How many calories burned?

Woodsmoke

MyFitnessPal tells me it's over 1000 calories burned (cleaning, vigorous effort)... but another calculator tells me it's not even 400.

I am 350 pounds, I vacuumed and shifted furniture (no lifting, just pushing on wheels and dragging) for about 2 and a half hours.

Anyone know the truth?

Woodsmoke

Anyone?

Camera_BagintheUK

Somebody posted this the other day http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

I tend to err on the side of the lower figure, although 400 for 2 half hours of manual work seems a leeeetle bit light!

Woodsmoke

I put in 6 hours because of all the other cleaning I'd done today...

It estimates 2771 calories! O.o

am_morris87

I'm gonna be honest... I HATE seeing people try to track normal everyday activities as fitness minutes. I really advise against counting activities like cooking, cleaning, gardening, etc., as exercise. Those aren't exercises, and counting them is just giving you a higher calorie limit to make up for calories you most likely haven't burned. I mean, you have no idea how many calories you ACTUALLY burned, unless you were wearing a heart rate monitor. And even if you were using a heart rate monitor, when you're tracking something for that long, it's hard to know how much was from the actual activity and how much you were naturally burning just being alive. What you should track is ACTUAL exercise. Walking, water aerobics, biking, resistance training, etc. Doing extra physical activity is great, don't get me wrong, but it's not exercise. So you should think of the other stuff as kind of an added bonus.

Woodsmoke

Surely if I'm using my arms and legs to a great extent, building up one HELL of a sweat, my heart rate is up loads... surely that still counts as exercise?

It may not be traditional, but the calories are burning away when you work hard.

mtfr810

If the cleaning is above your "normal" activity then it should count. If you normally move around that much on a typical day then don't count it. If you didn't wear a heart rate monitor then I'd be more likely to believe the 400 or so calories. It's better to underestimate it since you're trying to loose weight. Especially if you're going to eat those calories back.

toutmonpossible

The only way to know the "truth" would be to get tested in a lab. I would take the lower of the two estimates and be suspicious even of that. If you weigh yourself regularly and track your food you'll soon get an idea of whether certain activities make a difference.

StephF3692

If you really want an accurate count, to be able to honestly eat calories back, a heart rate monitor is the way to go. I think buying one was the best decision I ever made. And I tend to agree that "normal" every day activities shouldn't count as exercise, but if you're really busting it moving furniture, or mowing a hilly 1/2 acre lawn (like i do once a week), then it should be tracked. I actually started wearing my HRM while mowing my lawn -- I use a push mower that weighs about 75lbs -- and was (happily) surprised to see how much I was actually exerting (over 600 calories).

mahanaibu

I'm gonna be honest... I HATE seeing people try to track normal everyday activities as fitness minutes. I really advise against counting activities like cooking, cleaning, gardening, etc., as exercise. Those aren't exercises, and counting them is just giving you a higher calorie limit to make up for calories you most likely haven't burned. I mean, you have no idea how many calories you ACTUALLY burned, unless you were wearing a heart rate monitor. And even if you were using a heart rate monitor, when you're tracking something for that long, it's hard to know how much was from the actual activity and how much you were naturally burning just being alive. What you should track is ACTUAL exercise. Walking, water aerobics, biking, resistance training, etc. Doing extra physical activity is great, don't get me wrong, but it's not exercise. So you should think of the other stuff as kind of an added bonus.

I disagree with this. True, it can be difficult to figure the calories for gardening and cleaning, but a person can put on a much bigger burn with vigorous cleaning and chopping roots in the garden than with a 20-minute-per-mile walk. Getting up and moving in any form burns more calories than sitting in a chair. (I would agree on cooking, though, and very lighweight activities.)

I do worry about people getting into trouble eating back all their calories. It often seems to me they can't possibly be burning the amount they're posting.

Woodsmoke

I certainly didn't eat it back. I didn't even hit my usual calorie count today! ^.^

rshcraig

I'm with the side of not counting it as exercise. I consider those type days to be very active and make sure I eat on the high end of my calories and of course make sure I'm not hungry but I only log in solid exercise. I got a heart rate monitor to track everything I do to intentionally be physically active.

olgitafajita

If you did housework for 2.5 hours, that's 150 mins (if my math is correct). If you had run 10-minute miles for 150 minutes, you would have burned roughly 1500 calories. Was the exercise you did more vigorous than running at a decent clip? If not, the 2000-plus calorie estimate is way off. If the work you did was more the equivalent of walking at a brisk pace, I would go with roughly half the calories of running. However, unless you were really going for it with cleaning, even that is probably on the high end.

AliceA2013

I couldn't understand why I was losing weight on such limited calorie restriction (i.e. trying to lose weight slowly)...until I put in the calories for housework as well as exercise. Now it makes more sense.