Legit question. Housework....exercise or no?
XxYeaIrocxX
Posts: 224 Member
Now, I have a bit of OCD.
I clean everyday but 2 days out of the week I go crazy with cleaning. and when I do that. I log it in as exercise. Because for me it is, I sweat more those 2 days than i do for my normal work outs, wake up with arms and legs sore as crap and all that mess.
I'm not talking taking a mop and doing the floors, folding laundry and all that.
As an example, when I go crazy cleaning I do all my floors on my hands and knees, packed with a toothbrush to get the nooks and crannies, and scrub every inch.
Log it or no?
***EDIT***
I am saying to log the 2 days where I deep clean, not everyday housework. I do wear an HRM and it levels out the same as when I'm working out.
I clean everyday but 2 days out of the week I go crazy with cleaning. and when I do that. I log it in as exercise. Because for me it is, I sweat more those 2 days than i do for my normal work outs, wake up with arms and legs sore as crap and all that mess.
I'm not talking taking a mop and doing the floors, folding laundry and all that.
As an example, when I go crazy cleaning I do all my floors on my hands and knees, packed with a toothbrush to get the nooks and crannies, and scrub every inch.
Log it or no?
***EDIT***
I am saying to log the 2 days where I deep clean, not everyday housework. I do wear an HRM and it levels out the same as when I'm working out.
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Replies
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I think it counts...maybe not the general straightening up sort of cleaning, but what you're describing sounds like a legit workout to me!0
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I usually log my house cleaning in the exercise I usually down play my time though. For instance, if I know I have cleaned for 4 hours with out taking a break, i will only log 2 hours of it because some of those times I could be standing to do the dishes or folding the laundry. Everything thing else I am up and walking from one end of the house to the other sweeping mopping bending and so on.0
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Nope.
It's housework. If it's part of what you were doing normally when you came to the site, you've already accounted for it when you set up your tracker.0 -
No0
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Don't log as excersize but update your profile. There is a section that asks what you do for a living (ie, secretary - sitting all day / or laborer - running around/on feet). This should help with an accurate overview.0
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Nope.
It's housework. If it's part of what you were doing normally when you came to the site, you've already accounted for it when you set up your tracker.
+1.
If house work is exercise, what about those who work manual labor, can they count that as exercise?0 -
would you like my address. just kidding. if it's out of the ordinary and a killer workout, I might log it but down play my time.0
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That's my thinking too (not to log it), although admittedly I don't get as crazy as you about cleaning. Is your house really that dirty? I don't log housework, laundry, sex. Honestly I wouldn't log mowing the lawn, washing the cars or picking weeds if I just decided to do that for hubby either. But that's just me. Before surgery I worked out m-f and usually got in a hike or tennis on the weekend. Those got logged and I ate back half my burned calories just because it seems you can never really tell how many calories you've actually burned.0
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No0
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It depends on what you have set your activity level at... if it's set to sedentary... then go for it... if it's set higher than that... then I would say... mmm... probably not.
Perhaps you can get an activity tracker (like fitbit) to calculate those calories for you already. I have my calorie goal set to sedentary but have a fitbit, so I don't track my cleaning calories.0 -
no...0
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It depends on what you have set your activity level at... if it's set to sedentary... then go for it... if it's set higher than that... then I would say... mmm... probably not.
Perhaps you can get an activity tracker (like fitbit) to calculate those calories for you already. I have my calorie goal set to sedentary but have a fitbit, so I don't track my cleaning calories.
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Thanks for all the input
And no, my house isn't that dirty. I normal clean everyday. and then twice a week I get every inch. I have a toddler, 3 cats and 2 dogs in the house. Needless to say if i dont clean every inch, I'd rather not find hidden cheerios that have been chilling in a corner for a month.0 -
It sounds like you have two days out of the week where you do more than your normal amount of housework. I would suggest buying a heart rate monitor or a podometer. Track your activity on a normal day and then on a "super clean" day. If you notice there is a significant difference on the superclean days, I would count that activity as extra.0
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Nope.
