confused...again...

sevfam
sevfam Posts: 76 Member
edited October 3 in Health and Weight Loss
I really am confused about what to log as exercise above and beyond my daily routine? If I dont vacuum everyday, should I log it when I do? Washing the truck? Yard work? Grocery shopping?

I feel like I stay busy all day. I work with 1st and 2nd graders and after school I really stay busy till after dinner. Other than treadmill log in's, should I be loggin more?

Replies

  • Debi907
    Debi907 Posts: 69 Member
    I don't log house or yard work. I consider that part of "living." I also work at school & I know it can be physical at times, but not huge calorie busters. I'm afraid if I start keeping track of every little calorie I burn that I'll be more inclined to eat more. I'll be curious to see what others do.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Just select the appropriate daily activity level - perhaps Active or Very Active in your case, and only worry about logging explicit exercise. It will all average out. Way too much micromanaging involved if you try to log every single daily activity.
  • bevsdietfor2011
    bevsdietfor2011 Posts: 361 Member
    I log whatever little bit of housework I do but I have had 3 back surgeries and can't do a lot so I want every little calorie I burn counted!! LOL I log my walks I take and my housecleaning cause that is about all I get to do besides going to Curves for Women.
    Sorry I am not much help.

    Bev
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I don't log anything except actual workouts, but I also have my activity level set to "lightly active" to make up for all I do, even though I don't do all the same things every day.
  • vettle
    vettle Posts: 621 Member
    it's totally not part of "living". washing dishes, vaccuming, yes - that is barely an effort. But yard work? you burn a lot of calories doing that and MFP does not account for that in your daily burn of activity level. no way. unless you have you activity level set a bit higher, log it all. you need food and energy for all that work!
  • mariasotera
    mariasotera Posts: 29 Member
    Hi,
    To start-I suggest you use a pedometer go for 5000 steps to maintain weight or 10,000 to lose weight daily. That will count your steps For you as you do your daily activities. When you're able to track that - then you can officially start counting in other exercise.
  • SmartFunGorgeous
    SmartFunGorgeous Posts: 699 Member
    I live by myself, so I don't have to do housework every day; since I don't count it in my daily activity, and only do major cleaning once a week (which includes mopping), I DO count it, but if I clean for two hours, I only record one hour, because I figure putting dishes in the dishwasher isn't much of a burn! lol But that works for me since I already have my daily activity set fairly low. It's okay to figure out what works best for you over time. We all have been there, and some us find it necessary to count it, while others don't. It just depends on your lifestyle and what works for you.
  • Janda06
    Janda06 Posts: 168 Member
    I would try and match up your activity level... Lightly active at the very least. Many people think all the daily activity doesn't add up to much but movement is movement. Im just a sahm (LOL) and go to the gym 1hr/5x a week and with my BMF my activity level matches with very active. :)
  • hhcote
    hhcote Posts: 78 Member
    I clean houses for a part time job which I count as exercise (4 hrs straight cleaning). Haven't logged in personal home cleaning, I guess because it's not in a big block of time - a little here, a little there. If I were to spend a straight 4 hrs like a job, then I'd definitely count it. But I hate to clean my own house, so that'll never happen!
  • lovelee79
    lovelee79 Posts: 362
    I only log exercise workouts.
    You need to change your settings to 'very active'.

    Cheers!! :)
  • milaxx
    milaxx Posts: 1,122 Member
    To each his own. My regular housework, even if it's only done weekly I don;t log. The heavy cleaning I log.
  • BetteEdmonson
    BetteEdmonson Posts: 30
    Try wearing a pedometer all day long and see how many miles you end up walking in a day. I have a conversion chart but it doesn't list housework, washing vehicles, etc.

