Thoughts on logging "exercise"
Replies
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When I mow the grass, I walk it. So I put that in as exercise - it is an acre. Also, I clean houses, and on the days I work very hard cleaning someone else's house, I put that in too. Believe me, it is exercise. The kicker is, though, that MFP takes the exercise calories off of my daily allotment. So if I am on a 1200 calorie day, and do 200 calories worth of exercise - MFP tells me I have 1000 calories left. So, in the end, I guess it doesn't matter after all.2
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I don't log exercise, I let my fitbit and Map my Walk adjust for "ACTIVE" steps. I see the difference in the adjustment from when days I hit my step goal with just everyday normal steps vs the step adjustment I get from actually working out with Zumba/Treadmill/jogging etc. I can hit my step goal but that doesn't mean I logged ACTIVE minutes therefore I am not getting the adjustment in calories burned as I do when I actually work out. I don't eat back exercise calories, but even if I did I certainly wouldn't eat back calories that I supposedly burned while doing every day every day life. And before anyone yells at me for not eating back my exercise calories, I do not weigh and measure every morsel I put into my mouth. (I did in the beginning to get an eye for what a serving size looks like) so I leave those burn calories alone to offset any logging errors. It works for me, I've loss 71lbs doing this over the past 8 months so I must be doing something right.
Doesn't MFP/FitBit already take into account daily calorie burns anyhow? I mean we burn calories when we sleep so I would have to assume these apps already know these things?? Lord knows I am no expert! 0 -
No, I never log such things as unless they are extra strenuous or out of the ordinary routine, I do not consider them as worth logging. I only log my actual workouts and have my activity level set to lightly active to cover my walking and any other more routine movement.0
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Someone on my feed was regularly logging things like "8 hours of activity including cleaning" and then "12 hours of breastfeeding." I politely asked about it and got defriended.10
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"Doing those things" didn't make you fat. Eating too much did. I log mowing the grass, which I did while obese. I log automobile maintenance, which I did while obese. I know I purchased my treadmill while obese and used it a few times while obese. I even occasionally rode my bike while obese. Those things didn't make me obese. Come to think of it, I've been the doer of laundry, dishes, food prep, and floor vacuuming in my home for the past about 10 years since my wife's health troubles became severe. During most of those years I remained obese because I ate too much. Logging these activities now simply tells me when to stop eating.16
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I do not count those items as exercising.
If someone else does, that is fine with me. They might not have as much success if they are eating back calories that are already calculated depending on their exercise level.
My step counter syncs with MFP. In the morning it guesses I am going to earn an extra 400 calories. By the end of the day, it adjusts and I only have 200 earned extra calories.
My fitness tracker said I burned 2349 calories yesterday, with the extra 200 earned calories, MFP calculates that I burn 2149 calories per day with a lightly active lifestyle.0 -
I don't log housekeeping but I also log my workouts so I can look back and see if I'm meeting by fitness goals. I used to, but no longer, adjust my daily calories up based on calories burned during work outs. Washing the dishes or doing laundry isn't going to increase my lung capacity for hiking or improve my body composition so what's the point?
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I have my setting at lightly active. My Apple Watch today says I worked out and burned 630 calories. MFP added 174. I assume the others are part of the "formula" so I don't add my actuals.0
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When I started losing weight here, I was suffering badly with untreated lupus, arthritis, and pericarditis. I barely moved. I began walking a little at a time, only 10 minutes at first. People said "that's not exercise" but I set myself at sedentary and logged anyway to have a record and accountability. I added in housework.. 10 minutes here, 30 there... I logged it all out kept me accountable. I thought the calories burns were a little high so I just cut them in half every day manually. This system worked very well for me ; I lost 80 lbs at the rate predicted by my net calorie deficit (1/2 exercise calories), counting slow walking and housework and gardening.
I switched to using a step counter, which really does the same thing. I mean, the counter doesn't care if I'm out walking my dog or putting away laundry. I now am down 115 lbs and get an average of 15,000 steps a day.
