Activity Points on Etools
 

For those of you who enter your activity on etools, I have a question/issue:

When I type in an activity (e.g. spinning) and WW finds a match, it asks me for the duration and assigns a point value to it. Why doesn't it ask me for intensity level? Some days I may perform less intensely during a spin session, so even though the duration is the same, I know I haven't burned the same number of calories. From what I can tell, WW automatically assigns it a moderate intensity.

By the same token, there is the activity calculator on the sidebar, where you are supposed to enter activity if it's not in their database. I tried that, and there they give you both time and intensity boxes to fill in. BUT it assigns the same point value for whatever it is, regardless of what the exercise actually is. For example, if I enter 60 minutes of walking at a high intensity, WW assigns it 13 AP but I get the same number of APs if I enter 60 minutes of running at high intensity - and I know I am burning more calories and expending more energy by running for an hour versus walking for an hour.

Am I missing something here or is there some way to accurately measure activity and intensity?

I don't use my APs partly for this reason but I would like an accurate figure of how many activity points I'm earning. Right now I feel like it's just an average of my week.

Basically the only thing that really matters is how long, intensity level and your weight. Those are the only factors that really apply. And there are 3 intensity levels. If you get to the highest intensity level then it is counted according to that. They don't break it down into levels of high intensity

When WW comes up with the activities in a list, it is basically in most cases assigning an intensity level to that activity. For some activities you have a choice such as with stationary bike or with walking. For some activities there is only one intensity level that WW has assigned to that activity.

Actually at my last meeting the leader made an interesting comment. When I see my personal trainer and do weight lifting it is quite intense. Now, I'm extremely conservative on intensity level and I tend to log everything as low intensity. But my personal training sessions I log as moderate.

Anyway, the leader said that they are taught in their training that all weight lifting is considered to be low intensity. The exercise has to have a cardio component to be moderate or high intensity. That really surprised me particularly since the online activity tracker for weight lifting has both light and vigorous (but not moderate) and you get more for vigorous. She was surprised by this and said that sometimes what is on the online tracker isn't what they are taught.

Bottom line is that it probably makes sense to just use duration and intensity (and of course your weight) to determine the amount rather than using the specific exercises.

Yeah, I guess I'll start doing the side tracker and estimate conservatively, particularly for those like spinning where the WW tracker doesn't offer intensity levels. I always keep my weight on there up to date so that's automatically figured into the equation.

What I really need to do is get my HRM fixed (the transmitter has stopped working) and just pay attention to that!

That's interesting about the weights. I don't think I ever really get into an aerobic zone with those and thus never count it as activity. But that may change as I have an appointment with my wellness coach tonight to revamp my strength training regimen.

It's all relative. So if running and spin are high intensity for you, maybe walking is moderate intensity.

I just estimate them and feel good as long as I get about 35 points in for the week.