Informal exercise

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poolplayershannon
poolplayershannon Posts: 13 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
How do you account for calories burned for informal exercise? I often don't have time to do structured exercise, but try to make my everyday (or not so everyday) activity into exercise by making sure I use good form and get my heart rate up. For example, I spent yesterday cleaning a house; scrubbing bathrooms, walls and floors, getting on and off a step stool to wipe cabinets, clean windows and ceiling fans. Trust me, it was a workout, but there are no options for "household chores" under exercise. Any suggestions?

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  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
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    The closest "exercise" that I could find was Cleaning - light effort and Cleaning - vigorous effort. Try those options and perhaps your calories will be reflected. I tested Cleaning - vigorous for 60 minutes and it gave me 201 calories which seems pretty high, but not outrageously high. So I'd go with those entries and then manually lower it a little bit.
  • poolplayershannon
    poolplayershannon Posts: 13 Member
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    Will do, thanks for the suggestion.
  • nishatay
    nishatay Posts: 67 Member
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    Personally I would just up my activity level from seditary to lightly active and not log informal activities as exercise.
  • Pinnacle_IAO
    Pinnacle_IAO Posts: 608 Member
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    nishatay wrote: »
    Personally I would just up my activity level from seditary to lightly active and not log informal activities as exercise.
    ^^^^
    THIS

    I don't count anything as exercise except exercise, but I have gotten good at estimating the calorie burn performing various sustained activities like mowing the grass or swabbing the deck.



  • poolplayershannon
    poolplayershannon Posts: 13 Member
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    Unfortunately, I have a really lousy metabolism. I actually am a vet tech and usually work 10-11 hour shifts, on my feet and running my tail off. When I tried to set my activity level to suit my job, I lost no weight at all. On my days off, I am busy, but not as physically active as I am at work so I think that was working against me. When I do have an active day off, I like to count it as exercise. I usually don't count it, but it was a long, sustained day of activity. I appreciate the suggestions though.
  • Guns_N_Buns
    Guns_N_Buns Posts: 1,899 Member
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    poolplayershannon wrote: »
    Unfortunately, I have a really lousy metabolism. I actually am a vet tech and usually work 10-11 hour shifts, on my feet and running my tail off. When I tried to set my activity level to suit my job, I lost no weight at all.

    All the more reason to NOT try to log these activities. If you're looking for more calories to eat that extra cookie, I'd actually do a legit work-out that you can track.

  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    poolplayershannon wrote: »
    Unfortunately, I have a really lousy metabolism. I actually am a vet tech and usually work 10-11 hour shifts, on my feet and running my tail off. When I tried to set my activity level to suit my job, I lost no weight at all. On my days off, I am busy, but not as physically active as I am at work so I think that was working against me. When I do have an active day off, I like to count it as exercise. I usually don't count it, but it was a long, sustained day of activity. I appreciate the suggestions though.


    It's possible you're not logging your food accurately and there could be areas where you're unwittingly losing a hundred calories here, two hundred there

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

    Also, consider an activity tracker such as Fitbit to keep track of your daily activity for you
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
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    poolplayershannon wrote: »
    Unfortunately, I have a really lousy metabolism. I actually am a vet tech and usually work 10-11 hour shifts, on my feet and running my tail off. When I tried to set my activity level to suit my job, I lost no weight at all. On my days off, I am busy, but not as physically active as I am at work so I think that was working against me. When I do have an active day off, I like to count it as exercise. I usually don't count it, but it was a long, sustained day of activity. I appreciate the suggestions though.

    Then I would NOT count petty activities like cleaning. You already have a sluggish metabolism. It doesn't burn that many calories and sounds like it's just bringing you up to the baseline of your everyday job.

    The only household chore I have ever logged is gardening, when doing major stuff like digging new flower beds. I also cut down the time logged.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    edited August 2015
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    nevermind.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    I would then look at the kitchen.
    are you weighing everything?
    I was doing good, and then I stalled out. so now I've started weighing everything. Hopefully, that will help get things going again
  • gobonas99
    gobonas99 Posts: 1,049 Member
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    Guns_N_Buns wrote: »
    poolplayershannon wrote: »
    Unfortunately, I have a really lousy metabolism. I actually am a vet tech and usually work 10-11 hour shifts, on my feet and running my tail off. When I tried to set my activity level to suit my job, I lost no weight at all.

    All the more reason to NOT try to log these activities. If you're looking for more calories to eat that extra cookie, I'd actually do a legit work-out that you can track.

    QFT - and I have a crappy metabolism too, due to hypothyroidism (I'm on meds, but I have to be extremely diligent with both food AND workouts). For me, if it is not intentional exercise, I will not count it - it's just a bonus. I still cleaned my house and did yard work when I gained weight. Counting cleaning and yardwork as exercise (even intensive cleaning and the first garden prep of the year) would just be lying to myself.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,855 Member
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    I agree with everything above about food logging accuracy, and leaving a cushion if you think your metabolism is slow. However, a heart rate monitor will give you a better estimate of calorie burn, customized if it lets you set things like age & weight) and they're not ridiculously expensive. Worth spending enough to get a lower-featured good-quality one, though. It's not a perfect estimate of course - but better than MFP.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    There are options, but your biggest danger is eating calories you havent burned.
    You could guesstimate.
    You could create a custom entry
    Change your activity level.

    the one good hing is your body gets 100% of he benefit of whatever you burn, so I wouldnt get hung up about things.
    Ps +1 to all those talking about logging accuracy, thats much more the area you should be looking at.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    edited August 2015
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    I have myself down as moderately active, and that accounts for housework, yard work, and the fact that I'm on my feet most of the day. I log all my exercise as burning "1" calorie. If I burn more than usual, occasionally, good for me, but it doesn't change the fact that my average activity level is what it is. I'm not on a diet. This is the way I'm going to be eating for the rest of my life unless I start gaining weight.
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
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    Wear a fitbit tracker. It takes the guess work out of things. Just let it track your actual activity for the day, sync it with MFP and it will adjust your calorie goal accordingly. Make sure negative adjustments are enabled to account for those sedentary days.

    I do animal husbandry and am very active most of the time. But sometimes on my day off I hardly move. I almost never log exercise.
  • poolplayershannon
    poolplayershannon Posts: 13 Member
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    I'm on meds that mess with my metabolism too, that's why I have myself listed as sedentary to make up for it. Normally, I don't count the things I do everyday as exercise, but I think six hours of scrubbing grout goes above and beyond normal activity. Another friend of mine also recommended a calorie burning app, so I think I'll look it up when I do abnormal activity and log it that way. I'm really careful about all my weighing and measuring and have been losing weight pretty steadily since I started. This will be my new lifestyle, not a diet, so I'm looking at it as a marathon, not a sprint, but I still wouldn't mind that extra treat once in a while when I've had a really active day.

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