If you log "activity level" as higher than sedentary, or use automatic adjustments from a step counter of any sort, you are really doing the same thing people who count their daily activities as exercise are doing.. You're just doing it automatically.14 -
I've seen some people logging things such as vacuuming, doing laundry, making the bed, etc as "exercise" and I don't see the point. I mean I do all those things too. Always have. But I still got fat doing them so I don't think they should count as exercise calories.
What do you think?
my cousin joined MFP and she logged EVERYTHING - even cooking dinner. it really depends on how you want to log things. in my opinion, if i do the activity every day, or most days, then i do NOT log it. if it is sporadic (such as working in my garden, or walking my dog) which i don't do very often, then i DO log it. i am getting to the point now where i don't even log my weight lifting at the gym because it has become such a part of my normal routine.
by the way, i have lost 39 lbs and the cousin i mentioned hasn't lost any.1 -
I have always been set to sedentary and have always logged things as exercise that others generally don't, judging by the responses here. However, I think that I tend to under-log rather than the other way around. If I spend an entire evening going through my closet and take out every item, sort it, dust, reorganize, vacuum, clean all my baseboards with a damp cloth, and scrub both bathrooms...I will log 60 minutes light cleaning for that night and have a rarely enjoyed snack before bed. If I just vacuum for 9 minutes though, I'll log 9 minutes light cleaning.
I DON'T log things like washing dishes or getting the mail or my normal walking around the office all day at work. I'd also never log the time spent walking around the supermarket, although a few times I've spent the entire day going in & out of shops, garage sales, and flea markets, and I may log that (5-6 hours) as 60 min walking 2.0 mph.
When I go for long & grueling hikes I will log it as walking 3.0 mph and stick with the real time I hiked (i.e., 90 minutes). Same with any other "real" exercise, I use the actual time spent, for those things.
This has worked fine for me. I lost consistently for 2 yrs and now have maintained for 2 yrs so far. I find that if I don't input my exercise and I just eat my "normal" calorie allotment, I struggle with my moods and feeling lightheaded and other issues, and it's better for me to know that on a given day I NEED to eat a little bit more, even if I wasn't swimming laps for an hour straight.4 -
I don't "log" exercise but my Polar watch adjusts my TDEE depending on that days activities.
Sometimes I eat back calories and sometimes I dont. I listen to my body and what I need on any given day. Working so far
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I'm set to "active" and in maintenance. I figure my first 10,000 steps each day are figured in to that status. For each 1000 above that (outside of purposeful exercise) I give myself 30 burned calories, which is generally less than I see adjusted in MFP. I searched calories burned walking and looked at a bunch of websites for info and found info on a credible site. Sometimes, I give myself a little more depending on exertion. Running on a hilly campus to meetings carrying 20-30 pounds of stuff and really getting my heart rate up will give me a few more.
I log my intentional exercise, I track them using a Vivoactive HR and feel the burns are pretty active and consistent. Works for me. Occasionally, I'll log intense gardening or house cleaning when I do it for an hour or so. But that's the rare exception for me.
Bottom line, you need to figure out the CO part that works for you just as much as the CI. If counting housework works within what you're doing then great--keep at it! But you need to be honest with yourself. If those housecleaning calories give you a false deficit, you're not helping yourself in the end. But if they give be you CI wiggle room you need, more power to you!3 -
I think the whole thing is kind of a mental game and you have to do what works for you. I don't log all that stuff, nor do I log my daily walk which gets me about 10,000 steps. Instead, I set myself as lightly active instead of the sedentary that I really am. I like to see the larger amount of calories initially available on my daily food log. Seeing 1200 makes me feel too restricted and since I have more than 1200 calories logged for each day, it makes me feel like a total failure which can set me off on a binge. Yes, I have severe lifelong issues when it comes to food.
Someone else might set themselves to sedentary when they are really lightly active or very active because they want the satisfaction of earning more calories. Whatever keeps you on track.
On the other hand, if you're logging cleaning the toilet as exercise and then wondering why you can't lose weight, you might want to rethink that strategy.3 -
I switched to using a step counter, which really does the same thing. I mean, the counter doesn't care if I'm out walking my dog or putting away laundry. I now am down 115 lbs and get an average of 15,000 steps a day.
If you log "activity level" as higher than sedentary, or use automatic adjustments from a step counter of any sort, you are really doing the same thing people who count their daily activities as exercise are doing. You're just doing it automatically.
