Calories burned cleaning (light effort) for five or six hours?
Replies
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I am in the camp log what you want...if you over estimate exercise you won't lose or gain...then you learn a lesson.
easy peasy.
I don't and never had logged cleaning...I figure if I burn that many calories cleaning I don't get ot log it as punishment for needing to clean that hard...but that's me.4 -
For the purposes of calculating calories and weight loss, there is nothing sacred or special about any our activities because we chose to attach certain labels to them.
It doesn't matter if you burned calories squatting 4 plates, running a marathon, or if you burned the calories playing with your **kitten**.
If your base activity level includes the particular expenditure ... then you shouldn't double count it by logging it again.
If your base activity level doesn't include it the expenditure then you should log it separately and eat the actual calories you spent if you want to stick to your MFP goals.
The morality, quality, implied athleticism, or sexiness of the activity may determine the per minute rate of caloric expenditure; but this doesn't mean that less sexy activities do not burn calories!
Having said that.. I am a bit unsure as to why @Verity1111 bothered to ask the question given that she is already losing at the maximum rate.
Obviously if you are already losing at the maximum rate AND you don't want to exceed that maximum rate, and you just finished a day where you spent more calories than normal playing with your **kitten**... then you should eat more to compensate for that!
Or don't eat more and lose faster than normal while remaining hungry. And if you estimate wrongly you will either lose slightly faster or slightly slower. And if you leave yourself too hungry you might rebound eat or feel off and move less the next day.
All of which should teach you more about yourself. Which is what this weight loss time is supposed to be for, if you want to actually achieve a lifestyle change.
It's not like your journey ends tomorrow or that, with normal water weight variations, you will even know right away whether you guessed right or wrong!14 -
Having said that.. I am a bit unsure as to why @Verity1111 bothered to ask the question given that she is already losing at the maximum rate.
Obviously if you are already losing at the maximum rate AND you don't want to exceed that maximum rate, and you just finished a day where you spent more calories than normal playing with your **kitten**... then you should eat more to compensate for that!
She asked because she was looking for an estimate of the calorie burned.
"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. "
Fortunately, she got a useful answer. And I'm glad she asked as I learned something in the process. Did not know the link to the METS info.
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I am in the camp log what you want...if you over estimate exercise you won't lose or gain...then you learn a lesson.
easy peasy.
I don't and never had logged cleaning...I figure if I burn that many calories cleaning I don't get ot log it as punishment for needing to clean that hard...but that's me.
Lol Punishment? that's them most ridiculous thing Ive ever heard. I have three kids, 2 with disabilities and 5 people in a teeny tiny basement apartment. We have so much stuff it's overflowing which is why I needed to sort so much and get rid of a lot of stuff because Ive run out of places to put it.4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Ironandwine69 wrote: »Cleaning is normal part of life. Anything that is a normal part of life is not worth logging.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA clearly you've never met some of the men with whom I used to live.
Also, what about people who pay others to do their housecleaning?
Again, what's normal for you is not universal.
You are a very smart human. Are you in the filthy eating group? I think youd fit in even if you eat clean lol http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/119686-the-filthy-eaters-of-mfp0 -
annacole94 wrote: »I log cleaning and gardening, mostly because I usually don't have my phone/pedometer on me and so it doesn't count my steps. It's not a huge deal, and it usually doesn't make that big of a caloric difference, but sometimes (like when you do it most of the day) it does.
Anyway, it's just a poor question to ask around the forums, as so many people have really strong feelings about it. REALLY STRONG feelings.
That made me laugh out loud for real lol I am aware. Been here for years but I still get shocked how many um....overly opinionated... people come out of the woodwork and start judging you and not even answering the original question. This website is meant to be supportive and helpful not ridiculously judgmental lol. We all have our views. Some people dont even believe in CICO working on it's own which I think is odd but hey Im not judging them for their low carb diets. So I wish people would stop trying to push their ideas on me. They're wasting their time.
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For the purposes of calculating calories and weight loss, there is nothing sacred or special about any our activities because we chose to attach certain labels to them.
It doesn't matter if you burned calories squatting 4 plates, running a marathon, or if you burned the calories playing with your **kitten**.
If your base activity level includes the particular expenditure ... then you shouldn't double count it by logging it again.
If your base activity level doesn't include it the expenditure then you should log it separately and eat the actual calories you spent if you want to stick to your MFP goals.
The morality, quality, implied athleticism, or sexiness of the activity may determine the per minute rate of caloric expenditure; but this doesn't mean that less sexy activities do not burn calories!
