Logging various types of activity.....

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all_4_my_son
all_4_my_son Posts: 8 Member
in Getting Started
I have a question, or maybe just need some guidance/advice.....

When you personally log your activity, are you logging exercise only, or do you also log other activity throughout the day, like cleaning house, grocery shopping, etc?

I spend about 4 to 6 hours a week cleaning the house, another 3 grocery shopping (I coupon, so it takes me awhile, LOL) and every day for work, I have to park in a contractor lot that is just a little over a quarter mile to my office building and it takes about 15 minutes to walk from the car, to my cubicle.

I sure would like to log this activity, but feel kind of like its "cheating", since it's normal activity I'm doing anyway. Of course, this would not take the place of my regular exercise activity, which I have set at 3 times a week right now. Also, I would not be "eating back" the calories I burn with the normal daily activity - I'm just logging it to see what I can burn doing regular activities.

Thanks!

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Yeah, it would be cheating. It's already included in the activity level you choose. What you can do is download a step tracker on your phone or purchase a Fitbit/Garmin/etc., that can let you track your activity throughout the day and possibly give you more calories if you do exceed the chosen activity level.
  • DeeWalkz
    DeeWalkz Posts: 12 Member
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    I only log the exercise i do....i include any walking of 20 mins or over and any cardio at the gym but nothing else really
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    all_4_my_son wrote: »
    I have a question, or maybe just need some guidance/advice.....

    When you personally log your activity, are you logging exercise only, or do you also log other activity throughout the day, like cleaning house, grocery shopping, etc?

    I spend about 4 to 6 hours a week cleaning the house, another 3 grocery shopping (I coupon, so it takes me awhile, LOL) and every day for work, I have to park in a contractor lot that is just a little over a quarter mile to my office building and it takes about 15 minutes to walk from the car, to my cubicle.

    I sure would like to log this activity, but feel kind of like its "cheating", since it's normal activity I'm doing anyway. Of course, this would not take the place of my regular exercise activity, which I have set at 3 times a week right now. Also, I would not be "eating back" the calories I burn with the normal daily activity - I'm just logging it to see what I can burn doing regular activities.

    Thanks!

    All of that stuff should just be accounted for in your activity level. Even an activity level of sedentary is going to account for some cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,611 Member
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    I don't log routine daily life activities that I do regularly. For example, in the summer, I don't log normal maintenance yard/garden weeding & watering.

    However, if I do some much more strenuous and unusual thing for a long-ish time period, I wear my heart rate monitor (assuming it's something similar to steady-state cardio), or use a basic and reasonable MFP entry, to log some calories. By "strenuous and unusual thing", I mean moving big rocks for a longer time period (not just one rock!), digging new growing beds, pruning & hand-hauling brush - that sort of thing.

    Around the house, it's hard to think of anything I've logged. If I decided to move all the furniture out of a room to paint it, I might log the furniture-moving. Wouldn't log the painting, though, I'm thinking.

    To me, the key is whether the activity is unusual, and substantial. For someone with a mobility impairment, say, that makes it harder and more strenuous, basic housework that they don't usually do maybe would count. For me, it doesn't.
  • all_4_my_son
    all_4_my_son Posts: 8 Member
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    Awesome! thank you guys for the advice. I totally forgot about the activity level setting in MFP, and that those activities are already included.

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