This is gonna sound really stupid!!

I do enter calories burned for cleaning house if it's alot of cleaning.

Does sex count as cardio? How many calories does it burn?


We get this question a lot. And we don't list sex in our cardio tracker for several reasons.

For reference, a cardio workout is anything that raises your heart rate for an extended period of time, usually 20-30 minutes. It works all of the major muscle groups, and you should find yourself sweating and breathing hard during the most intense part of the workout.

Cardio works large muscle groups repetitively (such as how running uses your large leg & arm muscles and swimming uses your whole body). Sex does not typically use major muscle groups (or at least in a full range of motion the way that these examples do).

Cardio must reach a specific level of intensity, meaning that you must elevate your heart rate to an aerobic level and sustain it there—about 60-85% of your max heart rate, or on a Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale (where you estimate how hard you are working on a scale of 1-10, about a 6-8.5). Although you may be breathing heavily during sex, this isn’t necessarily because your heart rate is up. It has more to do with hormones and what’s going on with your nervous system. (Think of how your may breathe harder or feel your heart rate increase if you’re scared—that doesn’t mean you’re getting a cardio workout.)

How many calories you're burning during sex really depends on too many factors. It's like asking "does walking burn a lot of calories?" It depends on your speed, distance, duration, intensity, etc.

Now, if you really feel that your sexual activity meets all of these requirements—although I'd recommend taking your heart rate several times during it to make sure—then you could probably count it as cardio. But according to most calorie counters, the calorie burn is pretty minimal—less than walking and not much more than just sitting. Plus, how accurate is that?

It’s important to distinguish that not all activities are a workout. Sure, being "active" burns more calories than not being active. But just because you’re burning a few additional calories does not mean you are exercising or that you’re receiving the same benefits of a true workout.

Written by Nicole Nichols, B.S. & Certified Fitness Instructor

http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=62

I log in calories for sex. You can get a good work out in during that.:bigsmile:

I log calories burned when I am carrying my son, we live upstairs and everytime I take the dog out he goes with me. So carrying a 25 lb kid for 20mins burns like 84 calories.
And to me 84 calories is 84 calories. LOG IT ALL BABY!!! :drinker:

Personally, I don't log anything that isn't above and beyond what I used to do anyway, such as shopping, extra curricular actiivities with my hubby, etc. I figure if I wasn't at my target weight before when I was doing those things, why should I count it now. Maybe I am thinking about this all wrong?????

I agree Julie! I thought if I am not losing much weight only logging my exercise calories, how would I benefit from logging EVERYTHING else I do and in turn having to eat more????

But I do log in some other things, like healthier_me said- very heavy cleaning, mowing the lawn...that sort of thing.

Personally, I don't log anything that isn't above and beyond what I used to do anyway, such as shopping, extra curricular actiivities with my hubby, etc. I figure if I wasn't at my target weight before when I was doing those things, why should I count it now. Maybe I am thinking about this all wrong?????

I agree also. I feel that if I do something above and beyond my normal day then I earned the right to eat more calories.

lleanak... that is so funny. Your post cracked me up... and created a lot of discussion in my work place :laugh:

Lol! 45 minutes? There isn't enough baseball highlights
in the world for that! :laugh:

lol, funny post.

Remember when you set your goals on this site it asked what your activity level was. That presumably adjusts your daily calorie total accordingly.

So, I'd think you'd only add excercise for things that put you out of that daily activity level. I choose my activity level as sedentary (because of my job), so if I mow the lawn today I'd say that counts as excercise. However, if I had a job that was more physical like a waitress or mailman then my acitivity level would be moderately active and I would say mowing the lawn on the weekend wouldn't count as additional excercise above my stated activity level. It's all about getting those formulas of how many calories you burn correct.

I spent and hour and 45 minutes a little over a week ago in one store just shopping for shoes. Trying them on is a work out in it’s self….all the bending over, stretching, getting up and down and walking around in the shoe. I even started to work up a sweat lol I love shoes LOL
When finished there I went to Wally World. By the time I finished there and got home it was over 2 hours from start to finish at Wally World. So in that one day it was close to 4 hours shopping. I have spent over 8 hours in Wally World before.
About a month ago a very nice department store was having their going out of business sale. I was there most of the afternoon the last 4 days of their sale. The prices kept going down, down, down…… it was great I got a lot of new clothes and dirt cheep at that. I even got shoes for a dollar a pair. During the last half hour before they closed their doors for good I got shoes for 84 cents a pair. I was in shoe heaven lol
All the clothes that I was carrying around got heavy….really heavy. I know I worked off a lot of calories then. It was fun and a workout….of shorts….also.
I know I know it doesn’t take the place of cardio but everything we do does burn calories and I did that for sure.
So folks don’t dread shopping think of it as a work out that is helping you burn some of those calories and just have fun with it…..then go to the gym and do that cardio….and have fun there too.
Life is a trip…..enjoy the journey. :flowerforyou: