So, is housework considered exercise or is it not?

wannabpiper

Just in case you weren't aware of this feature, when you go to the message boards section, there is a button called search and you can type in a keyword/phrase (ex: cleaning exercise) and you can see the threads that have already been created on the topic. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

Thank you! I know you weren't trying to be sarcastic in educating those of us who did not know how to do this, so thank you for that. So many times I've seen a newbie shut down verbally because she asked a question that's been done to death and that's so counterproductive. You taught us something valuable today.

taniiagirl

I put my pedometer on so all the walking I do while cleaning/gardening is counted but thats about it

metalvegan

Wait, you guys all SCRUB your WALLS?! Why????? I've never cleaned a wall in my life.

puskit84

I count it if it's outside my usual routine and I build up a sweat/get my heart rate going.
I don't use it just to score extra calories.
When it comes to shopping I count that in my steps/walking (I wouldn't normally every night be walking 2-3 hours). I may not count it all but I do count some.
I think it's down to personal preferrence and physical activity levels. What's good for one might not be for another.

ames105

I don't count housework. It was something I did before I started my weight loss journey and its something I have to do every day. Its part of my normal daily expenditure of calories. I only count extra exercise such as bike rides and walks in the park.

kimmianne89

I just think of it as an added bonus, I wouldn't log it.

ks4e

I don't. I have a sedentary job so those are calories that I should have been burning anyways. I only log actual exercises.

kailagenevieve

Try putting on some Latin music and dancing around while dusting/vacuuming/making freezer jam/picking up the house etc. As long as you work up a sweat and your heart rate is elevated, you can count it. I set my activity level as "Sedentary" because I work full time at an office job, commute 2 hours (each way) to school at least once a week and spend a good chunk of my "free" time reading for school. "Sedentary" asummes far less daily activity as "normal". Don't claim it if it's just light housework/normal dishes. I also count yard work (push mower, hedge trimming, etc) because it's a good chunk of time (1/2 to a whole Saturday usually) and it wears me out.

sarahthin

Routine housework is routine. Heavy housework is exercise. Cleaning carpets, washing walls,moving furniture, that's exercise. You dont do it everyday unlless that is the job you earn your living at.

Forest777

Well, a recent study shows that a drop in housework has contributed to the rise in obesity in women...

"A new study adds yet more evidence that the decline in physical activity is contributing to the rise in obesity in the U.S. This study, however, is bound to cause some controversy, as researchers found the increase in obesity in women is tied to a falloff in the amount of housework they currently do compared with days gone by.

Published in PLoS One, the study shows that women were doing far less housework in 2010 than they were in 1965, and this has led to burning about 360 less calories per day. In 1965, women cooked, cleaned, and did laundry, among other household work, an average of 26 hours per week. In 2010, the amount of time spent doing the same work declined to 13 hours per week."

http://women.webmd.com/news/20130304/housework-women-obesity

Forest777

More...

"The researchers used historical data to get a better idea of the amount of time spent on specific activities in the past. They found that the time spent doing housework declined from 25.7 hours per week in 1965 to 13.3 hours per week in 2010, with non-employed women cutting the amount of weekly housework by nearly 17 hours and working women by nearly seven hours.

The amount of energy used in household management declined 42% for non-employed women, down from 6,004 calories burned per week in 1965 to 3,486 calories burned per week in 2010 -- a weekly reduction of 2,518 calories.

"We found that non-employed women are spending about 360 calories less per day in physical activity, and if we look at obesity as calories in and calories out, this is a huge number of calories," Archer says. "It's about 15% of their total daily energy expenditure. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars studying diet and nutrition, which is the energy in, but we spend almost no money on the energy-expenditure portion of the equation. The most modifiable factor in the energy-balance equation is physical activity."

The researchers also found that the amount of time women spent watching television, and later using the computer, doubled from eight hours in 1965 to 16 hours in 2010."

goldiejoe

To be honest, I did a few times when I first started. I was very sedentary and lazy and it gave me a sense of accomplishment and a boost I needed at the time to start paying attention to myself and my surroundings and how I was impacting them. I wouldn't log it now, not even for a major cleaning job but I also made intentional exercise a priority and get my successes from that. I guess I see it as part of my evolution and the necessity to log cleaning died out.

This. Well put. I was looking for the words, but you put it perfectly. When I started MFP I was one large pizza away from 300 pounds. It was seriously difficult, painful, and draining to walk from my car across the parking lot to my office (sit down job). So when I had enough energy to clean or to chase my grand-kids at the park, you better believe I logged it. Now, I'm going to the gym 4-5 times a week, losing weight, and my energy level and mood are much improved. I no longer log the little things, but I would NEVER fault someone who does. Because I understand. Sometimes you have to walk a mile in someones shoes. Hope this adds to your understanding of the topic.

chandanista

When it is more than general day-to-day stuff, I log it. If I've worked up a sweat picking up toys, moving and arranging furniture and scrubbing the floor, it's exercise. If I loaded the dishwasher and rotated the laundry, it isn't.

Sallybally55

I just make sure to wear my fitbit and i sometimes see a small bump in exercise calories that day but not as many as if i were to count it as exercise. I would rather be surprised when I weigh in than disappointed!

LoreleiEvil

If I'm down on all fours scrubbing a tile floor and cleaning grout with a brush, I log it. So, heavy cleaning, yes. Otherwise no. Lifting boxes full of stuff and moving them, log that. Filling the box up, no.

ndj1979

What if it's outside the house work? Say, cutting with a pushmower for an hour in 95 degree heat and 90% humidity?

that would be yard work, not housework and you still don't count it...just increase your activity level to active or something..

ndj1979

Housework doesn't burn calories?? WTF?

All of the not-sitting-on-your-*kitten*-watching-jerry-springer activity you do is beneficial to you and burns calories. Is it going to get you Jillian Michaels' body? No.

Is it exercise? YES!!!! Should you log it? Well, that depends on your activity level settings. If you said "sedentary" then yes, why not? I only really log "housework friday" when I lift and wash all the rugs, hoover and mop all the floors, change the bedding, clean the bathroom from top to bottom and so on. I don't log doing the daily dishes or picking up the dog toys. I would take with a pinch of salt what MFP says about the calorie burn, though. I log about half the hours that I actually do.

Please read about Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). This is thought to be why some people are naturally thin (basically, they move around a lot more in their normal lives).

The American Journal of Preventative Medicine says:

http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?hl=en&q=http://www.researchgate.net/publication/49672694_Integration_of_short_bouts_of_physical_activity_into_organizational_routine_a_systematic_review_of_the_literature/file/79e41507c5afe8ee69.pdf&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm3VXRcd87oNV2JEKvOaV7fp3RdXpQ&oi=scholarr&ei=wnbmUaLYLMOl0QWvioCQDw&ved=0CC4QgAMoADAA (opens in a PDF)


YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO THE GYM TO LOSE WEIGHT.

hoover the floors..??? Are we still talking about house work..???

DivaJadelyn

I have my profile set to lightly active, to account for being on my feet with the kids. So, if I do something I don't do everyday and it gets my heartrate up, I count it as exercise. For example: moving furniture around, scrubbing on my hands and knees, multiple trips up and down the stairs for garbage runs... things that aren't just part of my lightly active routine. Now, if I had my activity level set higher, I wouldn't count it as exercise at all.

starartist

I only count vigorous housework. If I end up sweating then I log it.

maybeazure

Housework is most definitely more exercise than sitting on the couch eating chips. Also to me it is way more boring than say 30 Day Shred, so you better believe I count it. I probably don't eat back all the calories, but I like to log it, and if it annoys my friends, so be it.