Calories burned cleaning (light effort) for five or six hours?

Verity1111
Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
edited November 18 in Health and Weight Loss
Can I get an estimate? I was seated most of the time, but sorting clothes, sweeping the floor around beds, sorting toys, moving laundry bags around and doing laundry (so a tiny bit of walking but not much) for 5-6hrs. Myfitnesspal says 600-700 calories for 4hrs but it seems a bit over the top to me so I was wondering if anyone has a better calorie estimator. I'm 5'4" 180lbs and 27 years old.
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Replies

  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    amtyrell wrote: »
    No extra. That's not significantly different from sedentary

    How so? I was sweaty and exhausted by the time I was done. It was 5-6hrs of moving way more than normal.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    edited May 2017
    KateTii wrote: »
    I'm sweaty and exausted after a solid hour gym session and I barely get 200 calories from my heart rate monitor. I would say it wouldn't be much more than that.

    How do you only get 200 from that long at the gym? I burn that much (more if you go by my heartrate monitor or fitness band) walking for 40 minutes only 3mph. For the gym for 1.5-2hrs I usually am told 600-800calories by MFP and more by my heart rate monitor or fitness band.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,295 Member
    edited May 2017
    Compendium of physical activities also lists mets and has an equation for correcting met values in certain situations... and MFP sedentary is 1.25 as opposed to 1.2 for the subtraction... and it still doesn't change anything about the advice given above which is basically... solid! :smiley:
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Compendium of physical activities also lists mets and has an equation for correcting met values in certain situations... and MFP sedentary is 1.25 as opposed to 1.2 for the subtraction... and it still doesn't change anything about the advice given above which is basically... solid! :smiley:

    Thanks for correcting the number.
  • vivelajackie
    vivelajackie Posts: 321 Member
    Honestly, I don't log chores. If map my walk wasn't synced with mfp none of my exercise would be logged. As a personal preference, I don't like the error rate of over calculated calorie burn so I just don't chance it.

    That being said, my job has me walking. All day. 10 hours... And I'm lightly active.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited May 2017
    I've never logged housework. I've been on a cleaning rampage all day, my fitbit picked up any extra steps that i may have done, and I'll leave it at that.
    My legs and back ache, as they have always done when i do a big cleanout. I think charging extra calories above what the sedentary setting here already gives me is clutching at straws..
  • missmince
    missmince Posts: 76 Member
    I don't think most housework burns a lot of calories, but it definitely feels fatiguing. It might be because you use your upper body and core muscles a lot more than usual, and they often aren't very strong. I find all the bending and lifting much more tiring than, say, a five mile walk. Of course, I don't log it the same way. I don't think a heart rate monitor is much use for housecleaning, since upper body work raises the heart rate more, proportionally to calories burned, than lower body.

    That said, I'm still upping my activity level to lightly active for summer due to indoor renovation projects and gardening. Also, I've noticed I don't eat very much when I spend loads of time doing housework, so fewer calories probably add to fatigue. I think that's true for a lot of people, when they are trying to get the chores over with and don't want to stop to eat (and clean that up, too.)
  • gentlygently
    gentlygently Posts: 752 Member
    Well done on getting your home in order!

    In terms of now treating yourself - I wouldn't go much further than a biscuit/cookie or two - 200 cals max, but probably just 100. Most of the calorie burn in excercise is moving your body weight around....so the fact you were seated means the calorie use will be fairly limited even if the movement was unfamiliar and so tiring.

    I would suggest you take MFP (and calorie burn monitors) with a pinch of salt. Mfp figures very much overestimate and also do not encourage you to allow for the fact your body would have used up a whole chunk of those calories anyway by just being... (In my case roughly 100 an hour).

    Clearing up is a chore that can make me grumpy and tired, but I would be concermed about my heart fitness and my flexibility and muscle strength if it stretched me physically.

    Do you need to move more in your every day life?? Being sedentry is so bad for the heart.
  • NextPage
    NextPage Posts: 609 Member
    I wouldn't log it since this type of activity would be assumed for everyone, including those with a MFP "sedentary" setting.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Verity1111 wrote: »
    Can I get an estimate? I was seated most of the time, but sorting clothes, sweeping the floor around beds, sorting toys, moving laundry bags around and doing laundry (so a tiny bit of walking but not much) for 5-6hrs. Myfitnesspal says 600-700 calories for 4hrs but it seems a bit over the top to me so I was wondering if anyone has a better calorie estimator. I'm 5'4" 180lbs and 27 years old.

    The database entries for light cleaning and food preparation simply reflect the MET value of that work. It's a low number, in the range of 3 or so, but it's a real number of some effort expended above the sedentary act of sitting.

    I speak as one who logs 8 hours a day of "standing at desk, working", a MET 2 exercise which burns 348 calories. I eat back those calories and continue losing weight steadily.