EXACTLY.
There is nothing magical about "activity level" and "exercise". They are just multipliers of BMR.
What everyone's arguing about is what activities should be included in a value defined as BMR x 1.25 or BMR x 1.4 or BMR x 1.6 or BMR x 1.8 and whether such a value should include activity XYZ worth KLMNOP calories.
Because that's all that sedentary, lightly active, active, or very active mean. A NUMBER.
Whatever was not captured by the number you chose to set yourself at on MFP should be added in as exercise calories if you actually want to capture your actual CO.
And it really doesn't matter if that was because you were picking your nose.
but if you add too many nose picking calories... then you will over-estimate your CO.
So you better review your logging and choices from time to time and adjust based on reality.
Simplez.6 -
I've seen some people logging things such as vacuuming, doing laundry, making the bed, etc as "exercise" and I don't see the point. I mean I do all those things too. Always have. But I still got fat doing them so I don't think they should count as exercise calories.
What do you think?
I don't log my normal activities as exercise. I do more around the house/yard than I did when I weighed more though. I might log extra heavy chores occasionally but definitely not making the bed.
I think people need to use their own judgement and I never notice what others log.
If they aren't getting the results they want then logging accuracy of food/exercise is something they should look at first.1 -
I think that's nuts to log daily activities because on mfp it will up your calories allowed to be eaten when you log excersizes and if your logging everyday movements your never going to lose weight5
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Veganvibesss wrote: »I think that's nuts to log daily activities because on mfp it will up your calories allowed to be eaten when you log excersizes and if your logging everyday movements your never going to lose weight
If you eat at a deficit you will.
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I don't count housework, because that is part of daily living. I do count mowing or shoveling snow because those really are hard exercises. Walking the dog I count because we go 2-3 miles. I don't enter my step counts, because a lot of those are just part of my lifestyle, like cleaning or shopping and the rest are intentional exercise, so already logged. I count my runs, but generally don't count warm-up or cool-down stretches or yoga unless I am doing only that. 10-15 minutes of stretching isn't going to burn enough calories to be worth counting, and since I'm not perfect on my logging, those few calories will hopefully make up for the honey I put on my cornbread but didn't log, or the oil I used to brown the meat and didn't measure.0
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I switched to using a step counter, which really does the same thing. I mean, the counter doesn't care if I'm out walking my dog or putting away laundry. I now am down 115 lbs and get an average of 15,000 steps a day.
If you log "activity level" as higher than sedentary, or use automatic adjustments from a step counter of any sort, you are really doing the same thing people who count their daily activities as exercise are doing. You're just doing it automatically.
EXACTLY.
There is nothing magical about "activity level" and "exercise". They are just multipliers of BMR.
What everyone's arguing about is what activities should be included in a value defined as BMR x 1.25 or BMR x 1.4 or BMR x 1.6 or BMR x 1.8 and whether such a value should include activity XYZ worth KLMNOP calories.
Because that's all that sedentary, lightly active, active, or very active mean. A NUMBER.
Whatever was not captured by the number you chose to set yourself at on MFP should be added in as exercise calories if you actually want to capture your actual CO.
And it really doesn't matter if that was because you were picking your nose.
but if you add too many nose picking calories... then you will over-estimate your CO.
So you better review your logging and choices from time to time and adjust based on reality.
Simplez.
^^This.
If you think your tracking on intake is not close and you want to compensate, I get that but it's not the way MFP should be working. I use a tracker so this all happens automatically (except I'm renovating right now and don't wear it).2 -
When I first saw this thread with "excercise" in quotes, I was sure the OP was referring to people logging their more bedroom oriented activities as exercise. Which, for the record, I think counts as a 'daily activity', even if it isn't. I definitely don't want to see it announced on the MFP feed.
Regardless, household chores, light yardwork, and normal walking about are already considered in the activity level and it's counterproductive to log them as "exercise".1 -
I don't include cleaning in my exercise but I don't see why it matters if anyone else does, as long as they're meeting whatever goal they have. I stopped logging my long walks with my dog (before I injured myself) in favour of upping my activity level as I don't like the fluctuating calorie allowance, whereas other people will log an hour long walk *shrug*2
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I agree... Daily life activities shouldn't be considered as an exercise. As a rule of thumb, if you don't burn at least 500 calories doing something, don't bother logging it.9
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chesstauren wrote: »I agree... Daily life activities shouldn't be considered as an exercise. As a rule of thumb, if you don't burn at least 500 calories doing something, don't bother logging it.
