Not quite exercise - what 'active lifestyle' activities do you enjoy throughout the day?
zibaldize
Posts: 7 Member
I am mostly a lump. I know that purposeful exercise offers more benefits than 'physical activity', but as I begin an exercise regimen, I'd also like to incorporate some less structured activity into my life and further cut back on the amount of time I spend on a couch, in front of a screen.
What sort of things do y'all enjoy? When/where do you fit them into your daily schedules?
What sort of things do y'all enjoy? When/where do you fit them into your daily schedules?
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Replies
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You might like this thread.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p18 -
Walking and listening to podcasts/e-books is a favorite!8
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Thanks! That looks like a good resource.Walking and listening to podcasts/e-books is a favorite!
Any favorites?0 -
I like to walk, take a quick bike ride and do yoga / stretching while watching tv. Sometimes I'll use my rebounder as well.0
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I drink tea between eating times. I have an open concept living room/kitchen area where I can walk in circles while my tea water heats and while the tea steeps. Many times, I'll also walk 4 or minutes before I start the water heating.
I'll also walk in circles any time I use the microwave.4 -
I walk around my house while I'm talking on the phone. A 20 minute catch-up call with my aunt can add up to a lot of steps, and it helps me focus on the conversation because I'm not distracted by the TV or my computer.15
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Housework (vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, doing projects around the house) and yard work (mowing the lawn, raking, gardening, etc). I like to 'exercise' with a purpose and feel it's silly to only include gym workouts or specific exercise workout as my only form of logged exercise. I know some balk at logging housework/yardwork, but as I have my activity set to 'sedentary', housework is not included in my daily calorie count other than the basics of laundry/cooking, etc. I'll match my housework/yardwork calorie count and muscle workout to anyone's walking routine or weight routine.
BTW, I'm also a Stand Up Paddleboarder, so I get plenty of 'structured exercise' too...but I'm usually doing that with a purpose too as I typically train for racing. I say, find something you enjoy doing, and focus on that to get you moving. I get a way better full body workout paddling than most anyone can get in a gym. And it's way more fun.8 -
I like going for walks. It helps me decompress sometimes to get out for a bit and be by myself (and my dog)2
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I walk as a method of transportation.
On Friday, for example, I walked 7 km just getting where I wanted to go throughout the day.
At work, I'll often get up and climb several flights of stairs once or twice a day. I'm doing a bit less of that these days because I'm running more at lunch but I usually get a few in.
If I'm not studying at home, I'll get up during commercials on TV and go do something ... housework stuff.5 -
BTW, I'm also a Stand Up Paddleboarder, so I get plenty of 'structured exercise' too...but I'm usually doing that with a purpose too as I typically train for racing. I say, find something you enjoy doing, and focus on that to get you moving. I get a way better full body workout paddling than most anyone can get in a gym. And it's way more fun.
That does sound like a lot of fun! I loved kayaking as a kid/teen and keep meaning to get back into it, though I'm always planning on doing it after I build up better baseline fitness. Though I guess that's a bit backwards, and starting a sport is as good a way to build up fitness as any.
Also: I have my activity levels set to sedentary for the same reason!1 -
I walk 2-5 miles a day just getting to work3
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Walking to the shops and bringing the groceries home by foot3
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I am mostly a lump. I know that purposeful exercise offers more benefits than 'physical activity', but as I begin an exercise regimen, I'd also like to incorporate some less structured activity into my life and further cut back on the amount of time I spend on a couch, in front of a screen.
What sort of things do y'all enjoy? When/where do you fit them into your daily schedules?
If I'm willing to watch a movie, which I've not been feeling up to doing lately, even though I do, I'll walk before the movie starts, then I'll walk quite a distance towards an eatery after.
If I'm home to watch a movie, I'll work in the skin and/or beauty course treatments, my massages (facial or full-body or both) and my flexibility routines.
ETA: Away from either screen, my unstructured go-tos usually are:- Edible food gardening
- Walking our pup
- Hiking or a quick hard run to clear my mind
- By the boulders meditation
- Knitting chunky blankets for donation
- Playful dance (eg Kizomba/Line dancing) to get in some fun & silly
- Karaoke or sing-alongs with friends typically by the fire
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BTW, I'm also a Stand Up Paddleboarder, so I get plenty of 'structured exercise' too...but I'm usually doing that with a purpose too as I typically train for racing. I say, find something you enjoy doing, and focus on that to get you moving. I get a way better full body workout paddling than most anyone can get in a gym. And it's way more fun.