Having said that.. I am a bit unsure as to why @Verity1111 bothered to ask the question given that she is already losing at the maximum rate.
Obviously if you are already losing at the maximum rate AND you don't want to exceed that maximum rate, and you just finished a day where you spent more calories than normal playing with your **kitten**... then you should eat more to compensate for that!
Or don't eat more and lose faster than normal while remaining hungry. And if you estimate wrongly you will either lose slightly faster or slightly slower. And if you leave yourself too hungry you might rebound eat or feel off and move less the next day.
All of which should teach you more about yourself. Which is what this weight loss time is supposed to be for, if you want to actually achieve a lifestyle change.
It's not like your journey ends tomorrow or that, with normal water weight variations, you will even know right away whether you guessed right or wrong!
That's the main thing. I eat pretty low a lot of times so I want to make sure I dont undereat too much. Its not bad once but if I do it often it can have a negative impact on one's healthy obviously.0 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Ironandwine69 wrote: »Cleaning is normal part of life. Anything that is a normal part of life is not worth logging.
SMH.
This is so wrong. You set your activity level according to your normal activity. If you do something out of the ordinary, you should account for it. Especially when you eat the low end of the calorie range.
I just go by what my watch tells me, but if you don't use one it can be important.
Thank you! Yeah my goal is 1200 so I dont want to end up undereating. Some days I do eat higher but on a day when I plan on eating 1200 if I clean or do ANYTHING for 6 hrs I feel like I should try to estimate it so I dont go too far over *or* too far under.1 -
Ironandwine69 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »If she normally does one hour of housework six days a week but last week did none Sunday-Friday and did six hours on Saturday, then I would agree that she shouldn't count it, as this would be her normal pattern, just distributed differently. But this was not normal for her.
This was in addition to whatever she does normally.
What is normal for one person, is not universal for us all. No one would consider the amount of time my mother spends gardening normal for someone not doing it commercially. Similarly, my OH and I have widely disparate ideas of how long one should spend in post-meal prep cleanup.
Beyond this (which I agree with), she is eating bare minimum calories as it is (1200). Not eating some of them back would be no different than not eating some exercise calories back and could leave her 30% under her goal for the day. We wouldn't recommend that if someone at 1200 cals burned 300 at the gym, so why is this different?
300 calories at the gym is real effort for some. It takes me an hour of serious workout to burn 300 calories. Cleaning and folding laundry, even for hours, isn't serious workout.
That is not real effort. I'm 180lbs. I burn 300 calories on about 40 mins on an elliptical or walking for 1 hr. 1 hr on a seated stationary bike light to moderate effort. 6 hours is 360 minutes. If I walked that long at a slow to moderate pace I'd burn well over 1000 calories. You're claiming cleaning for 360 minutes will not burn even 1/4 that? Makes no sense.2 -
Ironandwine69 wrote: »Cleaning is normal part of life. Anything that is a normal part of life is not worth logging.
Cleaning for 30 mins or an hr or maybe even 2 is normal. Cleaning for 6 hrs a day is not "normal"... it's obsessive compulsive disorder. (Which I have btw and I still don't clean for 6 hrs a day without stopping every single day).0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »If she normally does one hour of housework six days a week but last week did none Sunday-Friday and did six hours on Saturday, then I would agree that she shouldn't count it, as this would be her normal pattern, just distributed differently. But this was not normal for her.
This was in addition to whatever she does normally.
What is normal for one person, is not universal for us all. No one would consider the amount of time my mother spends gardening normal for someone not doing it commercially. Similarly, my OH and I have widely disparate ideas of how long one should spend in post-meal prep cleanup.
Right. I did this on top of my normal cleaning/routine. Which is def not 6 hrs continuous. It was more like a few half hr cleaning bits here or there (normal for me) plus an extra 6 hrs of sorting tossing sweeping laundry etc.0 -
Verity1111 wrote: »Ironandwine69 wrote: »Cleaning is normal part of life. Anything that is a normal part of life is not worth logging.
Cleaning for 30 mins or an hr or maybe even 2 is normal. Cleaning for 6 hrs a day is not "normal"... it's obsessive compulsive disorder. (Which I have btw and I still don't clean for 6 hrs a day without stopping every single day).
Oh man, my house would be so clean if I cleaned for 6 hours a day! I'm talking toothbrush around the baseboards clean
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I don't log housework. It doesn't affect my daily burn enough.2
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kshama2001 wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »
I agree with you but we tend to be in the minority.
I don't count the ordinary housework I do everyday, but 6 hours is definitely out of the ordinary, and I would count that for sure. I use "Cleaning, light, moderate effort." If you feel you were somewhat less than moderate due to being seated a lot, only count 4 hours, or whatever time makes sense to you.
