Logging walking to work?

alphagirl82
alphagirl82 Posts: 34
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi MFP friends!

I wanted to get your input here. I have set my profile to sedentary, as I have a desk job and can literally be at it for 12 hours each day. However, I walk to and from work each day (1 mile each way) with a 10+ pound back pack, at a very brisk pace. In addition, I go to the gym 5 days a week and ski, hike, or snowshoe every weekend. I am fine keeping my profile at sedentary and just adding all of the activity I do on an ad hoc basis, however I was wondering I should be logging my two miles of walking every day. What do you guys think?

Replies

  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
    I would. That's an extra 200 calories a day.
  • dlaplume2
    dlaplume2 Posts: 1,658 Member
    That's a hard one. When you do it everyday, it doesn't really work to exert you, the way doing different cardio, at different intensity does. Kind of like a mail man who walks his route all day. Walking does very little to his heart rate for exercise. It's probably not the answer you want to hear, but I wouldn't.

    It's a good thing to do, but I wouldn't log it.
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
    I log my walk to/from work every day and it is about 2km...which I think is around 1 mile. My heart rate gets pretty high and it feels like a good workout afterwards.
  • PrincessLou71186
    PrincessLou71186 Posts: 741 Member
    If it's something you did before you started your journey to lose weight/get fit then I wouldn't.

    Walking to work every day 'helped you' in a sense to gain the weight, logging it and eating back those calories will be counter productive.

    If it's something you have recently started doing then add it as it's not the culprit behind your decision to be here.
  • Ilovedrinkingtea
    Ilovedrinkingtea Posts: 597 Member
    I am set to sedentary and I log everything.

    xx
  • cmw9696
    cmw9696 Posts: 123
    hard to decide...if you do it every day, it is part of your normal routine. Granted, I don't have a mile to walk across my parking lot at work, but I don't count that or the walking I do around the office building...I am also not carrying a pack on my back... I don't think I would log it; it sounds like part of your daily routine.
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
    When you do it everyday, it doesn't really work to exert you the way doing different cardio at different intensity does.
    Walking to work every day 'helped you' in a sense to gain the weight, logging it and eating back those calories will be counter productive.

    That's not the way the "activity level" works.

    A sedentary level assumes that you are using 20% above your BMR on normal day to day activities. The next level up (I forget what it is, Lightly active? is 35%) 20% is just barely above sitting all day and walking back and forth to the bathroom maybe walking from a parking lot. It's not a whole lot of calories above comatose. a BMR of 1400 + 20% is 1680. So 280 calories is all you get for your 24 hours for day to day activities. Anything above that would be recordable.

    Walking for 2 miles would definitely NOT be included in a sedentary activity level.

    That being said, if the OP were to set their activity level to lightly active, then the 2 mile walk would be debateable.
  • junyr
    junyr Posts: 416 Member
    Would you log it if you jogged/ran to work every day? A brisk pace with a 10lb pack twice a day is no different than someone that logs a morning or afternoon jog every day for a mile.

    I'd log it.
  • junyr
    junyr Posts: 416 Member
    If it's something you did before you started your journey to lose weight/get fit then I wouldn't.

    Walking to work every day 'helped you' in a sense to gain the weight, logging it and eating back those calories will be counter productive.

    If it's something you have recently started doing then add it as it's not the culprit behind your decision to be here.

    So I run 10 or 15 miles a week before I joined MFP I shouldn't log those? Is that seriously what you're trying to say?

    This is ridiculous advice.
  • alphagirl82
    alphagirl82 Posts: 34
    Thanks for the input, everyone! To clarify, I have not changed my activity level at all since I joined MFP. I have always been extremely active, so if I used the logic that I should only log the exercise I've added since I started trying to lose weight, I wouldn't be adding anything. I'm really using MFP to track my calorie intake and ensure that I get all of the nutrients I need on a weekly basis and don't under eat while I'm in a weight loss competition (I am extremely competitive, if not for this I'd probably be trying to get by on 600 calories daily, but alas, my nutritionist advised against it.)

    I found Therealangd's input on what "sedentary" truly means extremely informative. That's really the information that I was seeking. For now I'll keep logging the walks. I appreciate hearing everyone's advice though!
  • jaqiswany
    jaqiswany Posts: 76
    Hi MFP friends!

    I wanted to get your input here. I have set my profile to sedentary, as I have a desk job and can literally be at it for 12 hours each day. However, I walk to and from work each day (1 mile each way) with a 10+ pound back pack, at a very brisk pace. In addition, I go to the gym 5 days a week and ski, hike, or snowshoe every weekend. I am fine keeping my profile at sedentary and just adding all of the activity I do on an ad hoc basis, however I was wondering I should be logging my two miles of walking every day. What do you guys think?

