Should I Count Walking Between Classes as Exercise?

sarakelseym
sarakelseym Posts: 14 Member
edited November 7 in Fitness and Exercise
Currently I am a college student, which means that I walk ALL over campus each day. My walking is usually for about 30 minutes a day, at a brisk pace including going up stairs and carrying a heavy bag. My activity level on MFP is currently set at sedendary (little to no activity for the majority of the day), which is true. I'm either at my desk job or sitting in class when I'm not walking to and fro.

With this info in mind, do you think I should count all this walking I do between classes in my exercise diary?

Thanks in advance!
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Replies

  • sheystar
    sheystar Posts: 58
    i count my walk duration from school to house and vice versa which takes about 12 minutes. it's a little hard though because sometimes even when i'm late in the morning, i still have to take a look at my phone before i leave, remember the time and look again when i arrive. i guess you (and i, too) need a pedometer to monitor our walks. or there's this thing called hrm (heart rate monitor) and it well tell you how many calories you burned. i've never really seen one but yea, it might help. :)
  • Rachiepie6
    Rachiepie6 Posts: 423 Member
    A Heart Rate Monitor, or even a pedometer, could benefit you here. HRMs are great!! Or just add 30min of walking on MFP. Whatever floats your boat.

    Best thing about HRMs is their accuracy compared to MFP.
  • sarakelseym
    sarakelseym Posts: 14 Member
    Thanks guys! I was just feeling weird about adding something so simple that I do everyday as "exercise"...but I'm going to look into a heart rate monitor. I use one to work out with my Wii, but it really only works with that system.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
    No - count it as activity.
    The reason is that real exercise needs a certain intensity for a certain length of time for maximum benefit.

    You are cheating yourself.
  • NYCDutchess
    NYCDutchess Posts: 622 Member
    No, because it's like your daily routine, your body is used to it. Exercise should be above what you normally do.
    Like if I count cleaning my house...really, if it were and exercise, then wouldn't I be already fit and skinny?? God knows I do it often enough KWIM?

    Best of luck!
  • meg0013
    meg0013 Posts: 102
    No - count it as activity.
    The reason is that real exercise needs a certain intensity for a certain length of time for maximum benefit.

    You are cheating yourself.

    this.

    i'm a student too but I don't consider my walks between class as exercise. if its something you did as your everyday routine before you started trying to lose weight, i wouldn't count it now.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    No, this should be part of your regular daily activity level and would be captured by MFP in your caloric intake. If you do a lot of walking to and from classes I would suggest changing your activity level from sedentary to light active to account for it.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    A Heart Rate Monitor, or even a pedometer, could benefit you here. HRMs are great!! Or just add 30min of walking on MFP. Whatever floats your boat.

    Best thing about HRMs is their accuracy compared to MFP.

    most likely her HR would not get high enough for long enough to bother with this
  • april522
    april522 Posts: 388 Member
    I would definitely count it. I always count mine since I usually have to go up and down several flights of stairs at the parking deck, 7+ minutes to get to class, which includes another 2 flights of stairs in the building. I wear a HRM (annoying but useful), and usually in a 28-30 time frame of walking around before, during and after class, it shows I burn around 200 calories. That's a pretty significant amount.
  • kirstiey
    kirstiey Posts: 243
    A Heart Rate Monitor, or even a pedometer, could benefit you here. HRMs are great!! Or just add 30min of walking on MFP. Whatever floats your boat.

    Best thing about HRMs is their accuracy compared to MFP.

    most likely her HR would not get high enough for long enough to bother with this

    This is true. Don't count it. It is part of your every day routine. HRM should only be used for intensity workouts.
  • eayal002
    eayal002 Posts: 186
    No - count it as activity.
    The reason is that real exercise needs a certain intensity for a certain length of time for maximum benefit.

    You are cheating yourself.

    ^^^^agreed
  • april522
    april522 Posts: 388 Member
    A Heart Rate Monitor, or even a pedometer, could benefit you here. HRMs are great!! Or just add 30min of walking on MFP. Whatever floats your boat.

    Best thing about HRMs is their accuracy compared to MFP.

    most likely her HR would not get high enough for long enough to bother with this
    Going up 3-5 flights of stairs will get mine up to 154 - 170, depending on the number of stairs.
  • Wisks
    Wisks Posts: 81 Member
    I walk to the train station every morning and then from the train station to my office and then vice versa at night. All told it take a little over an hour and I always wondered if it is something I could count as exercise. From what I've read, I think I should and I am glad I can!
  • sc1572
    sc1572 Posts: 2,309 Member
    I would either do settings as sedentary and then count them, or do what I do as lightly active and don't count them. I walk a lot, and live on a very hilly campus with lots of stairs, but I never used to include it in my exercise, so I just see it as extra. :) However, I workout everyday, and if you're someone who doesn't or can't, maybe a pedometer or HRM would be useful! I have a HRM and love it!
  • neddoh
    neddoh Posts: 116 Member
    I don't add my walks between classes because I do it 5/7 days a week and consider it part of my lifestyle rather than exercise. It's great that you're getting this extra exercise, but I wouldn't add it unless you do a significant amount of walking on top of what is normal.
  • kirstiey
    kirstiey Posts: 243
    People are missing what a HRM is for. If I wore one for a 48hours and subtracted the calories i needed just to survive off of it, and ate the rest I would be HUGE by now. This is not what it is for. It will only accurately measure high intensity workouts, those where your heart rate in in your Min - Max zones for intensity.
  • sc1572
    sc1572 Posts: 2,309 Member
    No - count it as activity.
    The reason is that real exercise needs a certain intensity for a certain length of time for maximum benefit.

