Do you record EVERYTHING you do all day long?

So I saw on someone's journal today about all of their exercising, and it was racked up to almost 4,000! Of course I had to be nosey and find out what exercising could possibly burn THAT MANY calories, and to my surprise, there were only 2 "real" exercises listed. The majority of all the calorie burning came from everyday tasks that they had listed: sitting, standing...you get my drift. So it got me to thinking: if I naturally burn 1,500 calories a day--does that ONLY include me laying down or something?? Do I, in fact, burn way more calories per day because I, too, sit and stand, as well as cart laundry up and down two flights of stairs almost on a daily basis, as well as cook dinner, as well as massage my boyfriend umpteen times a day coz his back is just "in sooooo much pain"???

So I guess just a curious little poll: do YOU record every single tiny insignificant thing you do everyday???

And...should I?

The site by default gives 8 hours to sleep and 16 to resting.

I only add in time I've spent standing (like for a few hours at work), and if I do "actual" exercise.

Also, keep in mind, if someone weighs a lot more than you, they also burn a lot more calories since there is more mass burning calories.

No I only count actual workouts, I should change the default to 7 hours sleeping. I actually don't count all the walking at work either. At least not now. In June, I will be working a maintenance outage and will be walking considerabley. So I might count that on this site. My coaches in the last program didnt let me take credit unless it was strenght or cardio.

I usually only add exercises that I do over and above my daily routine. However, I am very sedentary so I add walking for half the time I actually walked and similar for standing. So if I stood for 30 minutes, I would add 10 minutes.

I do add the exercise I consciously do though.

If I couuld keep track of all those little things I do all day, I certainly would. but I am constantly moving around doing things so I just log the real exercise i do as SOME of my exercise. I dont need to know if I burn 4000 calories a day because that will just make me think that I can eat more.

I don't record any of my activity. Don't see the point, frankly.

I just hold my calories consistent and if that amount causes me to gain weight over a few weeks, I'm in a surplus. If I decrease, I'm in a deficit. It takes a little patience, because the scale is a lagging indicator of actual body mass gain and loss, but it's more accurate than the guesswork of online estimates.

Back to the OP:

Basically, yes, that's your resting metabolic rate. Most of the calories you burn in a day aren't from activity (athletes and physical laborers possibly excepted). Your resting metabolic rate is the energy needed for your body to function. Organs require energy to function. Tissue has to be maintained and repaired. Your brain needs a lot of energy too.

Your daily activity uses additional energy, on top of what you need just to exist, but your RMR usually accounts for most of what you burn in a day.

Hi all, found this thread at random and you all seem plugged in and rationale so a question for those of you who have been at this long(er) term. (I just started) Is the RDI what you are supposed to hit to reach your goal weight or maintain existing weight? It seems rather high for me (2500 cal per day) although I managed to surpass that yesterday by a series of screw ups. So do I force myself to eat 2500 a day or is a good thing to eat less?

Anyone open to a new buddy? I've got 10 to lose asap. I'm fit but make bad food choices from time to time and enjoy my social drinking on weekends.

when u go into you rdi, you can put in whether you want to lose or maintain, and how fast you want to lose, then you put in how active you are and it will calculate it for you..its just a suggested rdi though, you can try it out and make sure it works before you adjust it

as said by another poster there are two defaults set for resting and sleeping. you have to add in other exercises you do subtracting the amount from the resting. I never do the sleeping because I actually do get 8 hours sometimes more of sleep, if I'm lucky and I don't have practice. But, generally I do try to record each exercises I do within that day to a week out. Since most of my workout routines are set for me I know already what I'm going to do at what time. Its the free days that I have to be more strict about especially with food. But to answer your question...I am one of those extreme people that keep a journal on and off line about what I did and ate for the day. But, like I said I play a division sport,and I work full time in accounting. I think if you have a goal to reach if its to lose weight,get healthy and fit, or to cut and bulk for muscle mass we should be informed about our daily routines to help us understand which points of our workout or food should be adjusted to reach personal goals, and we should have a lot of fun. Without the fun we would be more hell bent on cutting the slack and/or quitting.
Dig deep, always be creative.

