Can I count housework as a workout?

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loseitall150
loseitall150 Posts: 12 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
vigorus housework such as: sweeping, mopping, dancing, washing dishes while having my 27lb 12 month old daughter on my back.
I'll be sweating the whole time because I live in a old home and central air doesn't work good in the kitchen.
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Replies

  • radiosilents
    radiosilents Posts: 223 Member
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    Um, hell yeah. I always count it – I work hard when I am cleaning, and I feel it!
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Some do, some don't. I don't personally think it is necessary to log and I try to only log exercise that is actually exercise. Since it would be tough to determine calorie burn anyway, you may be shooting yourself in the foot if you decide to log it and eat the calories back.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    First off, sweating heavily because it's hot doesn't mean you're burning more calories. Second, I would not personally count your every day activities as exercise.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I account for general activity in my activity level. I do housework pretty routinely...I work in my yard pretty routinely, etc. It is for this reason that I set my activity level to light active even though I have a desk job. When I get home, I'm always working on something...I sit around and do nothing like pretty much never.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
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    I would not log it. But some people disagree. My thinking is you really don't burn that many calories, certainly not enough where your body can't get the nutrition it needs from the food you already eat. If you don't log things like that, all that happens is you will lose a little more than expected every week. That doesn't seem like a terrible outcome. Another way to look at it, if you are underestimating the calories you are eating a bit, this will help offset that so you still lose.

    Also, just because the room is warm and you are sweating does not mean it is a good work out. I can sweat while sitting still if the room is too warm or it is humid.
  • loseitall150
    loseitall150 Posts: 12 Member
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    Hornsby wrote: »
    Some do, some don't. I don't personally think it is necessary to log and I try to only log exercise that is actually exercise. Since it would be tough to determine calorie burn anyway, you may be shooting yourself in the foot if you decide to log it and eat the calories back.

    I live a sedentary lifestyle, moving heavy furniture, dusting, lifting heavy objects will make my body think that I'm working out.
    It should be better than laying down and watching Netflix. Lol
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2015
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    This is not considered steady state cardio exercise... I personally do not log it feel that I would be cheating the system to log it..

    If want to log exercise, go outside and go for a brisk or vigorus walk..

    the house cleaning is part of your normal activities such as washing laundry, washing dishes, taking a shower, going to work, etc..

    But you can do what ever feels right to you..
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    loseitall150 wrote: »
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Some do, some don't. I don't personally think it is necessary to log and I try to only log exercise that is actually exercise. Since it would be tough to determine calorie burn anyway, you may be shooting yourself in the foot if you decide to log it and eat the calories back.

    I live a sedentary lifestyle, moving heavy furniture, dusting, lifting heavy objects will make my body think that I'm working out.
    It should be better than laying down and watching Netflix. Lol


    I don't disagree that you won't burn any extra calories doing it, but figuring out how many is nearly impossible. If you overestimate the burn, you will be shooting yourself in the foot. Since I don't think the calorie number would be all that high, I wouldn't add it.
  • 460mustang
    460mustang Posts: 196 Member
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    Sure, you have to do it like this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moGFeRtLqHk
  • daaaaaanielle
    daaaaaanielle Posts: 114 Member
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    I watched a BBC documentary about calories where they got three families to do different activities for the morning. One family had a personal training session, another just sat about all morning and the others did housework. They found that (after controlling for BMR and such) the people doing housework burned a substantial amount of calories in comparison to the sedentary people. The only problem is that it's really hard to estimate - the BBC used heart rate monitors. If you're going to track it, maybe look it up on Google and see what sort of figures you can find, then when you log it, seriously underestimate it because if you eat your exercise calories back, there's too large a margin of error to be able to eat all of them and still maintain the same overall deficit.

    For me personally, I find it to be too much hassle so I just wear my Fitbit and let it count my steps and that's all I sync to MFP. The estimated burn will be almost definitely wrong but if I am working hard, it'll be very low in comparison to actual calories burnt and it just means my deficit might be larger that day.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    edited May 2015
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    daaaaaanielle wrote: »
    I watched a BBC documentary about calories where they got three families to do different activities for the morning. One family had a personal training session, another just sat about all morning and the others did housework. They found that (after controlling for BMR and such) the people doing housework burned a substantial amount of calories in comparison to the sedentary people. The only problem is that it's really hard to estimate - the BBC used heart rate monitors. If you're going to track it, maybe look it up on Google and see what sort of figures you can find, then when you log it, seriously underestimate it because if you eat your exercise calories back, there's too large a margin of error to be able to eat all of them and still maintain the same overall deficit.

    For me personally, I find it to be too much hassle so I just wear my Fitbit and let it count my steps and that's all I sync to MFP. The estimated burn will be almost definitely wrong but if I am working hard, it'll be very low in comparison to actual calories burnt and it just means my deficit might be larger that day.

    Since a HRM wouldn't be even remotely accurate to measure calories for being sedentary and especially for house cleaning, that kinda renders that test on BBC pointless. They are known to overestimate "intervally" type workouts which I feel that house cleaning would fall into.
  • AmazonMayan
    AmazonMayan Posts: 1,168 Member
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    It really depends on what the housework is whether I personally would log it. Regular cleaning is a nope for me. Sometimes I am doing something different that is much more labor intensive (non-stop movement and lots of lifting and carrying things for sustained times) I count it but never for tons of calories - I log low.

    In the very beginning I logged some regular housework - as long as I was on my feet moving - just because it was an added movement for me since I'd been unable to do much of anything previously due to health/injuries. I had also lowered my calorie intake slightly since I was very sedentary.
  • moledew
    moledew Posts: 71 Member
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    460mustang wrote: »
    Sure, you have to do it like this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moGFeRtLqHk



    I think i got more amusement out of this than I should have lol
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited May 2015
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    No...housework is not exercise.

    If you're serious about trying to lose weight, you'll recognize that as such.

    Otherwise, you're only trying to fool yourself into being able to eat more calories just because you 'exercised'.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    I used to, but want to ensure I'm within the margin for error and stopped tracking this. I do the same with elliptical and just use the fitbit adjustment to ensure I'm not eating back too many calories.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    MrM27 wrote: »
    I wouldn't, since you should be cleaning your house regularly as it is.

    :::gigglesnort:::
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    loseitall150 wrote: »
    vigorus housework such as: sweeping, mopping, dancing, washing dishes while having my 27lb 12 month old daughter on my back.
    I'll be sweating the whole time because I live in a old home and central air doesn't work good in the kitchen.

    Wait a minute...wut???
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    You shouldn't log it, since you're already accounting for it in your normal daily activity that you input on MFP ("lightly active", etc.) Logging it is double-counting it.

    Only count deliberate workouts.
  • Gel_W91
    Gel_W91 Posts: 53 Member
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    no, it's not exercise, it's housework, you've always done housework, did you ever used to wash up and use it as an excuse to eat a sandwich?

    i mean what? washing up is not gonna burn worthwhile calories, nor will washing clothes, or sweeping up. potentially mopping, but still you probably wouldn't even push 100 for the whole house. and chances are you don't have woodfloors all through.

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