It's housework. If it's part of what you were doing normally when you came to the site, you've already accounted for it when you set up your tracker.
+1.
If house work is exercise, what about those who work manual labor, can they count that as exercise?
Those who work manual labor should have set a higher activity level to automatically get more calories allotted anyway... and just because cleaning is something you had been doing when you got fat doesn't really mean anything... because you weren't tracking everything you were doing/eating before.
Because I use a fitbit to track most of my activities, my cleaning calories are counted because I am moving... not because it can tell what exactly I am doing... your body doesn't care how or why you are moving, it just cares that you are.0 -
It depends on what you have set your activity level at... if it's set to sedentary... then go for it... if it's set higher than that... then I would say... mmm... probably not.
Perhaps you can get an activity tracker (like fitbit) to calculate those calories for you already. I have my calorie goal set to sedentary but have a fitbit, so I don't track my cleaning calories.
no
Well that is a smart rebuttal.0 -
Btw, I have had plenty of friends that have logged their cleaning as exercise and have lost a great deal of weight.0
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I log my cleaning one day a week even though I am cleaning throughout the week.0
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Also just to clarify I don't log it everyday.
Only the 2 days
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Yes, I have a sedentary job and do not deep clean my house everyday. I usually do a deep clean once a week and will log that (using my HRM reading). I do not count daily cleaning like a quick vacuum, doing dishes or folding laundry.0
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I had a friend tell me once she was exercising by doing the same thing you're doing except she'd also tighten different muscles while cleaning different things. Like clean the walls, flex your calves like you're doing calf raises, then squat as if you're doing squats to clean lower parts. Scrubbing floors, flex your abs on and off. Etc, etc. I've tried it and I sweat just as much as a workout makes me sweat. I'd consider it exercise.0
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no.0
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I'd maybe wear a HRM to see what I'm actually burning. If it seems significant, I'd log it, I guess.0
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Btw, I have had plenty of friends that have logged their cleaning as exercise and have lost a great deal of weight.
There is a pretty good chance that they lost weight not because of housework.0 -
It sounds like you have two days out of the week where you do more than your normal amount of housework. I would suggest buying a heart rate monitor or a podometer. Track your activity on a normal day and then on a "super clean" day. If you notice there is a significant difference on the superclean days, I would count that activity as extra.
Yes.
And what others said about what you put as your activity level setting.0 -
I have a toddler, 3 cats and 2 dogs in the house. Needless to say if i dont clean every inch, I'd rather not find hidden cheerios that have been chilling in a corner for a month.
your dogs are not doing their jobs if they are not gobbling up those cheerios for you. :-)
i log cleaning if i work at it enough to tire me out, but i only log about half the actual time. but i have a desk job, so my activity level is set to sedentary.0 -
you can log it ONLY if you are wearing yoga pants/shorts while you clean.
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Nope.
It's housework. If it's part of what you were doing normally when you came to the site, you've already accounted for it when you set up your tracker.
I strongly disagree. Your calories are not calculated according to what you did before or after you came to this site. They are calculated on a day of doing minimal activity and then you add exercise as you do it. Housework is exercise. If someone rode a bike twice a week before coming to this site, they would count it. Just because the movement is beneficial for more than the purpose of burning calories, does not mean that it doesn't count. We would all be better off if we used up our exercise time this efficiently.0 -
This sounds like one way of getting out of doing actual exercise.0
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I have a toddler, 3 cats and 2 dogs in the house. Needless to say if i dont clean every inch, I'd rather not find hidden cheerios that have been chilling in a corner for a month.
your dogs are not doing their jobs if they are not gobbling up those cheerios for you. :-)
i log cleaning if i work at it enough to tire me out, but i only log about half the actual time. but i have a desk job, so my activity level is set to sedentary.
Haha I have HUGE dogs, they can't fit into corners and normally just give up trying lol0
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