    That one advises you to only log the breathless, sweaty, intense, deliberate MET 6 or higher exercises is just arbitrary.
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
    Fitbit was found to over estimate burn by up to 75%, which is why I bought a garmin
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I wouldn't log that - it's part of normal activity, not purposeful exercise.
  • kristikitter
    kristikitter Posts: 602 Member
    I wouldn't log it, and would count it as a bonus. Definitely wouldn't eat anything back.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,682 Member
    edited May 2017
    Verity1111 wrote: »
    Can I get an estimate? I was seated most of the time, but sorting clothes, sweeping the floor around beds, sorting toys, moving laundry bags around and doing laundry (so a tiny bit of walking but not much) for 5-6hrs. Myfitnesspal says 600-700 calories for 4hrs but it seems a bit over the top to me so I was wondering if anyone has a better calorie estimator. I'm 5'4" 180lbs and 27 years old.

    If I were seated most of the time while cleaning ... I wouldn't bother logging it.

    That's just my normal sedentary life. No different, really, than sitting at a desk most of the day, but getting up now and then to walk to the photocopier or to the kitchen for another cup of coffee ... none of which I track.


    I have only logged "house cleaning" once. On that particular evening, I spend about 4 hours unpacking boxes, moving furniture into place, carrying boxes here and there as needed, and vacuuming and cleaning as I set up our home. I was on my feet for the full 4 hours ... some standing but a lot of walking and carrying etc. No sitting.

    I logged it as 1 hour of housework.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    https://epi.grants.cancer.gov/atus-met/met.php

    There are a number of variations on housecleaning listed at the above link, with metabolic equivalent. Once you've decided which one applies (or maybe decided on some weighted average number based on the various activities you were doing), subtract 1.2 (assuming your activity level on MFP is set at sedentary), then multiply the resulting by your BMR, divide by 24 (number of hours in a day), and multiply by the number of hours engaged in activity. That will give you the incremental calorie burn, theoretically.

    My back of the envelope calculation, assuming a possibly conservative 2.0 MET, a baseline sedentary activity setting, and a 2000 kcal NEAT, is 222 kcal for four hours (that's in addition your baseline NEAT).

    Thank you! That's what I was trying to find. Housework mets works. I estimated like 300-350 for 6 hrs so very similar. Thanks for the second opinion. It ended up not mattering as I ate low gross calories but I didn't eat everything I'd planned lol
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    Azdak wrote: »
    I know this is not what you want to hear, but when you include everything--BMR, what you did before, what you did after, the fact that activity tables drastically overestimate calorie burns---it works out to be a wash. If the activity you described is "way more than normal", then it actually sounds as if your "normal" needs more movement.

    Six hours of cleaning I wouldn't say is normal.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    JessicaMcB wrote: »
    I stay home with my 4, 3 and nearly 2 year old girls so my life on a day-to-day basis is cook, clean, cook, clean, cook, foil youngest childs' ploys to dominate the world, clean more- I log none of this. Personally I can't see it burning many more calories than sitting still as effort is more of a construct of perception iykwim.

    Sounds like a productive day though, way to get it done!

    I have three kids two with disabilities this was still way more work than my day to day.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    tomteboda wrote: »
    I logged housework until I started using a step counter, but I set my activity to "sedentary". 4-5 hours of housework at a steady pace alone will grab 4000-6000 steps , and if you don't do it regularly that's actually quite a bit of activity.

    Now that I use a step counter I don't specifically track, well, anything, including hiking, although if I put extra effort in I do give myself a little extra wiggle room because my step counter only tracks steps, and is really stupid about things like elevation gains and speed.

    A person doing 4-5 hours of housework is NOT sedentary. That activity either needs to be tracked specifically , or included in a higher activity level.

    Yes and my calorie net goal is normally 1200 hence me asking. Thank you. I normally am quite sedentary IMO. I can't get in that much steady work with three kids sometimes I need to sit still for long periods feed them play watch TV to calm them or read books etc even cooking is less work as I'm still most of the time and they have special needs so two of them only eat very basic meals.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    edited May 2017
    gentlygently wrote: »
    Well done on getting your home in order!

    In terms of now treating yourself - I wouldn't go much further than a biscuit/cookie or two - 200 cals max, but probably just 100. Most of the calorie burn in excercise is moving your body weight around....so the fact you were seated means the calorie use will be fairly limited even if the movement was unfamiliar and so tiring.

    I would suggest you take MFP (and calorie burn monitors) with a pinch of salt. Mfp figures very much overestimate and also do not encourage you to allow for the fact your body would have used up a whole chunk of those calories anyway by just being... (In my case roughly 100 an hour).

    Clearing up is a chore that can make me grumpy and tired, but I would be concermed about my heart fitness and my flexibility and muscle strength if it stretched me physically.

    Do you need to move more in your every day life?? Being sedentry is so bad for the heart.

    Yes I couldn't walk for five months last year. I was wheelchair bound. My body is still very affected by that as well. But I still walk a lot or go to the gym for two hrs etc but to yesterday was six hrs of cleaning lol apparently I got in an extra four miles of steps. I thought less.
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