Walking calories vs other calorie expenditures

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rose_a_lind
rose_a_lind Posts: 41 Member
edited June 2016 in Fitness and Exercise
Why does taking a steady quick walk (10K steps = to 4.5 miles) in the early morning hours earn me the same amount as an hour of meal preparation at 155 Calories ??? I know it was a much harder workout than the meal prep! It would seems that I might as well stay home and prepare and cook a big meal than take a vigorous 2 hour walk.

The same goes for working in my garden even though there is no description of the type of exercise such as bending, kneeling, hoeing, pulling weeds, pruning, repotting, or dragging the water hose from flower bed to flower bed. How are these calorie expenditures calculated?
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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    They are based on common METS categories.
    Some will be reasonable as they are standard exercises for example - some terribly subjective like gardening, light pruning v. heavy digging will give very different real world calorie expenditure (but very hard to estimate let alone measure).

    I wouldn't log food prep by the way.

    If you weigh about 115lbs then 155 net calories for walking 4.5 miles is reasonable.
  • rose_a_lind
    rose_a_lind Posts: 41 Member
    edited June 2016
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    No really, these item are listed on MFP under "Browse All" in Cardio Exercise. Also, you can find Mowing lawn on a riding mower, Auto Repair, Horse Grooming, Moving household items, Playing musical instrument, Pushing a baby stroller, besides the Gardening, the Cooking and meal preperation. When you enter how many minutes it calculates calories burned w/out a way to really know how much actual energy was expended for the particular activity by an individual.

    My complaint is that each of these items will net you more burned calories minute per minute than Walking, which only gave me 155 minutes for setting the alarm on a Sunday morning to walk 2.5 hours between 5-7:30 am.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,060 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Again, like they are all saying, I wouldn't count things like making dinner...or playing an instrument...or some of that other stuff. Members add exercises to the Exercise database here, just like members add "wrong" food. It's up to you to use some common sense.

    For me, I only add planned exercise that lasts about an hour and that I feel was moderately strenuous. I just use a flat XXX number of calories for an hour of exercise, and all the little things I do in life really don't get counted - like grocery shopping or cleaning the bathtub or washing the dog or doing laundry. That's stuff everyone has to do every day. I can't keep track of all that and I don't think I should.

    Planned exercise = 1 hour.
    XXX calories per hour. Every time, regardless if it's kayaking or swimming or hiking or dancing.
    Then I have a good baseline data set that isn't guesswork or suggested by some random member on a website. I've been at this for nine years. Simplify simplify. Ballpark/big picture. It's impossible to be exact with exercise calories anyway.
  • rose_a_lind
    rose_a_lind Posts: 41 Member
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    Thank you, cmriverside. I see what you mean now. I did not realize the list was from MFP members and not a qualified monitor. It almost seemed that I might as well ride a lawn mower or play a musical instrument then take a vigorous walk.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,060 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Once you enter your own exercise, it will then be in your own little list under your cardio on the Exercise page.

    If you would like your dinner prep to be on there, be reasonable and put it on there...but more like 15-20 calories, not a hundred and some. I just figure it's life, man.

    If I only give myself more food for actual strenuous exercise, I'm more likely to do it. :)

    I came up with my "plan" after trying the same thing you are doing, though. . .entering every little thing. At the time I was trying to buy myself more food. It doesn't work. :(
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    I think you need to apply a bit of common sense here, and balance out your regular level of activity with added exercise.

    I don't think it's completely invalid to have things like cleaning, food prep etc in the database. They aren't things I would generally consider exercise... but for some people who have been very sedentary or are dealing with illness or disability, then cleaning the house for an hour or moving around the kitchen preparing meals might be a whole lot more than they usually do.
    Even playing musical instruments is going to vary so much - I used to play (very badly!) in a community band and there is a world of difference between the flute players who stroll in, take their flute out of their handbag and sit down and play and the drummer who had to lug the kit in and out of the car to the venue, and expend more energy actually playing.

    Last weekend I helped to do a thorough clean of a house that is about to be rented - and that involved, stairs, climbing, reaching, squatting, carrying, moving things etc. Definitely more vigorous than regular cleaning at home, or other things I might do on the weekend like wander round the supermarket etc.
    As it happens, I don't log exercise separately, I just let my Apple Watch adjust calories depending on my level of activity so I didn't have to enter this. If I wasn't using any kind of tracker, I would probably have entered one hour of cleaning (even though I was cleaning for 3 - 4 hours or so).

