Just a random question I'll throw out there... do you count the calories burned while shopping and journal those as fitness cals?

I'm a SAHM and while I do a lot of getting up and down, for the most part I spend my day sitting on the floor with my daughter and crawling around with her. We get nursing 16hrs a day to help with her care, so typically we have a nurse available from 10pm at night until 2pm in the afternoon, except on the weekends when we just have our night nurse from 10p-6a. I try to get out of the house at least once or twice a week to keep myself sane. Of course, getting out usually involves shopping (although I do plan to join a gym - just haven't picked a good one yet). Depending on the season and what I'm looking for, I can shop for hours. I'm curious if I should journal those as fitness hours. I know many others go walking at night and journal those hrs, so surely there's no difference? Or am I just trying to squeeze the lemon dry here?

Well, you _could_ count those as work out minutes, for sure!

I don't tho, I just take it as a bonus when it comes time to get on the scale


Annie
http://299lbs.wordpress.com/

I do not. However, I have to work out *really* hard to see any results, whereas a lot of people can lose weight through diet alone. So really it's an individual thing. Certainly you are burning calories while you're shopping, but I think you'll find once you join a gym that it won't feel so much like a workout anymore.

I don't count ANY fitness calories. I don't track them at all. How could one? It would be next to impossible to get an accurate count. Those calculators are HIGHLY inaccurate.

I eat what I eat and I burn what I burn. The amount of exercise/activity that I do does NOTHING to change the amount of calories I consume. I keep them totally separate.

I track my calories consumed and exercise on a regular basis as well as trying to stay active.

Certainly the more you move the better it is. The MUCH better it is. There are plenty of at home exercises you can do. Walk Away the Pounds by Leslie Sansone, a set of DVD's comes first to mind. You can also just pop on the radio and dance your fool head off for 20 minutes a few times a week. You could also purchase a resistance band and start doing some strength training. All from your home.

You really do want to get moving. You want all the help you can get in the calorie deficit department. Activity and movement can help - a LOT.

Oh I do! We have a treadmill, exercise bike, ab cruncher, and a gazelle (all from various times when I swore I was going to get healthy).... and of course Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus. It's just a matter of making time to do it. It's not always easy (or even an option) depending on what's going on through the day... had you asked me a month ago if I could find a spare second to walk around the block I would have laughed in your face. Now things are more stable and I have more time.

Time? Oh yes, it's a precious commodity that's for sure.

The thing is, spare time is never ever going to land in our lap. We're not going to all of a sudden have a pocket of free time open up. BUT when something is vital, when it really, really matters, when it's a top priority, we need to MAKE the time for it. We need to carve it out. We need to find it. Pencil it into your day. Break out the appointment book and write it in there. It's really the only way.

Because like we always say around here, if you want it badly enough, you'll find a way, otherwise you'll find an excuse.

Sounds like you've got all the right equipment right at your finger tips. How fortunate for you. Now go and set up some kind of exercise schedule. You won't regret it once you start doing it. I'm sure of it. I look forward to hearing of your progress.

doing errands and shopping etc. fall into the "activities of daily living" and like everyone says, moving is good no matter what, but i don't think it counts as deliberate exercise. Of course, there's nothing stopping you making many extra laps around said grocery store! Those count as extra i think

I track pretty much everything, because I like to see how much physical activity/exercise I'm engaging in on a daily basis (I also like to keep track of how much sleep I'm getting), but I don't allow it to have any impact on my calorie budget. I absolutely do not trust the burn rates stated on, for example, FitDay, which is what I use, but I think it's worth tracking my activities for reasons other than calories burned.

I only do if it's an extreme amount of shopping and that's going to be my exercise mostly for the day. I just track it more than anything. I count my "real" workouts more but for me I don't eat back what I burn.