Can I count housework as a workout?
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daaaaaanielle wrote: »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.
I think it is still pretty obvious though that you're going to burn more calories moving around, cleaning, lifting stuff around, etc than siting on the couch all day. Depending on what kind of cleaning you're doing, there could be a reasonable burn involved (I don't mean reasonable as in comparable to deliberate exercise, but reasonable in the sense that it would be more than just walking around the house). I don't personally see much value in recording it, as I said, but that's why I said OP should severely underestimate the calories should they choose to track it at all because of the difficulty in getting a remotely accurate read of the burn involved even with HRMs (I didn't say the HRMs are accurate to the calorie, just that they indicated that their heart rate was increased significantly enough to show they were burning more calories than the sedentary people - for whom they pretty much just used the BMR I think).
Unless you're saying that you don't burn more calories moving around than you do sitting down, it seems you're just picking on semantics here really.
Not picking on semantics. Not even sure how my post could be considered picking at all, honestly. It's a discussion.
You would obviously burn more calories cleaning than doing nothing. I was just referencing that you said that the BBC show used HRMs as if they are accurate. HRMs are somewhat accurate for steady state cardio, but are not even remotely accurate for much else. An HRM was never designed to give calorie estimations for activities such as this. Increased HR does not directly correlate to calories burned which is why an HRM would give over inflated numbers for things like house cleaning.
No, I said that it's hard to estimate and stated what the BBC used to get their figures (or what they said they used). This was for a prime-time BBC documentary on calories and a lot of the science was naturally presented in a simplistic manner to make it easier for the average viewer to follow along with - they had a professor from a university overseeing it as part of a study he was doing so I doubt the HRMs were literally the only thing used simply in the name of fact checking. I did not say they were necessarily accurate as to the actual number of calories burned, just that it showed that they did burn more calories which they would because they're moving around, hence why I said that the OP would be better to severely underestimate.
I am still not advocating for the OP to bother even attempting to estimate their burn and log it. As I said, the margin of error is too large to make it worth their time and it would be a paltry amount of calories logged.0 -
I have a cleaning person clean my house normally. When I end up doing the heavy cleaning a few times a year, I don't necessarily log it as exercise but I'd probably be more apt to eat a bit more that day.0
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Map My Ride/Map My Walk has varying levels of House Work and Yard Work (Mowing lawn, etc.) listed as a type of workout. It's up to you. I consider mowing and weed whacking or mowing and fertilizing my lawns a workout and log them as such. I walk more than a mile and half doing so, heart rate is somewhere between 95 - 110 (Depending on how hot out it is), and I'm at it for over an hour (To do front and back- I have a big back yard and use a push power mower).0
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We have a housecleaning service that comes every few weeks - they clean full time - probably more than 8 hours a day - and it doesn't seem to have an affect on their weight - I haven't seen a skinny one yet. I'd be cautious if I were planning to eat back those calories.0
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Yeah....I don't even count mowing because that's already included in my daily step count.... and I still remain challenged to reach my daily goal of 12,000 steps. I only count cycling and other cardio activities where my heart rate reaches and remains in the Fat burning zone for at least 30 minutes. If a high exertion activity like cycling does not last for a full 30 minutes, I just think of it as part of my TDEE. And I don't purposely eat back my calories anyway. So if you're seeking a way to increase your daily calorie intake, well.... just don't do it if you hope to lose weight. Because I believe you'll regret it in the end.0
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460mustang wrote: »Sure, you have to do it like this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moGFeRtLqHk
I was thinking of this exact video when I scrolled down. It came up yesterday from the "Greatist" website that I follow! Awesome *Smiles*0 -
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If you listed your activity level as Sedentary, you can count your housework as exercise. If you listed your activity level as higher, then some of this background activity is already figured in to your calorie budget.0
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housework is not exercise.....0
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Some people get all up in arms about it, but I say calories burnt are calories burnt!0
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I wouldn't count regular housework, but maybe above and beyond the normal household maintenance. Like a deep cleaning, where you move the furniture and are climbing ladders to clean the ceiling fan blades, but not regular tidying up.
Going by a TDEE approach might work better for you than MFP's NEAT + exercise calories.0 -
I count anything that is going to take 30 min+, and is out of the ordinary as cleaning, light/moderate effort.
