Shopping as exercise???

Options
judyvalentine512
judyvalentine512 Posts: 927 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
When I have a busy day, I can't get out for my walk outside. For instance, today I visited my Mom. She has Alzheimer's, so it's not much exercise involved. Afterward, I had to do groceries. I spent 45 minutes in the store. I absolutely LOVE grocery shopping, so I wander the aisles looking for new and different things.
Anyway, in my exercise journal I marked 30 minutes at a slow pace.
Does that seem reasonable?
What are your thoughts?
«134

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited November 2015
    Options
    No it doesn't seem reasonable. Shopping is a normal lifestyle activity that is part of your NEAT expenditure and thus accounted for when you chose sedentary/lightly active/etc in your profile. Do not log it.
  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
    Options
    Perfectly reasonable if you're not interested in losing weight. Otherwise, no. Sorry.
  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
    Options
    No.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
    edited November 2015
    Options
    shopping is activity...and a big day shopping can improve your NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogensis) and it's important to find ways to improve your NEAT...but it is not "exercise" IMO...I personally view exercise as something that is going to bolster or otherwise help me maintain my fitness level.

    i do all kinds of things to improve my NEAT...i take the stairs...i park as far away from my office building as possible...i walk around the office when i need to talk to people rather than shooting emails or paging them on the phone...i do more activities with my kids like going to the zoo, etc that require me to be on my feet and moving...i park further away from the grocery store rather than driving my car around for 10 minutes looking for that rock star parking...i do all kinds of things to improve my NEAT, but I don't consider them to be "exercise"

    keep in mind that this type of general activity is already accounted for in your activity level...even sedentary is going to account for getting off your butt from time to time. even with my desk job, i put myself as "light active" when i set up my profile because while i do sit at a desk, i'm also up and about as much as possible and pretty much on my feet most of the night when I get home and on my feet pretty much all weekend long.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,670 Member
    Options
    I window shopped for 3 months when my DD was first born because I couldn't bring her to the gym yet. I walked pretty briskly in the malls though doing several laps.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    Options
    I wouldn't log my grocery shopping as exercise.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Options
    judyvalentine512 wrote: »
    When I have a busy day, I can't get out for my walk outside. For instance, today I visited my Mom. She has Alzheimer's, so it's not much exercise involved. Afterward, I had to do groceries. I spent 45 minutes in the store. I absolutely LOVE grocery shopping, so I wander the aisles looking for new and different things.
    Anyway, in my exercise journal I marked 30 minutes at a slow pace.
    Does that seem reasonable?
    What are your thoughts?

    no sorry, this is included as just regular comings and goings...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Options
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    shopping is activity...and a big day shopping can improve your NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogensis) and it's important to find ways to improve your NEAT...but it is not "exercise" IMO...I personally view exercise as something that is going to bolster or otherwise help me maintain my fitness level.

    i do all kinds of things to improve my NEAT...i take the stairs...i park as far away from my office building as possible...i walk around the office when i need to talk to people rather than shooting emails or paging them on the phone...i do more activities with my kids like going to the zoo, etc that require me to be on my feet and moving...i park further away from the grocery store rather than driving my car around for 10 minutes looking for that rock star parking...i do all kinds of things to improve my NEAT, but I don't consider them to be "exercise"

    keep in mind that this type of general activity is already accounted for in your activity level...even sedentary is going to account for getting off your butt from time to time. even with my desk job, i put myself as "light active" when i set up my profile because while i do sit at a desk, i'm also up and about as much as possible and pretty much on my feet most of the night when I get home and on my feet pretty much all weekend long.

    this
  • judyvalentine512
    judyvalentine512 Posts: 927 Member
    Options
    Tough crowd(LOL). Thanks, I didn't realize it's already accounted for. I better go out after supper then. Thanks again everyone.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Options
    judyvalentine512 wrote: »
    Tough crowd(LOL). Thanks, I didn't realize it's already accounted for. I better go out after supper then. Thanks again everyone.

