Standing

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Melampus
Melampus Posts: 95 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have recently signed up to this site having tried some of the competitors. Two of the competitor sites allow "Standing" to be entered as exercise and add a certain number of calories per hour in much the same way as genuine exercise. This is presumably on the basis that for someone whose job consists mainly of sitting that standing uses more energy than sitting.

What are you views on that? If standing does use more energy than sitting how significant is it. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent here.

Replies

  • amdahwd
    amdahwd Posts: 237 Member
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    I do not consider everyday activities as exercise, simply because of the fact that I was also doing those everyday things when I was getting fat. Also, when you set up your account, you indicated whether your lifestyle was sedentary or active and to what degree and therefore your calorie allotment was based on that information already. I think you would be double dipping into the calorie pool if you counted that information twice.
  • Melampus
    Melampus Posts: 95 Member
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    I wasn't intending to try to account for standing at the coffee machine or anything but I am a computer programmer so my job is almost entirely sitting down. I was looking for a way to record, for example, a trip to a zoo or farm park where there is some slow walking and a lot of standing around looking rather than my more usual day of sitting down.
  • wftiger
    wftiger Posts: 1,283 Member
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    Get a pedometer and record the steps/mileage. I have a fitbit and wear it most days (unless i forget) at the end of the day when I go to play on the computer it syncs and records those steps as exercise for me. I think it throws out some just because that should be considered normal daily expenditure but I usually get well over 10,000 a day now so I get credit for all those.
  • morandanny
    morandanny Posts: 18 Member
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    I don't know how you would quantify this, but I think that I am reasonably fit person.

    A few times a year I am called on to work at a trade show where my company would have a stand and we meet current or potential clients or just people browsing the exhibition area.

    We are standing for about 8-9 hours day at these trade shows and I can tell you that I am exhausted at the end each day. So it seems to me that there is some level of calories being burned for such activities.
  • SexyCook
    SexyCook Posts: 2,253 Member
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    My Opinion....Yes you have changed up you eating I assume but your body is not really get a shock from Standing...I never thought of it as a workout...You gained the weight doing this same activity I would look at it that way... Basically...find some other form of activity like walking, mini-workouts(squats, JJ's, situp, pushups) to get some activities going...The best of luck to you...
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    Consider a day at the zoo as bonus calories and don't count it (or eat it back )

    It's daily living - some days you do a little more than others...

    I definitely don't count my once every two weeks grocery shopping for an hour as an hour's walk and eat more because of that....
  • creech6317
    creech6317 Posts: 869 Member
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    When my daughter and I go to events (ren faire, pirate faire) that kind of thing, I log it as walking 2.0 MPH and put in half the amount of time I was at the event. So if I was there for 4 hours I log in 2 hours. I figure it will even out in the end. Better to log to few exercise cals than to go over IMO.

    I hope this is what you were trying to find out.

    Good luck and welcome to MFP.
  • chiera88
    chiera88 Posts: 155
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    i do the same as above. when i go to the mall, i consider it walking super slow pace and put in less time than i actually spent. the key for me is actually remembering when i started/stopped lol
  • SavCal71
    SavCal71 Posts: 350 Member
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    My BFF uses this ... but her normal job is an office job, so she has that setting in her quiz/profile. But, she has a part-time job 2-3 nights a week working at Panera. So not only is she standing, but she's walking almost all night (back and forth). So she enters it as standing. It's really part of her basic setting, but since it's not her fulltime job, it would add too many calories to her base if she edited her job settings.

    I've used it a time or two when I've worked a concession stand fundraiser. I'm normally of the school that if it isn't intended as exercise, then don't count it. But, when I do something really out of the ordinary (concession stands), I'll count it. Housework, yardwork, etc aren't out of the ordinary so I don't do those.
  • SavCal71
    SavCal71 Posts: 350 Member
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    I wasn't intending to try to account for standing at the coffee machine or anything but I am a computer programmer so my job is almost entirely sitting down. I was looking for a way to record, for example, a trip to a zoo or farm park where there is some slow walking and a lot of standing around looking rather than my more usual day of sitting down.

    I use the a gps app to determine the actual distance walked, and then enter that at a 3.0mph pace. But I don't do that unless it's extreme ... like 4-5 hours.
  • RedHotRunner
    RedHotRunner Posts: 850 Member
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    When my daughter and I go to events (ren faire, pirate faire) that kind of thing, I log it as walking 2.0 MPH and put in half the amount of time I was at the event. So if I was there for 4 hours I log in 2 hours. I figure it will even out in the end. Better to log to few exercise cals than to go over IMO.

    I hope this is what you were trying to find out.

    Good luck and welcome to MFP.
    That is exactly what I do too, mostly for amusement parks. Lowest possible speed and half the time actually there.
  • CapeCodSheila
    CapeCodSheila Posts: 40 Member
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    I would enter that a slow walking and just guesstimate about how long you spent actually walking, with some chasing the kids running averaged in. It's not an exact science but it will give you an idea anyway, I think
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    I only count vigorous exercise.
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    I used to only log "real" exercise such as treadmill and weight training. 5 days ago I got a fitbit. I still log the workouts, but I get an additional adjustment if I am more active/burn more calories than they think I should. Most days it has been 500+ calories! I don't eat all of these back, but I do try to net 1000-1200 calories a day
  • MsQt
    MsQt Posts: 793 Member
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    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: What a joke is what I consider it!

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