To eat back those calories or not is up to each individual.0 -
gardening is considered one of the best exercises.0
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Do you move the furniture around when you vacuum? Changing sheets should count, carrying boxes of groceries, and all the bending and moving of laundry care.0
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GrandmaCarole wrote: »gardening is considered one of the best exercises.
By whom?0 -
Okay, silly confession time...
I don't generally eat back more than 1/4 of my gym calorie burns because I don't really trust them even though I've verified them every way I could think of possible and my losses confirm them. I still log them, though. Why? I get a kick out of the 5-week prediction with them factored in. So, so, silly.
Saying that? I never log cleaning. Not even for my silly game with seeing the stupid "in 5 weeks..." the burn would add.0 -
Honestly how dirty are people's houses that this is even an issue.
I always wonder this too...cleaning my house tends to be an ongoing and everyday process. Like, we vacuum Tuesday and now it's Thursday...we will vacuum tonight...if we see that some dusting needs done, we'll do that too. I'm pretty sure I'm doing the dishes tonight too. I usually only mop once per week, but it's also on an as need basis along with any other house hold chore.0 -
GrandmaCarole wrote: »Do you move the furniture around when you vacuum? Changing sheets should count, carrying boxes of groceries, and all the bending and moving of laundry care.
I bend over when I get pots and pans for dinner. Easy 100 calories right? Moving the milk jug from the fridge to the counter and pouring it? Sometimes I spontaneously dance when I cook too. And sing. Singing has to burn something. I feel it in my core. When I shower I scrub twice as hard for twice the burns. What if I breathe really fast? 5 calories right? Maybe? Bueller?0 -
I don't log in any form of exercise because I really can't tell how much I burn and don't want to eat those calories back anyway! I would suggest not logging it in0
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For some reason I keep reading this thread as ''Can I count backwards as a workout?'' Well, some people swear that thinking burns calories!
I don't typically count my housework as exercise, though I have once or twice when I didn't log any other exercise in for the day and thought I worked particularly hard or for a long period of time. I wanted my diary to state I had done something.
But usually I don't. Doing housework, especially if you are scrubbing down heavily soiled pans (ugh), can be a good workout though!!0 -
GrandmaCarole wrote: »Do you move the furniture around when you vacuum? Changing sheets should count, carrying boxes of groceries, and all the bending and moving of laundry care.
But how long does it take a person to move the furniture or the sheets? And unless you have some crazy-old heavy vacuum, pushing that is no trouble.
I get that these things take effort for many people and I don't want to sound insensitive or ableist. But to count these activities and eat the calories back is setting yourself up for maintenance or worse.
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jennifer_417 wrote: »Some people get all up in arms about it, but I say calories burnt are calories burnt!
so that means I can count the sex I have...Yah.
No I don't count house work @MrM27 which I do every week btw...including down on my hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floor.
I don't count my gardening either or the wood in the fall or painting a room or crack filling or moving my Sister in law and her 3 friends...purposeful exercise only.
I think if someone's house is dirty enough that they burn tonnes of calories their punishment should be not being able to count them.0 -
ceoverturf wrote: »GrandmaCarole wrote: »gardening is considered one of the best exercises.
By whom?
good question...I was my fattest when I was gardening the most...hmmm0 -
Phoenix_Down wrote: »GrandmaCarole wrote: »Do you move the furniture around when you vacuum? Changing sheets should count, carrying boxes of groceries, and all the bending and moving of laundry care.
I bend over when I get pots and pans for dinner. Easy 100 calories right? Moving the milk jug from the fridge to the counter and pouring it? Sometimes I spontaneously dance when I cook too. And sing. Singing has to burn something. I feel it in my core. When I shower I scrub twice as hard for twice the burns. What if I breathe really fast? 5 calories right? Maybe? Bueller?
Bahahaha +10 -
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jennifer_417 wrote: »Some people get all up in arms about it, but I say calories burnt are calories burnt!
so that means I can count the sex I have...Yah.
No I don't count house work @MrM27 which I do every week btw...including down on my hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floor.
I don't count my gardening either or the wood in the fall or painting a room or crack filling or moving my Sister in law and her 3 friends...purposeful exercise only.
I think if someone's house is dirty enough that they burn tonnes of calories their punishment should be not being able to count them.
That, I like that
My dog cleans my house for me, so I don't have to count it.0 -
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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.
Doesn't carrying 27lbs around while working around the house count as LIFTING?? lol I think that makes the housekeeping "exercise" - like Extreme Housekeeping hahaha0
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