JediMindTricks

Kind of a personal topic, so that's why I put it in the women's corner. If anyone knows the answer, please chime in. I was putting in my activities today: shopping, sleeping and the standard "seated with some movement" for my lifestyle. Then I added sex, moderate effort. and my calories burned actually went down. I figured out that the system says both sex, moderate effort and seated with some movement are 2 calories burned for every minute, although the calories burned will go down if you add in sex. If you just leave it at seated with some movement the day's calories burned will be higher. I would like to think that sex with moderate effort would be worth more than me sitting at my desk and getting up every so often. Anyone ever notice that before? I'm kind of baffled. "Sorry honey. We can't have sex today because FitDay says it will cost me calories burned." lol

Kathy13118

I think the 'seated' activity is something that covers all of your day. They come up with a number that would quantify all that energy expenditure, averaging out getting up from time to time, moving around, but basically not bursts of energy required by conventional exercise. Then when you add in sex, that takes some time (a small portion of all of the day is used for) out of that number. And perhaps it assumes 'lying down' - that can be a wrong assumption!). The average calorie expenditure for sex is going to be more than seated activity but it's also going to be brief and dwarfed by the total you already have - whatever you put in to describe your typical day. Except maybe if there was an option, 'lying still all day in bed'!

That's my guess. Someone else may come up with the explanation that is more factual!

Kumochi

LOL It's worth it for the mental health benefits anyway. The calories burned should not go down unless you have your metabolism as very active to being with. Yikes it does the same on mine.

cheeky_cat

I do not know why they think sex burns less calories than moderate walking, but I've noticed this as well! Well, one cannot expect perfection from any site or system

Kathy13118

'Myth number 7: A bout of sexual activity burns 100 to 300 kcal for each participant.
The energy expenditure of sexual intercourse can be estimated by taking the product of activity intensity in metabolic equivalents (METs), the body weight in kilograms, and time For example, a man weighing 154 lb (70 kg) would, at 3 METs, expend approximately 3.5 kcal per minute (210 kcal per hour) during a stimulation and orgasm session. This level of expenditure is similar to that achieved by walking at a moderate pace (approximately 2.5 miles [4 km] per hour). Given that the average bout of sexual activity lasts about 6 minutes, a man in his early-to-mid-30s might expend approximately 21 kcal during sexual intercourse. Of course, he would have spent roughly one third that amount of energy just watching television, so the incremental benefit of one bout of sexual activity with respect to energy expended is plausibly on the order of 14 kcal.'

From 'Myths, presumptions, and facts about obesity.
Casazza K1, Fontaine KR, Astrup A, Birch LL, Brown AW, Bohan Brown MM, Durant N, Dutton G, Foster EM, Heymsfield SB, McIver K, Mehta T, Menachemi N, Newby PK, Pate R, Rolls BJ, Sen B, Smith DL Jr, Thomas DM, Allison DB.'

The New England Journal of Medicine, January 31, 2013

Given that the average bout of sexual activity lasts about 6 minutes, a man in his early-to-mid-30s might expend approximately 21 kcal during sexual intercourse.

Fitandhealthycarol

I would think that having sex would give you a sense of well-being that would eliminate emotional cravings for a while, and therefor reduce your calorie intake. I would never stop to think about how many calories I would burn! LOL