    It also depends on the activity level you have chosen in MFP. If you are set at "lightly active" or "active" then you have really already accounted for all that kind of movement and more. If you are set at sedentary and the activity is well over and above your regular level of movement then I don't see an issue with adding it.

    Really though, all each of us can do, is to enter things that make sense to us for a month or so and then evaluate the results. If the scale isn't moving as expected, then looking at exercise entered is definitely one area to consider.
  • rose_a_lind
    rose_a_lind Posts: 41 Member
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    Thank you, again, riverside, and pebble. All common sense. I set my activity level at "lightly active" because I had already exchanged being mostly sedentary for a moderately active (Walking) lifestyle after my 49 year old cousin died suddenly from a stroke, and I lost my dear father and mother.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    rose_a_lind wrote: »
    Thank you, again, riverside, and pebble. All common sense. I set my activity level at "lightly active" because I had already exchanged being mostly sedentary for a moderately active (Walking) lifestyle after my 49 year old cousin died suddenly from a stroke, and I lost my dear father and mother.

    Well then, lightly active will already cover the basics. If you chose this setting then it is even more important not to log everyday activities such as cooking, cleaning etc etc
  • rose_a_lind
    rose_a_lind Posts: 41 Member
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    Okay, thank you, Christine, then that is what I will do .
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Walking is much better for your health & fitness than sitting around or playing most musical instruments. That's why I do it.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    Walking is much better for your health & fitness than sitting around or playing most musical instruments. That's why I do it.

    Very good point!

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    rose_a_lind wrote: »
    No really, these item are listed on MFP under "Browse All" in Cardio Exercise. Also, you can find Mowing lawn on a riding mower, Auto Repair, Horse Grooming, Moving household items, Playing musical instrument, Pushing a baby stroller, besides the Gardening, the Cooking and meal preperation. When you enter how many minutes it calculates calories burned w/out a way to really know how much actual energy was expended for the particular activity by an individual.

    My complaint is that each of these items will net you more burned calories minute per minute than Walking, which only gave me 155 minutes for setting the alarm on a Sunday morning to walk 2.5 hours between 5-7:30 am.

    You can also find nonsense like "driving." Just because it's in the database doesn't mean it should be counted or that the calorie burn is anywhere near accurate.

    Sedentary people wash clothes, prepare meals, and mow the lawn. Going for a walk is deliberate exercise that will increase your fitness level.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    ...And just because it's in the data base doesn't make it true, honest or accurate. When logging food or exercise on here, a bit of common sense and double checking if in doubt will heed you well.
  • rose_a_lind
    rose_a_lind Posts: 41 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Being honest is tricky, like when you feel like saying you ate just 1 cookie, when you know you really ate 4. ;-)

    On a happier note, the weather was so fresh this morning, after a rain, I was able to walk 8.5 miles before breakfast.
  • trinabot19
    trinabot19 Posts: 37 Member
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    I really only consider exercise where I know that my heart rate was UP for a significant amount of time...so normal daily activities like cleaning house/laundry/shopping/prepping meals/playing with animals etc.. I dont count in my calories. I will count calories for walking (at a significant pace), jogging, stair running etc because my heart rate is up when I do these activities : )
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    rose_a_lind wrote: »
    No really, these item are listed on MFP under "Browse All" in Cardio Exercise. Also, you can find Mowing lawn on a riding mower, Auto Repair, Horse Grooming, Moving household items, Playing musical instrument, Pushing a baby stroller, besides the Gardening, the Cooking and meal preperation. When you enter how many minutes it calculates calories burned w/out a way to really know how much actual energy was expended for the particular activity by an individual.

    My complaint is that each of these items will net you more burned calories minute per minute than Walking, which only gave me 155 minutes for setting the alarm on a Sunday morning to walk 2.5 hours between 5-7:30 am.

    1. Just because they're in the database doesn't mean you should use them. Your daily crap like cooking dinner is already included in your calorie targets even if you're sedentary...if you're using those, you're double dipping.

    2. It's all an estimate...and I'd say estimates for standing around cooking dinner could well be off...like by a lot.
  • rose_a_lind
    rose_a_lind Posts: 41 Member
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    Yes, Like this morning with my walk, my heart rate was definitely UP. That is 4.5 miles more than I usually walk .
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
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    That's a long walk. Good job.

    Walking is calculated based on a formula of your weight and distance for the most part. You can double check the calories on another site if you want to compare. Perhaps this?

    http://www.mapmywalk.com/improve/calorie_calculator/

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