When using Fitness or Noom apps, and possibly others, they allow one to add extra exercise activities to the calorie burning count for the day. Do some yard work, add it in. Do some house cleaning, add it it. Do some time on the treadmill, add it.
However, have you ever noticed neither cooking, nor baking are listed. Whomever is coding these apps must never have actually done any cooking. Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and similar meal delivery programs don’t count. There is a lot of effort that goes into preparing an actual home cooked meal, delicious dessert, or a crusty loaf of bread.
Take just the things I made today.
The first thing I made was a loaf of Rosemary Bread. I had to gather all of the ingredients (walking). Then mixing by hand and kneading dough (twice). There is also bending, squatting, and lifting throughout. As I went through the process, there is a lot of walking around the kitchen to wash hands, putting the dough in the right place for proofing, and putting things away. There is also the motions of washing the dishes afterwards.
I then made some gluten-free cinnamon rolls for one of my band friends’ family—someone in the family has to have gluten-free food. Again, lots of walking around to gather ingredients, including going to the cellar a couple of times to replenish ingredient bins. More kneading, and for this recipe, rolling out the dough and some whisking. As with the bread, there was quite a bit of squatting and walking around the kitchen.
Dinner was next on the agenda. It was a simple one of hot dogs and zucchini fries. There were multiple trips outside to the grill for the dogs. For the zucchini fries, there was washing, cutting, slicing, shaking to coat with the seasonings, and shaking the air fryer basket.
Finally I finished with making salad for the week. Making it had the requisite trips to the sink to wash the veggies, peeling, slicing, dicing, and tossing.
Spending time in the kitchen preparing meals, and baking, is exercise. One is in constant motion and performing a variety of exercises (lifting, squatting, walking, and more), while showing some love through the process and end result.
It is time to add cooking/baking as an additional exercise in these apps. Participants should be able to get credit for everything exercise; time to think outside the “obvious.”
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 