Is constantly walking at work consider exercise?

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mp29hm
mp29hm Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I walk a minute and stand a minute and so on for 90% of my shift, don't know if I should consider it as a workout

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    when you set your activity level, there are these descriptors that describe what kind of work you do...if you're active at work you should set your activity level accordingly.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,571 Member
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    Walking mailmen don't consider it exercise.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • JennieMaeK
    JennieMaeK Posts: 474 Member
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    Personally I don't count any of the walking I do at work as exercise. It's just part of my day. I wear an activity tracker and sometimes if I have a very active day, it gives me additional calories burned, but I don't log it in MFP. I also don't log my 25 walk to work each day.
  • JayRuby84
    JayRuby84 Posts: 557 Member
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    I wear a fitbit while working and do take it into consideration. If I know I've burned a crap ton of calories I will eat a little more (if I'm hungry).
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
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    It's not exercise persay but it does change how many calories you burn. Someone who just sits at a desk all day won't burn as much naturally as someone who is constantly moving. The trick is to figure out how much you burn during those moving times.
  • buckymac
    buckymac Posts: 8 Member
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    My two cents - I believe anything that gets you moving should be counted as exercise. Sometimes we need all the encouragement we can get. I walk an average of 5,000 steps per day (secretary) plus more when I get home, plus 3K+ on a treadmill. which is exercise and which is motivation? As long as we keep moving forward. The older we get, the more we count.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,571 Member
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    buckymac wrote: »
    My two cents - I believe anything that gets you moving should be counted as exercise. Sometimes we need all the encouragement we can get. I walk an average of 5,000 steps per day (secretary) plus more when I get home, plus 3K+ on a treadmill. which is exercise and which is motivation? As long as we keep moving forward. The older we get, the more we count.
    There are lots of people who do physical labor though on a daily basis. Should that be counted as exercise or just normal physical activity due to their work?
    Exercise is for fitness and health and usually people do that because they WANT to, not because it's part of their job.

    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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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    buckymac wrote: »
    My two cents - I believe anything that gets you moving should be counted as exercise. Sometimes we need all the encouragement we can get. I walk an average of 5,000 steps per day (secretary) plus more when I get home, plus 3K+ on a treadmill. which is exercise and which is motivation? As long as we keep moving forward. The older we get, the more we count.

    even with activity level set to sedentary, that accounts for up to 5,000 steps per day...so if you were counting that as exercise and utilizing MFP as designed by eating back calories earned from deliberate exercise, you would be double dipping.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I'm a dance teacher and I use to add my day at work as exercise every day and it really got annoying. It was much easier to change my activity level. What is your activity level set to right now?
  • Larissa_NY
    Larissa_NY Posts: 495 Member
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    buckymac wrote: »
    My two cents - I believe anything that gets you moving should be counted as exercise. Sometimes we need all the encouragement we can get. I walk an average of 5,000 steps per day (secretary) plus more when I get home, plus 3K+ on a treadmill. which is exercise and which is motivation? As long as we keep moving forward. The older we get, the more we count.

    Well, I'm in my late 40s, and when I need to lose weight, actual weight loss is way more motivating to me than logging daily life tasks as exercise would be.

    Now that I think about it, feeling like was so badly off that I deserved a pat on the back for getting up and moving around like a normal human being would just make me sad and demotivated.
  • Clarewho
    Clarewho Posts: 494 Member
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    It's certainly not 'a workout'. I'd consider it an activity of daily living so it should be accounted for in your activity level, then MFP will give you extra calories to cover it. Only enter deliberate exercise.
  • bmele0
    bmele0 Posts: 282 Member
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    Change your activity level to whichever setting fits your lifestyle- lightly active or active. Log purposeful exercise outside of your daily norm. I would say if I took a 30 minute power walk that I didn't normally do, I'd log that as exercise. I hope that makes sense.
  • Pawsforme
    Pawsforme Posts: 645 Member
    edited January 2016
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    I think it's all semantics.

    If you walk a crap ton in the course of your job you're burning more calories than you would if you were sitting, and therefore you're increasing your TDEE.

    If you regularly lift heavy stuff in the course of your job you're building/maintaining muscle.

    To my way of thinking whether we call it "exercise" or not doesn't matter.

    I suspect many people who are active for 30-40 hours a week due to the basic nature of their jobs are probably more fit than those who spend a few hours a week at the gym or running or whatever and think they're all sorts of special because of those few hours.

    FWIW, I would probably approach it as @Clarewho suggests above. Just because it would do away with the need to log.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    penrbrown wrote: »
    It's not exercise persay but it does change how many calories you burn. Someone who just sits at a desk all day won't burn as much naturally as someone who is constantly moving. The trick is to figure out how much you burn during those moving times.

    This.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
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    "Is constantly walking at work consider exercise?" Depends on the level of activity you set. Most people, probably, would have you set your activity level higher than "sedentary" and not count those daily steps as additional "exercise". Exercise, activity level, that by which we call a rose by any other would smell as sweet.

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