I only count intentional exercise - that is, exercise for the sake of exercise. I don't count cooking, cleaning my house, walking to and from work, etc. - I was doing all of these things before and obviously it wasn't enough! I do count walking the dog, since I walk him between 2 and 6 miles a day and I adopted our dog with the intention of increasing my daily exercise.
I only count exercise that I dress and plan for. I don't count any housework or walks in my flipflops.
I use a pedometer so I know my steps per day but I never give myself extra credit for a good walking/stepping day. I just like that it makes me want to be more active.
Not sure what you mean by "count". Who are you counting for?
I would not say that I exercised for 20 minutes if I was cleaning the bathroom. However, I spent over 3 hours digging, weeding and planting a vegetable garden on Sunday - you bet your booty that was exercise!
What do you mean when you say "count" your exercise? I'm assuming -- and please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here -- that you mean figuring out how many calories are burned during exercise and potentially using the calories used in your daily calorie calculation.
If that's the case, I don't count the exercise calories at all. I go to the gym every day, but feel that the calorie counts utilized seem to be inflated to me and there are so many variables. So, I just do the exercise because I want to get some of this flab toned up and to strengthen my heart.
It would be an interesting experiment to see the average number of calories burned by working men and women in a day doing their full time jobs and then coming home to their full time home jobs.
I second that of elvis and merilung. I only count actual planned exercises, such as aerobics, walks, runs, jogs, weightlifting, crunches, and stuff like that. Basically, if I was doing it before my weight loss, I don't count it. I apparently wasn't doing it enough or it wasn't burning any substantial calories. What I am doing now obviously does. Besides, when we log into MyFitnessPal or LoseIT!, it is assumes we burn "x" amount of calories a day as is between housework, cooking, breathing, sleeping, and whatnot, and is already calculated behind the scenes when it gives us what we could lose if we continue eating X way. There are programs where you can add everything yourself, but do you REALLY want to log every single minute of the 24 hour day depending on what you were doing at that precise time to get a true picture of what you are burning? I didn't think so.
Usually about 8,000 as it's equivalent more or less to 4 miles. But I try to end on a pretty much even number so if I get to 8,100, I go for 9,000 by the end of the day.
I use the word "count" too for exercise so I thought it was funny that both Betsy and Cherrypie asked what you meant.
I never eat calories back (but do use them for "oops" insurance!). And I keep a time log of exercise done, such as 10am-30 minute walk or 5pm-40 minute run. I don't exercise hard enough if I don't track it by time numbers. My goal of exercise a day is between 60-90 minutes.
I count any planned workouts and out of the ordinary physical exertions (like spring/fall yard cleanups, etc.) but not regular housework or things that are part of everyday life. As for eating back exercise calories, if I am hungry I do, if I am not hungry I don't
I count things that get my heart rate up as exercise (brisk walking, lifting, cardio.) That does not include cooking/cleaning/gardening etc. I do a lot of Pilates but I consider that more stretching than a workout workout.
Last edited by SunnySide99; 05-29-2013 at 12:08 PM.
I 'count' my walking at work sometimes. I work in retail and walk at least .5 miles a day...up to 3 miles on busy days. But like the others, I don't think it normally as my planned exercise, unless it is the more extreme amount-like 3 miles.
What do you count as exercise?