That does sound like a lot of fun! I loved kayaking as a kid/teen and keep meaning to get back into it, though I'm always planning on doing it after I build up better baseline fitness. Though I guess that's a bit backwards, and starting a sport is as good a way to build up fitness as any.
Also: I have my activity levels set to sedentary for the same reason!
With apologies for veering a little off-topic for your thread: IMO that's actually the best and most straightforward way to build up fitness. If you find a sport you love, it's self-motivating. You'll do it as often as you can. Perhaps you'll find there are particular things you struggle with in the sport (upper body strength, say), and you'll want to do other activities (strength training, say) in order to improve performance at your beloved sport.
That's the good slippery slope, the virtuous cycle. It's exactly what happened to me when I started rowing around 16 years ago as an obese, sedentary, completely out of shape person just out of cancer treatment. It was magic: Changed my life, no exaggeration.11 -
I love to garden. I ran out of room in my garden beds. Fortunately, my across the street neighbor asked me for some help so now I have three new flower garden beds to play with. I also put in a new 12' x 2' x 6" raised bed for vegetables Sunday. Now I can let the strawberries take over one of the 4 x 8 beds and have more room for kale and herbs in the other.
Last fall I put in a circle shade perennial garden under the crab apple tree.
This fall we dug up the strip alongside the driveway and put in ornamental fountain grass.
I also do a little gardening at my neighbor to the right, and have my eye on a bed at my neighbor to my left.
Gardening season is pretty much over here so I'm going to start doing trail maintenance in the woods behind my house. And hiking in the state park. And soon will be snowshoeing! A friend gave a pair to my mom. She was afraid of falling, so gave them to me. These are old wooden ones, so not as efficient as the newer ones, but a great workout and lots of fun. He bought them for $5 at a yard sale.3 -
I enjoy playing basketball, and try to do so 2-3 times per week on my lunch break.
I enjoy riding my bikes, and try to as much as my schedule and the weather will allow.
I enjoy walking/hiking with my dogs, and try to do so a couple of times per week.
I enjoy trail running, and try to do it a couple of times per week.
Those are things I do because I enjoy them. Any training or health or weight loss benefits are bonuses for me.2 -
I just started walking more and driving less.
That was kicked off by starting to track my steps a bit on my phone app. I knew I was sedentary, but didn't think it was as bad as it was. It was bad. Really bad.
So, I started by getting off one train stop early, and walking back to that one in the evenings (the train literally has a stop under my building, so there was hardly any walking to get there!). That was great, but still firmly sedentary, so started walking to the train station from my house rather than taking my scooter. I've since started adding in a walk for my break/lunch that I otherwise never took.
Now I'm consistently over 10K/steps a day with the lunch walk, around 7500 without it. Trying to figure out some good options when the winter rains start, the mall is an option, but I could see that getting boring pretty quick. Not sure how I'll feel about just walking in the rain - I would need some better rain gear LOL.6 -
I volunteer at a couple of equine rescues and take care of / train/ ride horses all day on the weekends it burns more than any of my workouts6
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I like to roller skate and dance around.4
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I am mostly a lump. I know that purposeful exercise offers more benefits than 'physical activity', but as I begin an exercise regimen, I'd also like to incorporate some less structured activity into my life and further cut back on the amount of time I spend on a couch, in front of a screen.
What sort of things do y'all enjoy? When/where do you fit them into your daily schedules?
I don’t know if I would agree that structured exercise offers more benefits than being active. I get PLENTY of activity in my daily life that I don’t need to purposefully exercise. But I do enjoy walking so I do that when I can.
Some ideas:
-parking in the back of the parking lot
-taking the stairs
-deep cleaning the house (I saw a debate on here a few weeks ago laughing at people that record cleaning. But let me tell you 4-6 hours deep cleaning a 3,000+ sq foot house that 4 kids, 4 cats, 1 dog, and a spouse live in, you bet I’m logging that. Now sitting on the playroom floor sorting toys of course I don’t log that)
-yard work (push mowing, raking)
-gardening (weeding, tilling)
-walk the kids to school instead of driving
We live a little more “rustic” aka frugal than most so also:
-bring firewood in from the woods and stacking it
-cleaning animal pens
-shoveling snow in the chicken run
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