Exercise-do you log it all?

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nickisa28
nickisa28 Posts: 116 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So quick question...if I have set my activity level as sedentary shall I log everything like housework, gardening, running after kids etc? I am taking a few months off work so I would class myself as not active but there are days that I don't stop all day. I log my steps through i phone step counter. I'm one of those under estimators iykwim....eg-if went for a swim and 3 different sources told me 3 different amounts for calorie burn, I'd go with the lowest. If I weigh and log my food but end up not eating it all, I won't adjust it. Woul/do you log things like housework and gardening?

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  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I don't log housework... I would log gardening but that's because I don't often do it.
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
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    The activity setting in MFP includes all your normal daily activities like doing dishes, cleaning, cooking...and all that, not just your job.
  • nickisa28
    nickisa28 Posts: 116 Member
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    Capaul42 that's was my thinking...that everyday activities such as those you mentioned but as I'm off work for a few months I'm having a big clear out and doing 'big jobs' everyday so if I spent a day moving around furniture in my sons room, organising their many toy boxes and scrubbing the carpets then went and did some weeding in the garden, I'm not sure it would count that right? Or things like cleaning the car, spending an hour cleaning the oven, using the upholstery cleaner to scrub the couches, painting the kitchen, washing the windows in the conservatory etc. Not basic jobs but more than that. I'm not going out to work so I'm making work for myself at home. Do others log stuff like this and would you?
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
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    I wouldn't. I'd just adjust my activity level to moderately active. I have a fitbit that tracks my activity level so it makes it a bit easier for me, but I've adjusted my activity level a few times due to busier times, and slower ones too.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,737 Member
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    I don't log minor, routine amounts of yard work or housework that I do routinely - I consider that part of my basic activity level, and set the activity level in MFP accordingly.

    Once that's done, I do log major, unusual amounts of those kinds of things.

    For example, I don't log routine watering & weeding in my flower beds, but if I get out there for several hours to do heavier work like major transplanting, digging a new bed, or moving rocks around, I would log that. In winter, I don't log shoveling the few steps to the garage, but if I spend two hours shoveling snow in the driveway, I'd log that.

    I don't log daily household chores, but I might log it if I did an all-day basement cleaning, rearranged the living room furniture & deep-cleaned while doing so, or something similar that's major, time-consuming, and non-routine.

    For me, it all comes down to whether it's part of my routine activity level, or a major departure from it.
  • samchez0
    samchez0 Posts: 364 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I'm set to sedentary cause I have an office job. I don't log things like cleaning or yard work or playing basketball with the kids. I also take a 20 to 30 minute walk most mornings with a coworker that I don't log. Really, if it doesn't get heart rate up, I don't log it.
  • nickisa28
    nickisa28 Posts: 116 Member
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    Thanks guys, I feel a bit clearer on it now and will probably start logging the big jobs now :smiley:
  • SadDolt
    SadDolt Posts: 173 Member
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    if you were doing all that stuff before losing weight, i wouldn't log it in :neutral:
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I don't log things like cleaning, walking my son to school or gardening. But my 8-year-old LOVES playing nerf guns at a nerf arena and ill play too. There's a lot of running and sprinting so I definitely give myself calories for that.
  • JDixon852019
    JDixon852019 Posts: 312 Member
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    I do not log my exercise. If I feel hungry at the end of my day and at my calorie limit, I guilt free grab a healthy snack.
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
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    I only log things that I don't normally do in a normal day [no housework or steps while in the house].
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    nickisa28 wrote: »
    Capaul42 that's was my thinking...that everyday activities such as those you mentioned but as I'm off work for a few months I'm having a big clear out and doing 'big jobs' everyday so if I spent a day moving around furniture in my sons room, organising their many toy boxes and scrubbing the carpets then went and did some weeding in the garden, I'm not sure it would count that right? Or things like cleaning the car, spending an hour cleaning the oven, using the upholstery cleaner to scrub the couches, painting the kitchen, washing the windows in the conservatory etc. Not basic jobs but more than that. I'm not going out to work so I'm making work for myself at home. Do others log stuff like this and would you?

    Honestly, I wouldn't log any of that. I wouldn't even begin to know how many calories i'd burn cleaning the car or washing windows etc etc way too many variables.

    I have a fitbit which automatically syncs with mfp, but if i didn't have a tracker i would only log intentional exercise, which housework is not imo.

  • Sarc_Warrior
    Sarc_Warrior Posts: 430 Member
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    I only log my actual fitness activities. I do not steps or activity such as chores.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,121 Member
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    nickisa28 wrote: »
    So quick question...if I have set my activity level as sedentary shall I log everything like housework, gardening, running after kids etc? I am taking a few months off work so I would class myself as not active but there are days that I don't stop all day. I log my steps through i phone step counter. I'm one of those under estimators iykwim....eg-if went for a swim and 3 different sources told me 3 different amounts for calorie burn, I'd go with the lowest. If I weigh and log my food but end up not eating it all, I won't adjust it. Woul/do you log things like housework and gardening?

    I wouldn't log housework and gardening ... or in my case, things like walking to and from the photocopier, or dashing out to the post office or standing during meetings, or grocery shopping ...

    I just log the things I actually consider "exercise".

  • meritage4
    meritage4 Posts: 1,441 Member
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    I only log fitness activities not daily chores etc. I aslso do not eat back all the exercise calories. Just some.
  • honorthecolors
    honorthecolors Posts: 33 Member
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    I don't log in my estimated calories burned in lifting weights. My Garmin Vivofit tracks my every movement though.
  • fwitsend1277
    fwitsend1277 Posts: 288 Member
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    I don't log any. Tried to for a while but can't be bothered.
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
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    When I started, I didn't even have a pedometer running. I logged all activity because I was coming off complete bedrest and recovering from pericarditis.

    Now I have a pedometer, and I changed my activity to "lightly active". I still mark housework, but I log it as 1 calorie, mostly to track how much I do in a day. I don't count gardening calories if all I do is hold the hose while spending quality time with my tomatoes.. errr.. watering; but if I'm hauling buckets or doing serious weed-pulling I'll count calories for that.

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