Should I count walking as exercise ?
Replies
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kshama2001 wrote: »
I sort of see this as encouraging adding in cooking, doing the laundry, vacuuming, getting ready for work, walking around at work, etc. to be counted as exercise. Its not the same thing, it sounds good, but it does not work that way..
How about for today, we tell OP its ok to log it and eat some of them back, but in the future it is part of the day to day (NEAT) and is included in her calories already.1 -
eveandqsmom wrote: »If your activity level is set to sedentary, I'd count it, but if you're set to lightly active (or more) then I would assume it's covered.
It's still accounted for under sedentary. That's less than a mile and a half, which for me is about 3000-3200 steps.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »
I sort of see this as encouraging adding in cooking, doing the laundry, vacuuming, getting ready for work, walking around at work, etc. to be counted as exercise. Its not the same thing, it sounds good, but it does not work that way..
How about for today, we tell OP its ok to log it and eat some of them back, but in the future it is part of the day to day (NEAT) and is included in her calories already.
But walking around work IS counted as exercise by activity trackers.
Now that I have a FitBit, I no longer log my regular cooking and cleaning, but I do log major cooking sprees for infrequent family gatherings. I'm going to be moving this fall, and I will count the cleaning I do for that.5 -
Depends on your calorie goal, settings, height and weight, and other habits.
I don't count walking but it's because I used the Scooby Calculator to determine my TDEE. I set it as 1-3 hours a week of light exercise. Which is my lunch time walks essentially. So I know they're already accounted for. But more strenuous exercise is not. So I only count fast paced exercises.
MFP's "Sedentary" or "Lightly active" settings are so vague I find them useless. Scooby is much more clear for my lifestyle. MFP could at least provide a user manual that defines what that means more than just what kind of job you have.0 -
I'd count a shopping spree if and only if your daily activity is set to "sedentary"
Fitness trackers count every step, and you start getting extra calories above 5000 steps.
Finally, what is this absurd idea that dancing and mowing the lawn burn nothing extra? DANCING? What do people call standing in one place and wiggling their shoulders a little? Then fine. But I have been doing ballroom and bellydance for years, and that is a tough workout!
And mowing the lawn...I wouldn't say you get much if it's a riding mower on a flat suburban lot, but a push mower is also real workout, particularly if you have a couple acres of hilly land; even a riding mower on hilly terrain activates the core.
Some definitions of "sedentary" defy sense and reek of fitness elitism.10 -
Walking is ABSOLUTELY exercise. I had some minor surgery and have been restricted to walking as exercise temporarily and am still losing weight walking five miles a day vs. the cycling or running I would normally do. Plus, my dog LOVES it and it's good for my spirit to see her so happy so I may just continue with it a couple days a week vs. the short 5-10 minutes I did with her before.5
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kshama2001 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
I sort of see this as encouraging adding in cooking, doing the laundry, vacuuming, getting ready for work, walking around at work, etc. to be counted as exercise. Its not the same thing, it sounds good, but it does not work that way..
How about for today, we tell OP its ok to log it and eat some of them back, but in the future it is part of the day to day (NEAT) and is included in her calories already.
But walking around work IS counted as exercise by activity trackers.
Now that I have a FitBit, I no longer log my regular cooking and cleaning, but I do log major cooking sprees for infrequent family gatherings. I'm going to be moving this fall, and I will count the cleaning I do for that.
These steps calories are counted in the adjustment.. and in the OP we are not talking about a fitness tracker...but look.. I am not here to make an opinion on how you handle your step calories.
But providing OP with the right information so that they can make their own informed decision is.0 -
Bottom line on this OP is, you can either log these types of ancillary activities or you not log them. If after 3 or 4 weeks you aren't losing weight at the pace you want you should stop logging them.
My personal opinion is to only log purposeful exercise and if you lose too fast you can start adding this stuff back in
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Walking is the only exercise I do, so yeah I say count it.4
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I don't know. Having a Fitbit has opened my eyes. I have a lot of kids and a kamikaze toddler and I get 20k steps and 75 flights of stairs each day without leaving the house. Most people only reach that by going to the gym so I do think it depends on the person. If I didn't have a Fitbit I would think I didn't move that much.9
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »NEAT treats dancing and lawn mowing as normal life activities for sedentary people.
NEAT treats clearly sports activities as exercise.
Since I learned that, I've concluded that walking around the grocery store for shopping is not actually a sports activity and I won't log it as exercise any longer.
I started tracking my "net calories" in a spreadsheet August 15. I compare my cumulative calorie deficit, which should predict my weight loss, to my actual weight loss from August 15. I find that there is a discrepancy between the actual and the predicted weight. Partly, that discrepancy is explained by variations in cortisol, sodium, and meal timing. However, that discrepancy is consistently indicating that my claimed calorie burn in exercise (which decreases my net calories) is too high. In an effort to reduce the statistical discrepancy between my expected and actual weight loss, I'm hoping that this decision (to stop logging shopping trips as exercise) will help.
^This. I never bother with walking calories unless I purposefully walked for an hour or so.
And great idea tracking on a speadsheet.0 -
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I'd count a shopping spree if and only if your daily activity is set to "sedentary"
Fitness trackers count every step, and you start getting extra calories above 5000 steps.
Finally, what is this absurd idea that dancing and mowing the lawn burn nothing extra? DANCING? What do people call standing in one place and wiggling their shoulders a little? Then fine. But I have been doing ballroom and bellydance for years, and that is a tough workout!
And mowing the lawn...I wouldn't say you get much if it's a riding mower on a flat suburban lot, but a push mower is also real workout, particularly if you have a couple acres of hilly land; even a riding mower on hilly terrain activates the core.
Some definitions of "sedentary" defy sense and reek of fitness elitism.
I'm with you on fitness elitism. I'm especially annoyed by the "only purposeful exercise counts" attitude. My mom does very little "purposeful exercise" but is extremely non-purposefully active and has to work to stay above Underweight.
I also find it bizarre that there is never any pushback about steps counted with activity trackers yet there is pushback when one takes steps without a fitbit.
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Walkung is the only exercise i do, purposeful walking though. I wouldn't class strolling around the mall, stopping and starting as purposeful exercise.1
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kshama2001 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
I sort of see this as encouraging adding in cooking, doing the laundry, vacuuming, getting ready for work, walking around at work, etc. to be counted as exercise. Its not the same thing, it sounds good, but it does not work that way..
How about for today, we tell OP its ok to log it and eat some of them back, but in the future it is part of the day to day (NEAT) and is included in her calories already.
But walking around work IS counted as exercise by activity trackers.
Now that I have a FitBit, I no longer log my regular cooking and cleaning, but I do log major cooking sprees for infrequent family gatherings. I'm going to be moving this fall, and I will count the cleaning I do for that.
I have the fitbit Alta and i get zero active minutes when i go shopping.It starts tracking walking as exercise/activity after 10 solid minutes of walking, no shuffling or stop start.
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Yes, you count it - but I don't eat back the calories from it....not unless I'm running a 26m marathon each day or something that warrants it.0
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If you walk a lot, I think it's better to account for it by raising your base activity level. 2.4 km in 3 hours is less than 1km/h so I'm not sure you'll find an entry for that. Is "standing" a thing you can log? (I don't log any walking, but have myself listed as lightly active - which may be an underestimate.)0
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I have my activity level set to sedatary, so I track walking. I also use my heart rate monitor to track calories burned while house cleaning - but I clean like a mad woman. I eat back most of the earned calories, since my calorie goal without activity is pretty low (1200).0
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*sedentary0
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