What do you log as exercise?

Atlantique
Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
edited September 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Personally, I do not log things like housecleaning and cooking and other things that for me, as a relatively healthy person, are 'activities of daily life'. I log purposeful exercise or unusual exercise. So if I take the dog on an hour walk, instead of 15 minutes, I'll log it. If I work out, I'll log it. If I raked the yard for an hour, sure, I'd log it as it is unusual, strenuous and purposeful. I wouldn't log vaccuuming and cleaning and cooking though.

If I were my mom, 130 pounds overweight for 40 years and finding it difficult to take more than a few steps or to walk more than a few feet, I'd probably log differently (log more) as pretty much ANY activity would be new and purposeful.

So what's the 'right' way to log? Does it vary based on your relative size and activity level before you started here? Or should it be the same for everyone?
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Replies

  • Shellz206
    Shellz206 Posts: 97 Member
    I agree with you! Unless its spring cleaning, top to bottom, and you're really working up a sweat, its not exercise.
  • wbgolden
    wbgolden Posts: 2,066 Member
    agreed, completely.
  • Shellz206
    Shellz206 Posts: 97 Member
    I should add that I feel you're only cheating yourself by doing otherwise.
  • RachelJE
    RachelJE Posts: 172
    I generally don't log my daily activities. I am a SAHM to 2 kids who are 1 and 4, so my entire day is on my feet - chasing them, cooking, cleaning. But there have been a couple times when I had extraordinary blocks of time 4+ hours straight of cleaning and NOT SITTING, and more out of curiosity than anything, I checked to see how many calories I might have burned. Pleasantly surprised, I decided to log it!! I mean - go me!! Haha! I had MAJOR surgery Dec. 20th and couldn't even walk up a flight of stairs, so my victories now have different meaning. But I figure there are millions of calories I've burned chasing kids, picking them up, taking them to the park, etc. that don't get logged. I don't get hung up on it.
  • Jess21684
    Jess21684 Posts: 202 Member
    I dont log household cleaning either. To me, thats just simple daily activity and shouldnt count as "excercise" unless its like straight up HARD CORE hours and hours of "unusual" cleaning lol
  • Pedro_Infante
    Pedro_Infante Posts: 116 Member
    I love logging bench pressing my cats!

    Lol!

    Don't mind me! Intense workouts make me a bit loco!
  • lauramaeh
    lauramaeh Posts: 4
    I would never think to log cooking (?!) but I have logged "cleaning" on occasion. For example one day I painted my entire dining room, so I knew that was a good workout. Another time I rearranged furntiure and did major hauling from the basement to the upstairs and counted that as well. So, sort of like you, I feel it needs to be an out-of-the-ordinary chore for it to count as a workout...for me personally.
  • showers1989
    showers1989 Posts: 63 Member
    completely agree. i have seen people say they are logging sex as cardio...i mean really come on now
  • spicegeek
    spicegeek Posts: 325 Member
    Log how you wish - this is just a tool to help you track cals in V cals out

    Personally I don`t log anything I just eat 1200 cals per day with one cheat meal a week - as long as you feel good and the weight is coming off it`s working

    If things stop working - then you need to look at what you are doing
  • muth3rluvx2
    muth3rluvx2 Posts: 1,156 Member
    Me personally, I log anything that I don't do at least 2x a week and/or gets my heart rate sufficiently above normal to constitute a 'workout'. If I'm cleaning my basement or doing load after load after load of laundry (and with kids, you do sometimes), I will log those things because they aren't regular occurrences (although the laundry *should be* - I just get fed up! lol). Yes, I log the ever controversial sex and I don't base that on the amount of time but rather my relative heart-rate (estimated). If its' 10 minutes and there's no heart rate increase for ME, I won't log it. If it's 45 minutes and I'm sweatin' like a friggin' pig - hell ya I log that s***! lol That's a workout and not one I get every day. So that one varies. Groceries - depends on how long it takes and my mood. Generally I don't but once in a while....yeah, I'll put it on there.

