What should I enter...

TheKitsune6
TheKitsune6 Posts: 5,798 Member
edited September 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Every Saturday and Sunday I volunteer at an animal rescue and one of my jobs is to clean out the animal stalls. This is tough work and usually means I'm breaking a sweat hauling manure around, raking, shoveling, etc.

I would like to count this as my weekend exercise (I do it for at least half an hour on a light day) since I'm usually too exhausted afterwards (and stinky!) to hit the gym. My problem is... I'm not sure what to enter is as. Any suggestions?

Replies

  • MaryDreamer
    MaryDreamer Posts: 439
    Create your own exercise under cardiovascular and name it whatever you want :)
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    Cleaning, heavy, vigorous effort? Or even "Shoveling Snow". I didn't see anything for heavy effort gardening which was my first guess. Of course, the best option is to get a heart rate monitor to know for sure.
  • Dkittery
    Dkittery Posts: 82
    It sounds like gardening exercise. Your best bet is to get a Heart rate monitor and use it when you’re doing it, that way you know what calories you burn.

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  • Starlage
    Starlage Posts: 1,709 Member
    house cleaning?
  • Samerah12
    Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
    I think there is a yard work/gardening category in the database?
  • Sarahr73
    Sarahr73 Posts: 454 Member
    I would suggest getting a HRM. That is what I use when anytime I do any type of exercise/physical activity that I am counting towards exercise calories. Since I got my HRM I have noticed that MFP is way off from what I burn for some things and others are dead on. They are pretty inexpensive depending on what brand and type you get. I have a New Balance that you wear on your wrist and got it from Target for $39.99.
  • Sarahr73
    Sarahr73 Posts: 454 Member
    I would suggest getting a HRM. That is what I use when anytime I do any type of exercise/physical activity that I am counting towards exercise calories. Since I got my HRM I have noticed that MFP is way off from what I burn for some things and others are dead on. They are pretty inexpensive depending on what brand and type you get. I have a New Balance that you wear on your wrist and got it from Target for $39.99.

    Forgot to mention, count it as housecleaning. I think that would be the easiest.
  • MayhemModels
    MayhemModels Posts: 367 Member
    Cleaning, heavy, vigorous effort, sounds close
  • torregro
    torregro Posts: 307
    I don't yet have a suggestion for you. I spent my day volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and my day was spent up on the roof doing a tear off and starting the shingling. I have NO idea what I burned today, but am thinking of wearing my heart rate monitor tomorrow out of curiosity. It's definitely a departure from my regular days, but I don't want to get carried away with food either.
    Good luck with your volunteer work!
  • makeachange22
    makeachange22 Posts: 151
    shoveling snow
  • celticgirl1787
    celticgirl1787 Posts: 15
    Sounds like cleaning, heavy/vigorous.
  • TheKitsune6
    TheKitsune6 Posts: 5,798 Member
    Thanks guys!

    I'd like to get a heart rate monitor eventually unfortunately I'm a starving student and I don't see the purpose of getting a cheap one if it's going to be inaccurate anyway. So I'm saving my funds :)
  • torregro
    torregro Posts: 307
    Still don't have a definitive answer for you and your animal work, but I *can* tell you that I wore the heart rate monitor yesterday and 45 minutes of stripping shingles off the roof burned 345 calories for me. I would say that's comparable to shoveling and raking work. I wore the monitor the rest of the day and turned it off during the lunch break.
    Approximately 5 hours of roofing, climbing ladders, shingling, etc, burned a total of 1350 calories, and I would say that's a conservative estimate because I was supervising for some of that time.
    I'm 54 and weigh about 133 right now.
    Good luck with your animal work and feel free to EAT! LOL
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