    Bette
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
    mine is set at sedentary so i log everything!
  • LoveMyFour
    LoveMyFour Posts: 13
    I only log stuff I do AS EXERCISE not extra things I do that are just life (like housework, something extra with the kids, etc). If you're usually pretty active, just make sure your activity level reflects that and it will adjusts your calories.
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    I don't log any routine jobs around the house. I gained the weight while mopping floors and pulling weeds and I maintained the weight while mopping floors and pulling weeds. It didn't make a lot sense to me to start counting such tasks as exercise when they never had been.
  • tammihart
    tammihart Posts: 953 Member
    I don't count cleaning my own house but I clean my mothers apartment once a week, I count that. Its more than my daily routine and I get alot done in a little bit of time, (sweeping,mopping,vacuum, scrubbing bathroom, changing sheets etc..) I usually work up a sweat so its above my normal activity when cleaning.
    Other than that I just log workouts and long walks.
  • JacksMom12
    JacksMom12 Posts: 1,044 Member
    I log it for the most part, because I have mine set as sedentary. I am a SAHM at the moment and my 4 month old is only happy when I'm wearing him in his carrier so I always add "walking with infant or 15 lb load" for atleast 30 mins a day since I am constantly pacing around with him. I also add cleaning, both light and heavy and I count a trip to the grocery store as a 2.0 walk, etc. I think that since mine is set at sedentary, it assumes I sit on my *kitten* all day (which some days I do end up doing unfortunately) so I log all the activity I can. I would change mine to lightly active, but there are those days where I am not doing much activity at all...
  • 0PhAtDaDdY
    0PhAtDaDdY Posts: 569 Member
    Anything you normally do, you do not log......Only log the extra's as walking an hour. treadmill, etc.
  • Evermore1971
    Evermore1971 Posts: 6
    I don't log housework because that is part of my normal daily routine. I do however log yard work. I have a rather large yard and a non self propelled push mower. It takes me at least two hours just to mow my front yard and then another half hour to mow the back yard. Then add to that the weed eating and edging and leaf blowing picking up limbs and sticks from the trees and I have put in 3 to 4 hours of hard work. :yawn: Wow! Now I am tired and all I did was type.
  • sewedo1
    sewedo1 Posts: 200 Member
    I log when I vacuum, mop, and when I do gardening/yardwork since I don't do this every day and did not consider these as part of my activity level setting. I do some housework everyday (i.e laundry, dishes, straightening, watering plants) but don't count these as workouts. I also regularly add other forms of activity or exercise such as walking and log these. Today I spent 4 hours helping someone move which included heavy cleaning, heavy lifting and I didn't stop for breaks but I subtracted one hour total (just seemed right to me since I'm sure I wasn't constantly moving), logged 2 hours heavy cleaning and one hour light cleaning. Trust yourself to make wise judgements.
  • havalinaaa
    havalinaaa Posts: 333 Member
    I've been going back and forth about all of this myself. My problem is that most days I am VERY active, but some days I am a total slug and do practically nothing. So I set my daily base calories at 1300 manually and log everything other than the things I do just to get through a day (walking to catch the bus, walking between rooms of the apartment, etc). Everything else I log, dog walks, walking at work, any housework more strenuous than loading/unloading the dishwasher, etc.

    I've only been trying it out for two days but so far it seems to be not too much of a bother and the net calorie counts seem to be more in line with what I feel they should be on a given day. I'm going to try this for a full week and compare it to a full week the old way (with my activity level set at active and only logging the truly above and beyond things I do, like lugging a 2 year old and their stroller up four flights of stairs). I think the # of calories for the week was about right the old way but the daily counts were getting aggravating because I would naturally go under on the days I was less active.
  • irishnightowl81
    irishnightowl81 Posts: 6
    They actually have sections where it says light house work ect. I actually was using another app i think livestrong where when i went out to eat and i put in what i wanted to eat it told me what i would have to do to burn the calories like a hour of shoveling or two hours on the treadmill. There are some things we can do that can burn more calories then just walking and if you know your trying to burn calories say when doing house work your more likley to dance or move faster or put extra effort into what you are doing. When i go shopping i dont put that down unless im making laps around the store to just burn calories which i have done before but when i take care of the kids housework bathing ect i do log it on my other program it even said you loose calories while driving! it had a spot for that as well how many hours you spent in the car! its amazing and every little bit counts
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