    Basically, if my heart rate doesn't go up, I don't log it. If it does, then I do. Seems like a decent and logical rule of thumb to me.
  • suzooz
    suzooz Posts: 720 Member
    I agree. I don't typically include normal housekeeping, but I did include painting as an "exercise." I figured after painting for 8 hours, doing countless lunges, stretches squats, and modified sit-ups (painting trim!) It must be worth something. I had just started exercising, and didn't want to miss a day. However, the Wii Fit program did call me on it! :)
  • beesareyellow
    beesareyellow Posts: 335 Member
    First of all how did you set up your goals. Did you enter yourself as active, sedentary etc.? I would never log normal daily activity, it makes no sense to me. I log workouts of course. I do not log walking the dog since I've walked him for 14 years and still gained weight :P House cleaning and cooking are also not workouts. I enter my walks because they are 6k to 7k long and done with a heart rate monitor to keep up a fat burning pace. I also log weight bearing exercise using the HR monitor to determine calories burned. Hope this helps.
  • Sumo813
    Sumo813 Posts: 566 Member
    If I'm cleaning on the weekend (usually Sunday) I will log if my bodybugg burn is over 100. Otherwise it's not a big deal. I do a fair amount of walking around at work that I don't log (walking from the car in the garage to my cubicle burns about 50 calories, do that 4 times a day on most days, and that's worthy to log, but I dont). I think for some it's just extra motivation and I think that's great.

    I've seen too many people get really worked up about people logging cleaning and stuff. But why should it even matter? It doesnt hurt you, and it helps motivate them. I don't get it. It's just personal preference. Of course, now there is research that focuses on your NON-exercise caloric burns which may prove to be more valuable... below is a great article (and scary, to be quite honest).

    http://www.menshealth.com/health/staying-active?cm_mmc=DailyDoseNL-_-03142011-_-HTML-_-dek
  • muth3rluvx2
    muth3rluvx2 Posts: 1,156 Member
    completely agree. i have seen people say they are logging sex as cardio...i mean really come on now

    Man, if I didn't get a work out from sex once in a while, someone's doin' something wrong! at least... in my world. Who wants a resting heart rate during that? Good lord... I'd be one cranky woman if that were the case. :noway:
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    I should add that I feel you're only cheating yourself by doing otherwise.

    This is where I think it gets fuzzy though: For example, food shopping has my mom in a sweat and in pain for an entire day. It actually IS work for her to be on her feet for an hour. And she avoids it as much as possible! For her, I'd say housecleaning OUGHT to be logged as should walking through the grocery store. Left to her own devices, she walks to the fridge, the bathroom and the bed or a chair and that's about it. Anything else is a real effort.

    But for me, I don't feel like it should be. MFP calculates both our 'minimum calorie goal' as the same basically (outside of weight). That's where it's fuzzy.
  • jwd28
    jwd28 Posts: 765
    I mostly agree with you. I never log shopping, cooking, cleaning - even when I've walked up and down the stairs multiple times because I figure, like you said, its part of daily life. However, I would probably log 15 minutes of dog walking.

    I walk my daughter to school two days/week. It's 20 minutes round trip and I always log it. Logging it helps me stay motivated to walk and not drive ;) her to school. Its good for me and for her.
  • monkeybuttsmommy
    monkeybuttsmommy Posts: 343 Member
    If im sweating im logging it plain and simple. Its physical activity and if your doing it and have not in the past because it seemed to difficult then it should count. I wont feel bad about that and I do not agree its cheating. When your 274pnds and walking a flight of stairs winds you then cleaning your house for a half hour or hour is working out.
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    Back when I lived in a 4th floor walkup, with laundry in the basement, I would have counted that as exercise! LOL 78 steps up and down, at least 10 trips with each laundry day (as how many times do you go down and find the washer or dryer is tied up by your neighbors and have to go back, right?). Had an *kitten* you could bounce quarters off of then, too. Ha!

    I just need to add three floors to my house! LOL
  • monkeybuttsmommy
    monkeybuttsmommy Posts: 343 Member
    Also poo-pooing the idea of anybody using it as acitvity isn't right. Whatever they can do at that time is good. What about the people on this site over 300 pounds and all they can do is maybe clean thier kitchen before getting tired? I dont think its fair to tell them it doesn't count.
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    If im sweating im logging it plain and simple. Its physical activity and if your doing it and have not in the past because it seemed to difficult then it should count. I wont feel bad about that and I do not agree its cheating. When your 274pnds and walking a flight of stairs winds you then cleaning your house for a half hour or hour is working out.

    Woah--we agree more than we disgaree here. Re-read what I've said. I said that for someone that is working hard to meet what a more fit or lighter person might call 'activities of daily life' probably ought to log it. That was actually the basis for my question!
  • Sumo813
    Sumo813 Posts: 566 Member
    Also poo-pooing the idea of anybody using it as acitvity isn't right. Whatever they can do at that time is good. What about the people on this site over 300 pounds and all they can do is maybe clean thier kitchen before getting tired? I dont think its fair to tell them it doesn't count.