Lol, what? I'm guessing this is just a personal philosophy? Because I could run 4 miles in 40 minutes & wouldn't burn 500 calories (according to MFP). But you can bet your *kitten* I'm logging that. 16 -
Question: Suppose you have your activity level as "sedentary". What minimum MET value of activity do you log as exercise?competecompetecompete wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »"Doing those things" didn't make you fat. Eating too much did. I log mowing the grass, which I did while obese. I log automobile maintenance, which I did while obese. I know I purchased my treadmill while obese and used it a few times while obese. I even occasionally rode my bike while obese. Those things didn't make me obese. Come to think of it, I've been the doer of laundry, dishes, food prep, and floor vacuuming in my home for the past about 10 years since my wife's health troubles became severe. During most of those years I remained obese because I ate too much. Logging these activities now simply tells me when to stop eating.
Huh?
Question: Suppose one has an activity level set as "sedentary". What minimum value of MET activity should that one log as exercise? This is a serious question. One definition I've read of NEAT in a scholarly paper indicated that "dancing" was part of NEAT, and not to be treated as exercise. Yet, I've had friends here who were professional dancers and logged their hours of practice as 'dance'. That seems to be legit to me, but where should we actually draw the line between a MET value that's really part of NEAT and a MET value that's deliberately exercise? I don't need fitbit users telling me how fitbit handles it. I don't have a fitbit. So, woo me. I just want a real answer.3 -
When I started losing weight here, I was suffering badly with untreated lupus, arthritis, and pericarditis. I barely moved. I began walking a little at a time, only 10 minutes at first. People said "that's not exercise" but I set myself at sedentary and logged anyway to have a record and accountability. I added in housework.. 10 minutes here, 30 there... I logged it all out kept me accountable. I thought the calories burns were a little high so I just cut them in half every day manually. This system worked very well for me ; I lost 80 lbs at the rate predicted by my net calorie deficit (1/2 exercise calories), counting slow walking and housework and gardening.
I switched to using a step counter, which really does the same thing. I mean, the counter doesn't care if I'm out walking my dog or putting away laundry. I now am down 115 lbs and get an average of 15,000 steps a day.
If you log "activity level" as higher than sedentary, or use automatic adjustments from a step counter of any sort, you are really doing the same thing people who count their daily activities as exercise are doing.. You're just doing it automatically.
This pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject, so I won't bother to write a long post.
I'll just add that the ultimate arbiter is the scale. If the scale is performing as expected, it doesn't matter what anyone else is logging. Their system is working for them.9 -
Tried30UserNames wrote: »I think the whole thing is kind of a mental game and you have to do what works for you. I don't log all that stuff, nor do I log my daily walk which gets me about 10,000 steps. Instead, I set myself as lightly active instead of the sedentary that I really am. I like to see the larger amount of calories initially available on my daily food log. Seeing 1200 makes me feel too restricted and since I have more than 1200 calories logged for each day, it makes me feel like a total failure which can set me off on a binge. Yes, I have severe lifelong issues when it comes to food.
Someone else might set themselves to sedentary when they are really lightly active or very active because they want the satisfaction of earning more calories. Whatever keeps you on track.
On the other hand, if you're logging cleaning the toilet as exercise and then wondering why you can't lose weight, you might want to rethink that strategy.
You raise a good point about people having preferences for activity settings. I've been getting over 24K steps a day, but I'm set to sedentary, because I go to bed quite early and simply cannot stand having 200 some odd calories removed from my projected deficit at night.
This has to do with how I have/use MFP synced with Fitbit, I'm set to sedentary maintenance and add exercise calories from Fitbit, then eat however many calories I'd like to create a deficit. It's sort of a daily TDEE method.
Psychologically, I couldn't handle closing out my diary having to leave that many more calories on the table every single day. It would be soul sucking.4
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