    Id say yes, I log all walking outside , ive just come back from walking around the town and ive logged all that . Id say if you are outside in the fresh air log it :-)
  • Srdking
    Srdking Posts: 84 Member
    I would log it, because it's 2 miles. Myself I don't log my daily routines because my body is used to what I do. But anytime I have a few miles under my feet, I always logged it. Walking is great exercise! I walk/jog 5 miles every 2-3 days. Wish I had more time to walk 5 miles more. So I agree with others, I say log it:)
  • nuttyfamily
    nuttyfamily Posts: 3,394 Member
    I walk one mile on my fifteen minutes breaks at work at a 4mph or faster pace. So two miles total. I do it every day and I count it.

    I also have a sedentary work day at a desk.

    I workout five days a week too.

    I've been able to lose and maintain my weight loss counting that.
  • anarose13
    anarose13 Posts: 222 Member
    i would. exercise is exercise no matter what form it comes in and it all counts.
  • Julie2402
    Julie2402 Posts: 126
    Hi, of course you should, walking is an activity, you say you walk at a brisk pace so that will increase your heart rate! It does annoy me a bit when people say walking doesn't do anything, it is a great form of exercise and very beneficial!
  • Nana_Booboo
    Nana_Booboo Posts: 501 Member
    I don't know what to tell you to do, but if it's not "extra", I don't log it.
  • imjessly
    imjessly Posts: 140 Member
    get a fitbit! it will do it all for you! :)
  • timmymon
    timmymon Posts: 304 Member
    I don't log walks like that. If you are going to the gym 5 times a week and are super active like that I think you should be focusing on logging that! Walking is nice, but as humans we should probably just do it more often without trying to benefit from the exercise involved with it.
  • Eleanorjanethinner
    Eleanorjanethinner Posts: 563 Member
    Yup, I was in the same position and I logged my 15 min walk to and from work. And I ate those calories and lost weight. The good thing was, I started to get faster, to walk further and to walk in my lunchbreaks too... :smile:
  • jtcc91
    jtcc91 Posts: 88 Member
    I get in about 30 minutes of walking a day for my daily commute. I don't log it as exercise. Even though I walk at a brisk pace and also with a backpack (though not 10 lbs!), and I get my heart rate up, I just don't count it as exercise because it's something I do every single day. I walk at lunch time or go to the gym and use the elliptical, and I count those as workouts. However, that said, in the back of my mind I like knowing that I did burn a few extra calories that I didn't count on!
  • pinkminy
    pinkminy Posts: 286
    you could wear a HRM and check your heart rate,
  • LoreleiWalks
    LoreleiWalks Posts: 143 Member
    I walk to and from the train station every day, about 2 miles total. I do not log this, and I am set to sedentary. This walk has been part of my routine for many years and I do not consider it exercise, even though it is burning calories. I only log workouts that are done solely for the purpose of fitness. That's just me. I think of the calories burned from my commute as extra insurance for restaurant meal estimates, small tastes of this or that, a breath mint, etc. I would also like to add that I generally eat back all or most of the calories I burn from intentional workouts.
  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    The office building where I work is 1/5 of a mile long. My desk is at one end, and it's not unusual for me to walk to the other end several times a day. I don't log any of that since I do it here and there rather than all at once.

    However, if I were to walk back and forth 5 times all at once, you bet I'd log it.
  • gregavila
    gregavila Posts: 723 Member
    I would...you are moving your body and that is exercise. Doesn't matter whether you do it every day, or we're doing it before you started here. If you take that advice then logging any exercise is crap once you are in an established routine.

    Honestly, I feel there has been a lot of dumb answers on this post...and maybe this is just another.
  • alphagirl82
    alphagirl82 Posts: 34
    Honestly, I feel there has been a lot of dumb answers on this post...and maybe this is just another.

    No, I don't think that your response was dumb. I have decided to log my walks. Since my activity level is set to "sedentary" it's definitely more accurate to add the walks than to leave them out. I track all of my calories consumed down to the 5 calories in my daily fish oil vitamin, why wouldn't I track the calories I expend?
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    Honestly, I feel there has been a lot of dumb answers on this post...and maybe this is just another.

    No, I don't think that your response was dumb. I have decided to log my walks. Since my activity level is set to "sedentary" it's definitely more accurate to add the walks than to leave them out. I track all of my calories consumed down to the 5 calories in my daily fish oil vitamin, why wouldn't I track the calories I expend?

    The other option would be to change your activity levels from sedentary, and then not log it. either way you are probably gaining 200 calories.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories