Shopping as exercise???
judyvalentine512
Posts: 927 Member
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?
Anyway, in my exercise journal I marked 30 minutes at a slow pace.
Does that seem reasonable?
What are your thoughts?
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Replies
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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.0
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Perfectly reasonable if you're not interested in losing weight. Otherwise, no. Sorry.0
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No.0
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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.0 -
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
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I wouldn't log my grocery shopping as exercise.0
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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...0 -
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.
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Tough crowd(LOL). Thanks, I didn't realize it's already accounted for. I better go out after supper then. Thanks again everyone.0
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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.
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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!0 -
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.0
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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."0 -
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.0
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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
LOL mall walking is a whole different category of sporting!!0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
I typically note it, but I don't eat anything back. Just to keep track of my activity for down the road...0
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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,0 -
judyvalentine512 wrote: »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,
Pick hiking but if you are not losing or losing too fast adjust your calorie burn number. All the numbers are just estimates so keeping accurate calories in and calories out tracking is a must.0 -
the calories burned are calculated by fitnesspal. How do you adjust them?0
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judyvalentine512 wrote: »the calories burned are calculated by fitnesspal. How do you adjust them?
They maybe overstated by as much as 50 to 75%. Reduce the calorie burns on MFP by 75% and track for a few weeks. If you are losing then you got the right number, if not, reduce by another 25%.0 -
judyvalentine512 wrote: »the calories burned are calculated by fitnesspal. How do you adjust them?
MFP makes the number pop up in the box, but you can edit that number. Just delete it and type in your own (50-75% of the number given).0 -
I only count shopping when I go to Ikea and walk an ungodly number of steps over the course of half a day. Then I take only half the time I was actually there and log it as "slow pace". I think it's worth something since I'm on my feet for hours when chances are I would otherwise be on the couch watching YouTube, but should be "discounted" somehow for fear of over estimating exercise calories.0
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kshama2001 wrote: »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."
Sedentary includes everything up to 5,000 steps. Unless she was at Mall of America for the day....I don't think so.
http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/rate-your-activity-level-based-on-steps-per-day/
This is what makes a FitBit or other tracker great. You set your activity level (enable negative adjustments) and sync the tracker to MFP. The FitBit and MFP will track actual differences (+ and -).0 -
Ikea is a whole other ball of wax. I get lost there every time I go. I try to take the shortcuts, but I end up walking in circles. I am there for a minimum of 3 hours every time I go. It's all part of their evil plot to take over the world.
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judyvalentine512 wrote: »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,
If the hiking trail is relatively flat, I just log it as walking. The only time I log something as hiking is if there's climbing or other challenges to deal with along the way (i.e. climbing over logs, climbing over boulders, a bit of a jog down a little slope, carrying a relatively heavy backpack etc.), and then only the lowest calorie choice available.
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judyvalentine512 wrote: »Ikea is a whole other ball of wax. I get lost there every time I go. I try to take the shortcuts, but I end up walking in circles. I am there for a minimum of 3 hours every time I go. It's all part of their evil plot to take over the world.
I've been to IKEA one time and loathed it. We let our daughter go to the in-house childcare there and the fact that there was no direct way to get back to her pretty much gave me a panic attack.0 -
Yeah I would consider it an exercise fer sure especially x mas shopping when u gotta also run and hide from ur brain/spouse or kids0
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