" is set to lightly active- I think that is defined as on your feet most of the day and it MFP will account for that in your calorie alotment up front. What you want to log is ADDITIONAL exercise.

    I agree, I think this would be the most accurate way tomaccount for your work activity.

    And generally, when in doubt, I'd say don't log it. Better to underestimate your burned calories than over estimate, in my opinion.
  • anacsitham5
    anacsitham5 Posts: 814 Member
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    Personally I don't log daily stuff like vacuuming or doing the dishes, but last weekend I cleaned out two big bedrooms - as two of my five moved out. I rearranged the furniture, picked up all the crap they left laying all over the floor, boxed it all up, heaved it up to the attic, took out garbage, vacuumed, dusted and did 6 loads of laundry (carried down to wash, folded, and carried up to put away). I worked 10 hours and logged it as 2 hours (there were times I stood there looking around, wondering where to start working next). I was physically exhausted. Normally I wouldn't log the 10 minutes it took me to sweep the kitchen floor, but it doesn't mean that people can't. To each his own. If you have a MFP friend that is doing that and it bugs you that much, unfriend them and you won't have to see it anymore.

    I've had people criticize me when they look at my food diary and tell me that my breakfast wasn't "good" enough on a particular day (I was running late and grabbed what I could) or that I shouldn't have had a gin & diet tonic on a Friday night (after working two jobs 8:30-5 and 5:15-11:30, Mon-Fri....I NEEDED IT). Why am I defending myself against people like this? I don't bother anymore.

    The info is there for us to use. Should we criticize someone for logging in a generic apple, when there are specific ones to choose from? As I said, to each his own.

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