The Activity Log

Does everyone log EVERYTHING?  I mean everything, ie showering, driving a car, and talking on the phone.  Do you just count that in with the calories that you burn on a daily basis?  I was just wondering if I am counting calories burned that I shouldn't be.  I make sure that I log in my workouts and when I clean the house.

Thanks! :)

i only log in my actives (shower etc) if i have been reallllly unactive. to make me feel better, its just personal perfeance!

If you set your activity level to sedentary, and you only log your exercising, then when you look at your account page, at the bottom, you will receive a good idea of the calories you burned the the entire day. It takes the number of minutes exercising and the calories burned and subtracts it from the number of minutes left in the day and the calories remaining.

Mine is on sedentary, and I logg almost everything.  Not sitting at my desk because while my fingers are moving and periodically I roll to get a file or *gasp* get up, that is just a little extra.  I log showering, and the gym and actually driving but driving only because I can't belive I sit there for 45 min twice a day!!

I only log activities that make me break a sweat.   So one day it could be running, the next day it could be picking up dog bombs (aka yard work).

You don't have to work out to get a workout.  But brushing my teeth doesn't deserve a place in my activity log.

I too lead a sedentary live style, althought at times it doesn't feel like it!  I also log showering and driving in the car. 

Thanks Dove!  Sounds like you and I think alike on this matter. 

I wonder about this too. I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day. I wanted to know if I should log that as burning calories, or if I need to realize that's part of the total I actually burn in a day normally?

I haven't logged showering or driving, but I do log walking from the parking lot into work, (Which is a good 3 minute walk) and then the flight of stairs that I have to climb three times a day.

Maybe I'd better start logging some of these things!

i listed sedentary and log only my actual working out. i don't log my shower, or anything like that...

I only log in my workouts, nothing else, since it hasn't gotten me any weight loss in the past, I figure I don't need to count it....

I have mine set at light activity and log stuff i wouldn't normally do - working out, if i walk somewhere instead of drive, etc. if you enter everything it takes away from the avg cals anyways. nothing's gonna be exact anyways, it just gives you an idea.

I don't log any activities... I think it's hard enough to keep up with the calories!

I only logged everything once. It was a pretty typical day, with a 45 minute walk. I was left with 2 hours unaccounted for, which were set for light activity. This was fine, those 2 hours included a lot of getting up, going to the washroom, back and forth from the computer to the living room, etc.

The result was 2700 calories. This was close to other estimates, so I kept it has my estimated expenditure, and try to keep my intake between 1800 and 2200 calories.

I could be unusual - my activity changes very little from day to day. But I don't see the need to log everything more than occassionally - it would drive me bats!

I set myself at light activity and don't log a bloomin' thing, since the whole reason I set myself to light was so I wouldn't have to remember.;)

there's also the fact that nothing ruins a lovely walk like checking your watch to see how long you've been doing it...

Am I doing the wrong thing??? I set my activity level to Light. I have a desk job, and I log calories I burn at work under Occupation: Sitting: Light Desk Work... as well. So I dont want to think that I have been doing good, when I havent been. Should I stop logging the occupation calories? I also log my excersize. I assume this is okay?

babesie there is one for typing!!  I found it one day, I was bored!  I don't log that because it isn't much more than sitting like a lump infront of the T.V. 

I can't tell you why I log showering and grooming...  Hey putting on make up is hard work, and I can work up a sweat doing my hair(only if I am flatironing that day!)  I still only take 45 minutes from when I get up to walking out the door!! 

I log driving just because it bugs me that I sit there that long on       I-4 I guess I am just odd!

So if everyone is logging their everday activities (like showering), what does the activity level we chose mean? Is that what my body does on its own all day? Like if i were to just lay in bed all day and do nothing i would burn a certain amount of calories for the sedentary case. Or is this activity level just guessing the amount of calories burned in everyday activities like showering and brushing your teeth? I'm lost... because I have only been logging physical activity that makes me feel like I've just worked out a bit.

how i understand it is this: you should set it at what you normally do. Each activity you log makes the calories more accurate, since the computer now knows what you actually did in that time instead of just having an average.

That is why I have it on Sedentary..  The more you log the more the sedentary minutes decrease...  see there are only 24 hours in a day, it wouldn't be so accurate if we logged and ended up with 28 hours!!brushing your teeth and showering burn minimal calories..  about as many as sitting on your butt in front of the T.V. in a comotose state.  I log the shower and the driving because...well I am crazy!!

well, perplexity, (what a great name!), i think how it goes is this:  your basic "sedentary" calories are what your body burns if you do absolutely nothing.  so if you want a really accurate accounting of your day, you want to log as much as you can.  if you are pretty sure that one of the "activity levels" covers everything you do, then you choose that, and don't bother with logging activities.  (that's me)  if on the other hand you USUALLY are at one activity level, but you do an extra strenuous activity one day, and maybe you want to know how much extra you will be burning off, then you can log that in, and get some idea.  or, like when i go over on my calories, i could figure out how many miles i have to go to walk it off.

that's my take on it.  "different strokes for different folks.   :)

How do you set it to sedentary? I know I am, and I know from one of the tools (expenditure? one of 'em!) that I burn about 2200 calories just being my ol' sedentary self, but I don't see that showing up in my activity log.

I've been averaging about 1600 calories a day. Some days, it's almost 2000, and other days, about 1200. Some days I exercise (walk, swim, or bike), and other days, I don't, so this, I figure, should (~~ might ~~!) result in less poundage over time.

athena: calories burned from (say) sedentary activity show up on the account home page, not the activity page.