What "counts" as exercise?

iRun4wine
iRun4wine Posts: 5,126
edited September 19 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi lovely MFP-ers... Just looking for a few opinions:

The last few weeks I have been cleaning out a storage room at work- moving around boxes, taking out trash, etc. In total, I probably have been putting in about 2, possibly 3, hours of this a day. I haven't been entering this in the exercise diary because I don't think it "counts". I understand that I am burning extra calories, but I feel like by putting it in, it's an excuse to earn [eat] extra calories. It's probably anywhere from 150 to 250 calories I burn organizing (that's my best guess- I don't wear my HRM to do it!! :laugh: )

No offense if you are someone who does this, but I just personally choose not to list things like 5 minutes of housework (and 15 calories burned) in the exercise diary because to me, that's not exercise, it's just part of your day sometimes. I want to make sure that I'm not going into starvation mode for burning more than I'm acknowledging and therefore, not eating those calories back. I don't feel extra hungry or anything like that, and actually was at a wedding last weekend and went over on Saturday and Sunday, so it might not hurt me to be extra good this week :wink:

Am I over-thinking it? What do some of you think is best? Thanks :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • kolney
    kolney Posts: 93
    I don't log housework either. But I do log things such as going to the zoo and walking around (albeit slowly) for hours on end.

    i'm not sure if I would log what you are doing as exercise. That's a tough question. Especially b/c it's hard to determine just how much you are burning.
  • belldandy1
    belldandy1 Posts: 264 Member
    Is there any way you could wear your HRM during these activities, maybe just one time. I wore one once at my retail stocking job and was surprised at the results. I was burning way more calories that I thought I was.
  • iRun4wine
    iRun4wine Posts: 5,126
    Yes, I could. It differs day to day depending on how motivated I am (I'm a little...ok a lot... bitter that I even have to do it. I'm basically doing someone else's job that they never bothered to do:grumble: :explode: , but that's a whole other story :laugh: ) So anyhow, it would certainly differ day to day. I just wasn't sure if I wanted this to "count." If so, then I can wear the HRM and see how many calories I'm burning... or, I could wear it tomorrow and see what the result is. If it's significant maybe I should count it, and if not, then I could skip it?
  • Iceprincessk25
    Iceprincessk25 Posts: 1,888 Member
    I'm moving to a new apartment next weekend and you bet yer *kitten* I am counting those calories. I am going to be lifting A LOT of heavy items which is something that I don't do on a normal basis. I am tempted to wear my heart rate monitor just to see what happens.
  • srtakelch
    srtakelch Posts: 24
    I sometimes spend an hour or so setting up conference rooms at the hotel I work at... moving tables, stacking chairs, vacuuming. I work up a sweat sometimes and I feel more tired after my shift on days I do this, so I log it as excecise.

    There is a category called, "cleaning: light-moderate effort" on MFP. I just log that (usually for less minutes than I actually cleaned).

    On busy days, it makes me feel less bad that I worked an 11 hour shift and didn't get a true "workout" in.
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