what exercise should I put in for carrying my groceries home?

Does it involve walking across town carrying a large watermelon on each side? If yes, definitely log it as walking and add the weight you carry to your own weight. If it is walking 2 blocks with 2 bottles of milk, 10 tomatoes and a dozen eggs, do not bother logging anything.

Chieflrg wrote: »

I wouldn't concern too much with added calories in this instance.

This isn't weight training, it's walking with more weight.

A 200# man walks one mile is calculated to be 64 calories burned.
A 210# man walks one mile is calculated to be 67 calories burned.

So if you want to log it differently simply weigh the load and adjust the calorie burn.

What this also demonstrates that as you lose weight your body needs less energy than with more weight.
But what this also shows is that a change of 10lbs doesn't make such big difference, and even 100lbs doesn't.

I think if you want recognition for an activity like that, you would find it motivating to use a fitness tracker with a heart rate monitor. It calculates the calories you burn from 'everyday activities' as well as 'proper exercise' and can feed those into your diary.

@cmriverside If you have one with a heart rate monitor, it will pick up that you're working harder due to carrying a heavier weight.

thelastnightingale wrote: »

I think if you want recognition for an activity like that, you would find it motivating to use a fitness tracker with a heart rate monitor. It calculates the calories you burn from 'everyday activities' as well as 'proper exercise' and can feed those into your diary.

Actually, "estimates" would be more accurate than "calculates".

thelastnightingale wrote: »

@cmriverside If you have one with a heart rate monitor, it will pick up that you're working harder due to carrying a heavier weight.

Depends. I believe some models will go distance-based in whole or part, for outdoor walking. The weight difference is so small, I'm not sure it would register in heart rate, anyway - maybe depend on fitness level. HR for any given activity is variable from day to day anyway; I suspect the HR difference from 20 pounds (or whatever) of groceries might be lost in the noise of that variation.

It sounds like you have a lot of faith in your tracker. If it's been pretty accurate for you, that's understandable. It implies that you're statistically average, or close. Not everyone is. Still a fun device, though, and potentially useful. 🙂

It's worth considering, if you can afford one.

I train/exercise five times a week consisting of 75 to 90 minutes sessions. Four months ago, my family and I adopted two puppies who I walk two miles a day. Additionally, I have a part time job on my feet that adds another 1.5 to two miles a day, with a grand total of five miles on my feet for the days I work.

Trick question: Since adding the daily miles walking with my dog against the background of steps and exercise I already revive, which of these miles do I count as exercise?

Answer: None.

NorthCascades wrote: »

Or that it can tell if your heart rate is elevated because you're carrying groceries vs stressing about something you have to do later?

I'm saying that if you're genuinely huffing and puffing due to carrying heavy groceries as opposed to easily strolling along, your fitness tracker will pick that up. If you're not actually working any harder, then it won't. But the estimate adjustment you get from your tracker is going to be more accurate than picking a random exercise from the MFP library.

@AnnPT77 Apologies, I assumed the estimate was implied. I should have been clearer. I'm fairly confident I weigh, log and calculate to the best of my ability, but human error (and technological error) will always creep into anyone's diary. I just think picking a random exercise from the library is definitely going to be wrong, whereas the calorie burn from a HR monitor is better tailored guess.

I set my activity level at coma patient sedentary and have a very low allowance, so if I waddle a bit, I do get extra calories for movement, given I wear my fitness tracker all the time. Heck, I'd probably get extra calories for carrying groceries...

With some people on this thread, if all they did was carry groceries, they'd probably end up with a negative calorie adjustment, given they clearly have an active activity level. However, if your baseline activity level is very low (and you've told MFP that), and marching home with heavy groceries is unusual for you, yes, you'd get extra for that.

(How much extra is a different question - we might all be arguing the toss in this thread over a single digit amount!)

Edited to add: perhaps just think of it as 'counting steps plus.' I mean, my fitness tracker measures my steps the same, but it can tell when I'm working hard (because I'm running) and when I'm not working at all (because I'm ambling along). If I was struggling with groceries, it would be somewhere in between. I don't get the same adjustment for a walk as I do for a run (over the same distance).