I find tracking calories burned VERY useful. Here's why: after my first 3.5 weeks, I looked at my total calories burned and calories eaten (in the diet calendar). Sure enough, I had burned about 35,000 calories more than I consumed. And I had lost 10 pounds! (3,500 cal = 1 pound). This really helps me take the longer view of my diet and not get discouraged by a bump up on the scale. I am focusing my goals on creating that calorie deficit through both diet and exercise, and I am confident that my body will follow.

I also leave out normal day to functions, habits and tasks like sleeping, desk work, shopping, standing and so on. And I do find using the calculators useful - just a bit deceptive, I guess. I find that most diet and exercize calculators overestimate exersion and underestimate caloric content. To compensate I set my RDI at sedentary and my exercize diary is set to resting by default. I add only actual workouts and the 80 minutes total of brisk walking to and from work I do each day.

There are exceptions. If I spend my usually sedentary day at work hauling large file boxes up and down the stairs, I will add several hours of desk work - or if I spend a long afternoon hauling heavy shopping bags around town on foot I add a an hour or so of "shopping". Those are days I need to remind myself to slightly increase my intake so I don't feel sick before my evening workouts.

I also am more than slightly skeptical about the number of calories they show as burned in sleeping/resting/other sedentary activities - if this were true, I would have been losing weight every year for the past 15 years instead of putting it on -

I am not on a diet, just recording my usual meals and trying to eat healthy (but not giving up my wine so far), but even without exercising I supposedly consume fewer calories than I burn using their calculators - but without exercising, I gain weight -

just started doing this, but I am not recording all activities - leaving a lot as just resting to try and calories used on the low side

Hello all, just joined this site recently. I think the number of calories they show is obviously an estimate. Everyone's metabloic rate is different. If you are gaining or maintaining your weight and want to lose then you have to change something. Either move more, eat less or both! I'm using that number as the starting point and adjusting around it. If that number is my regular, stay the same weight point and I want it to move, I have to cut my calories and expend more energy. I've never tracked my food so diligently before and it is so interesting to see where I need adjusting!

I do record standing, but that's because I work as a bartender/server, so I'm on my feet 6-10 hours each shift. Not to mention, it's walking rather than standing, but I figure recording it as strictly standing makes up for the times when I'm stationary table side instead of walking.

My job requires LOTS of stop and start walking over a 12 hour period, with shorter, but varying periods of "desk work", so I find it difficult to quantify the amount of walking I'm actually doing...I decided to try a pedometer, and it showed I had walked over 3 miles in one 12 hour period...that just seems really unlikely to me...anybody else have a similar? I have read and heard that pedometers aren't very accurate, but I'm open to suggestions from anyone with experience in using them. Would also take suggestions on logging the type of start and stop walking I mentioned....thanks.

Dear Baxie, it might be an idea to invest in a pedometer, this will allow you to record your steps you take during the day. They say 10,000 steps = approximately 4 miles. Also this type of walking is leisure walking. Good Luck

tchalupa, can you recommend a good quality, accurate pedometer? The one I mentioned in my above post seems pretty unreliable, and I've read that that's pretty much the norm.

Dear Baxie, if you go to Target.com or amazon.com there are several and the price ranges are from 3.00 upto 99.00 "Fitbit" is on the expensive side but works i think the best, Sportsline is cheaper and works well also I have used the pedometer download from "Beth Isreal deaconess Medical Center" Android download.(Smartphone download).

I know many people do not like the smarphone downloads as they say they are inaccurate. Put the phone in your pocket there are tips on the download of making the pedometer accurate.

It is great as a guide to help push your motivation just a little bit more.

Good Luck.

Thanks! I'm gonna check into the app thing...nothing to lose, right?

Nothing to lose but weight.