    You are cheating yourself.

    ^^^^agreed
    ^Agreed as well!
  • normh545
    normh545 Posts: 81 Member
    if your profile is set to seditary then yes count it because that means your calory goal is the cals you need just sitting down all day
  • Mama_CAEI
    Mama_CAEI Posts: 235
    I would say increase your activity to "lightly active" to account for it. I don't count walking unless it's outside my normal day to day. Example: I have a desk job, so my level is set at sedentary. Every couple of weeks, I spend an entire day shopping, running errands, doing groceries, etc. I log it as however many hours of walking at a moderate pace. If I ran errands every day after work or something like that, then I'd increase my activity level, but since it is "out of the ordinary" I log it as exercise.

    (Sadly, housework also falls into the "out of ordindary" category. :laugh: )
  • myukniewicz
    myukniewicz Posts: 906 Member
    No, don't count it. Its part of daily activity (like cleaning). Only count activities you intentionally plan as exercise, and get you heart rate up.

    ★melissa
  • ryno0618
    ryno0618 Posts: 361
    No - count it as activity.
    The reason is that real exercise needs a certain intensity for a certain length of time for maximum benefit.

    You are cheating yourself.

    ^^^^agreed


    ^Agreed as well!

    further agree!
  • kirstiey
    kirstiey Posts: 243
    Also, if you didn't lose weight by doing your daily activity before, you wouldn't be losing weight doing it now. It is part of your routine so you needed to set your activity level more appropriately. I think you should maybe set it to lightly active and then only log excercise which increases your heart rate. Obviously if you ar every large, then moving around will do this as you are already working with extra weight so this is intensifying the work your heart is doing, so you will burn more cals. (The biggest benefit of being a larger person!)
  • theoneandonlybrookie
    theoneandonlybrookie Posts: 341 Member
    I vote no. This is just regular movement that occurs as part of your daily life. Even when I took a second job cocktail waitressing, I didn't count it as exercise or as a workout. (Who can count anything as exercise that's done in three inch heels?!)
  • kirstiey
    kirstiey Posts: 243
    bump
  • emilyrthompson
    emilyrthompson Posts: 45
    I agree with this. I would count your walking as activity if that's what you want to do, especially if that is all the activity you have time to do each day. You hear all the time, "take the stairs", "park far away from the store" it all adds up. When I was in college, I walked up hills, stairs, and for far walks, you had to walk fast a lot to get to your next class on time. I definitely think it was calorie burning.
  • april522
    april522 Posts: 388 Member
    I would either do settings as sedentary and then count them, or do what I do as lightly active and don't count them.
    This is what I do: I just put my setting as sedentary and count anything I do during the day - such as walking to class, cleaning the house, etc. and wear a HRM to show the accurate calories burned. My school schedule is not consistent throughout the week, and I'm not on campus Saturday and Sunday, so I don't want it reflecting a higher activity level on those days if I put my settings on light activity.

    I go to the gym 4 times a week and use my HRM there as well. My main goal with this is to make sure I am eating the right amount of calories each day. I hit a plateau last year around this time, and it could be that I wasn't counting those 200+ calories I was burning at school, which my schedule then involved even more walking. So far, what I'm doing is working right now, so I'll continue to count calories from walking and various other activities.
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
    Change your settings to active, you can get more calories, and then count real exercise as exercise. college student as well.

    but if you don't wanna do real exercise, by real I mean a formal/organized session, then keep it inactive and eat the lower calories.
  • KimmieBrie
    KimmieBrie Posts: 825 Member
    No - count it as activity.
    The reason is that real exercise needs a certain intensity for a certain length of time for maximum benefit.

    You are cheating yourself.

    This. I don't count my walk to and from the T and office (about 30 mins walking daily) because it's part of my normal routine.
  • kirstiey
    kirstiey Posts: 243
    I think the point above is good. Do what is best for you. If you feel its working then count em and eat em. If you are not losing or gaining, then you know the walking is not really worth counting. We are all different. It is trail and error.
  • sarakelseym
    sarakelseym Posts: 14 Member
    See, okay, this is why I've been so confused about it. My level is at "sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)." Which is true. But then if I don't count my walking that's like, 200 calories I'm burning that I don't count that don't factor in to this sedentary activity level. I guess I could count it as just extra calories I'm burning and not log it and know in my head that that's great...but it's not really as rewarding as actually seeing the difference. And I can tell you personally, walking up three flights of stairs twice a day really does get my heart rate up! And I do exercise 4 times a week on top of my walking...
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