    It's good that you asked. Better to ask now and know not to log it than to log it for weeks and then get stuck weight-wise. :)
  • CrimsonWhite
    CrimsonWhite Posts: 104 Member
    edited November 2015
    Options
    I think that depends on how you have set up your calories/goals. If you are have set yourself up as sedentary and add in all exercise, I see no reason not to, add an estimate to your calorie burn, to see where you are at that day. I mean I wear a fitbit that counts my steps every day. Everyday I aim to get 10,000 steps in. And I've had days where regular work activities, or shopping has gotten me 5000 to 10000 steps (which is not the norm for me). And I could feel it at the end of the day. It may not have been exercise per se, but it burned calories and the fitbit helped me get a feel for what my calorie burn was that day and to keep the amount of calories I have as my TDEE a bit higher by walking those steps, however I could get them. I mean whether you count it as "exercise" or not, the activity burned those calories. Now for actual exercise I also jog several times a week. Those days I usually get in closer to 17000 or more steps in. So trust me, I know what days I've exercised just by looking at my diary.

    So while you might want to make sure to get regular exercise in, to help your cardiovascular fitness/overall fitness, if you're just looking at this as keeping an eye on your "calories out", I see no problem logging it. You just need to be honest and conservative about the burn, if you're going to use that to help you decide your calories in for the day. Hope that helps!
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
    Options
    If your activity level is set to anything other than sedentary, I agree with the other posters. If it is set to sedentary, I don't see the problem with the concept of entering shopping as exercise. The problem I see is that even though you dropped the time down to 30 minutes from 45, I suspect it's still high. Next time you are at the grocery store you could do one trip up and down the aisles to time yourself. I'm pretty sure I could walk my grocery store in under 5 minutes. The rest of your time is standing.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
    Options
    nakedraygun wrote: »
    No.

    Hey
    .\ /.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
    Options
    judyvalentine512 wrote: »
    When I have a busy day, I can't get out for my walk outside. For instance, today I visited my Mom. She has Alzheimer's, so it's not much exercise involved. Afterward, I had to do groceries. I spent 45 minutes in the store. I absolutely LOVE grocery shopping, so I wander the aisles looking for new and different things.
    Anyway, in my exercise journal I marked 30 minutes at a slow pace.
    Does that seem reasonable?
    What are your thoughts?

    Sure, if your activity level is set at Sedentary, I see nothing wrong with logging "Walking, 2.0 mph, slow pace."
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    Options
    OP... I walk to the store to do my shopping which is almost a 2 mile round trip. By the time I get back I have only walked abouy 2 1/2 miles. So only about a 1/2 mile is attributed to the actual shopping. I don't count any of it as exercise. I just mark it off as helping me meet my activity level.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Options
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    I window shopped for 3 months when my DD was first born because I couldn't bring her to the gym yet. I walked pretty briskly in the malls though doing several laps.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    LOL mall walking is a whole different category of sporting!!
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,485 Member
    Options
    I am set at sedentary and wouldn't dream of adding shopping, gardening, window cleaning, washing the car, painting a room, changing a tyre, or any other general activity, even if it is infrequent. It would just skew my week.
    Some days are more active than others, but it is all just part of NEAT.

    Cheers, h.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,127 Member
    Options
    If I go out at lunch and motor through the shops in a mall-walking kind of way, then I count it.

    If I go grocery shopping with my husband and we wander the aisles relatively slowly, I do not count it. Nor do I count housecleaning, laundry, the steps I take to get my coffee at work, etc. etc. I figure what few extra calories I'm burning doing all of that are just bonus calories which might off-set possible errors in logging elsewhere.
  • IILikeToMoveItMoveIt
    IILikeToMoveItMoveIt Posts: 1,172 Member
    Options
    I typically note it, but I don't eat anything back. Just to keep track of my activity for down the road...
  • judyvalentine512
    judyvalentine512 Posts: 927 Member
    Options
    Okay, that settles it. I won't log grocery shopping as exercise anymore. But I do have another 'walking' question.
    Today, instead of walking on the street, I went to one of the hiking trails in town. Now, on my fitnesspal, they have three hiking categories. I chose the cross-country, thinking that was not climbing, some minor changes in elevation, (tripping over rocks and tree roots). I don't eat the calories I earn, it's just fun to see the totals add up.
    What do you consider hiking? I changed it to walking just to be sure,

Categories