    My thoughts exactly. We're all here to motivate. Not bash. That's what Facebook is for. lol
  • muth3rluvx2
    muth3rluvx2 Posts: 1,156 Member
    Also poo-pooing the idea of anybody using it as acitvity isn't right. Whatever they can do at that time is good. What about the people on this site over 300 pounds and all they can do is maybe clean thier kitchen before getting tired? I dont think its fair to tell them it doesn't count.

    ***LIKE*** and ^5! :flowerforyou:
  • muth3rluvx2
    muth3rluvx2 Posts: 1,156 Member
    If im sweating im logging it plain and simple. Its physical activity and if your doing it and have not in the past because it seemed to difficult then it should count. I wont feel bad about that and I do not agree its cheating. When your 274pnds and walking a flight of stairs winds you then cleaning your house for a half hour or hour is working out.

    Woah--we agree more than we disgaree here. Re-read what I've said. I said that for someone that is working hard to meet what a more fit or lighter person might call 'activities of daily life' probably ought to log it. That was actually the basis for my question!

    I don't think she was disagreeing with you so much as acknowledging that this does happen. People DO get criticized for what they log as exercise. So on board with the not fair, don't judge, etc opinions. :)
  • Annie5859
    Annie5859 Posts: 280 Member
    I agree. I don't typically include normal housekeeping, but I did include painting as an "exercise." I figured after painting for 8 hours, doing countless lunges, stretches squats, and modified sit-ups (painting trim!) It must be worth something. I had just started exercising, and didn't want to miss a day. However, the Wii Fit program did call me on it! :)

    I'm going to be painting soon...how did you count the calories for this?
  • monkeybuttsmommy
    monkeybuttsmommy Posts: 343 Member
    I was not commenting on any one post... just stating my opinion and I forgot to write the second comment before I was done. Was not intended to be pointed at any one idividual.
  • Rikkijean
    Rikkijean Posts: 21
    when you first set your goals it asks you how active you are..based on that and how much weight you wanna lose or exercise you plan to do will determin how many calories you can have in a day. so if you are fairly active, all of that has already been calculated for you, nobody should put that in as exercise not to mention your body is already adapted to those activities as a daily routine so it wont get you any results anyways...your body will respond to new motions and cardio....you need to change it up every 3 - 4 weeks to keep your body guessing, you can always go back to other workouts later but as long as you dont let any exercise become too routine...once your body gets used to a routine it gets easier because you've adapted, thats as far as your results will go :frown: ...pushing the norm, getting out of your comfort zone thats what you put in as exersise. also i put i my dog walking on there but only cuz he pulls really hard so it truly is a workout walking him :laugh: ....keep up the good work :flowerforyou: 5397921.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    For the love of God, I never said or implied that some people don't find 'activities of daily life' to be true exercise, nor that they shouldn't log it.

    I didn't poo-poo that. Maybe go back and READ WHAT I WROTE?

    But for someone who wants to lose 20 or 30 pounds, is cooking, shopping or normal housecleaning exercise? I'm not sure.

    Before people jump down my throat, they MIGHT want to ACTUALLY READ THE THREAD.
  • monkeybuttsmommy
    monkeybuttsmommy Posts: 343 Member
    I did read the thread but maybe you didnt. It was not pointed at anybody. You asked if it should be counted someone else commented they thought it was cheating.... I was responding to THAT IDEA. Not any one person.
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    I was not commenting on any one post... just stating my opinion and I forgot to write the second comment before I was done. Was not intended to be pointed at any one idividual.

    Maybe I just took it personally when no personal insult was intended. :embarassed:

    But you and I are really on the same wavelength here. For a larger person who's been inactive for a long time, some things that I personally would not count as exercise really ARE exercise. And I don't see any difference in MFP in how to log or count that. Hence my question on the original post. :frown:
  • leafyq
    leafyq Posts: 21
    My lifestyle is marked as lightly active. I am a student on a large campus (probably half an hour of vigorous walking from class to class, usually an hour of wandering around), and I keep a tidy apartment (generally on my feet for an hour or so a day with that). Those are my lifestyle calories, and are already counted in my net calories. If I had myself marked as sedentary, I'd definitely include those calories.
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