Okay, I never paid too much attention to calculating the points for exercising. Why might you ask, I've always been "allergic" to exercising and just "knew" I'd never need to calculate this. Well, I've been at a plateau and have tried everything else, ie monitoring the points pies and making sure I get my dairy and healthy oils. The only thing I haven't tried is of course exercising. So, started doing aerobics and well....

When calculating the time spent on this endeavor, do you calculate from start to finish including the "warm up" and "cool down" time? I actually monitor my heart rate at the time and it is in the target zone I'm supposed to achieve for age and resting heart rate.

Which brings me to my second question. I am exercising at a higher level than moderate, but not quite at high, do you average the two multipliers or....?

Any help would be appreciated.

What I do is look at how long I do the warm up and cool down usually together it is about 10 minutes and I count that as a low intensity. I then count the remaining time based on intensity (and even if I am truly based on heart rate and breathing in a high intensity I never fully count it as high) as either moderate or some place in between moderate and high. Add those 2 separate points together for my points.

I do it the same as Kelly...she probably told me how to do it that way in teh first place LOL

I asked my leader about it and she said count it all as Moderate, High whatever including the warm up and cool down. But if I do 30 minutes that makes 1/3 of my workout low. I'm not usually comfortable calling that moderate. So I do like Kelly, warm up and cool down counts as low, then the rest of my workout somewhere between high and moderate. I usually average what my time at high would be and my time at moderate would be. I my aim low somedays b/c I am afraid of giving myself too many points.

Thank you ladies, I wasn't even going to count the darned things. However, I'm a bit afraid that on days where I eat just the target points that I wouldn't be getting enough and short circuiting the whole works.

I like the idea of depositing money in a bank for exercise. I think that would help with motivation a great deal. Thanks for the idea!

So - Does anyone do Yoga - And if so, what type of exercise level is that? How do you account for the points with Yoga? It's not really cardio - but I still get sweaty and feel my muscles working hard?

Any ideas?

While I have never done yoga I would say low intensity...like lifting weights or doing pilates.

Sweat is not a real good indicator of intensity level. It is can help you but only if you know your body. For example even at a high intensity level I rarely sweat heavy where as my husband at a low intensity sweats profusely.