Similarly, I don't count ordinary daily cooking, but when I put on a big meal like I did for Mother's Day, I sure do count it.
That was actually exactly what I did. I put in 4hrs it said 680+ and I lowered it all the way to 350 calories.0 -
jennyhart200 wrote: »I log activity if it is way above and beyond the activity level that I have set in MFP. One thing to note is that your set activity level is an average of your activities. The days that you are not getting as much normal activity should balance the ones where you do slightly more. When I was cleaning my house to prepare for company coming over, I only logged calories when I was mopping my floors as I was sweating while doing it. The rest of the time while I was wiping counters off, doing laundry, picking things up, I didn't log. You are right in the fact that you know your body better than anyone else here. Try logging it for today and eating those calories back. If you are still happy with the weight that you are losing, then obviously it is okay for you to do so and you can do it again. If logging it and eating those calories back stalls you from losing weight, then don't do it again. Weight loss is a long process and sometimes you have to experiment with these sort of things because our bodies are not all the same.
My activity level is sedentary and I dont let MFP pick my calories. Its 1200. But thank you. Ill do that.
I have been losing 2.2 lbs per week so maybe Ill try extreme cleaning as exercise and see how it goes just for the heck of it haha 1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Sat down for most of it? Not worth logging, as others have said, consider it a bonus. For two days a week I used to move around heavy boxes and bed and sort, probably a bit more than you describe, I logged about 1 hours of lifting boxes or whatever entry I could fine, can't remember now, for the whole weekend. And it was damn hard work, constantly shifting around about 50 boxes selling vintage stuff wholesale.
I have a new kitten, I'm spending about 3-4 hours a day actively playing with him, I'm not logging it just calling it a bonus to my NEAT.
And let me preface this by saying I'm not judging, I know all about disability albeit mine isn't physical. But, if you needed to do 6 hours of cleaning today it probably means you're not doing so much as part of your normal day to day, so it equates to maybe 1 hour a day of general housework adding in the odd bit you might be doing already. It's really not worth logging.
I clean an hr or two a day already this was on top of it (not usually at once btw usually a few half hour periods I clean and then do other things). I have 3 kids and a tiny place (ages 6 5 and 2 1/2) and 2 have disabilities so its a wreck 24/7. I cant keep up. I usually get in a half hr here or there before I need to bathe a kid feed a kid cook etc so once in a while if I have a sitter I need to do a deep clean and throw out toys clothes and so forth.0 -
Verity1111 wrote: »
You are misunderstanding - all the activities you listed are normal routine activities. Sitting down cleaning and tidying isn't exercise.
That you may do them all in one day instead of spread over the week maybe unusual but that doesn't change the activity itself.
If you are that desperate to log an activity you said yourself was mostly sitting down then perhaps you should review your activity setting?
BTW - Seems everyone who has a different view to you is "ridiculous".
You may want to think how that comes across.
Also its not "instead" of spread out over the week. its in ADDITION to cleaning all week. And it doesnt matter? Thats like saying if you exercise daily its not exercise. Its extra activity with more movement walking etc than usual. That IS exercise. My activity level is not set MFP does not pick my calories. I do. and its 300 under my BMR. 1200 cal per day is my usual goal assuming Im doing absolutely nothing other than a maximum of 2 hrs of cleaning spread out in minutes throughout my day.1 -
I just want to point out in response to an earlier post that using a rowing machine at the gym is seated activity. I still log it, and for good reason!
You don't need to be on your feet to increase your calorific expenditure.12 -
You should log whatever feels right to you! Moving this huge body around for 5 hours doing housework is for SURE a workout! You know your body, your usual activity, and what gets your heart pumping. Nice job and keep up the great work 3
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Are you looking for help or validation re: your question?18
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HeliumIsNoble wrote: »I just want to point out in response to an earlier post that using a rowing machine at the gym is seated activity. I still log it, and for good reason!
You don't need to be on your feet to increase your calorific expenditure.
I've used a rowing machine before, and i couldn't compare the exertion of that to light housework.5 -
Makes the point though, doesn't it. Not logging anything sitting down is a very broadbrush approach.Christine_72 wrote: »HeliumIsNoble wrote: »I just want to point out in response to an earlier post that using a rowing machine at the gym is seated activity. I still log it, and for good reason!
You don't need to be on your feet to increase your calorific expenditure.
I've used a rowing machine before, and i couldn't compare the exertion of that to light housework.6 -
Verity1111 wrote: »Most of 6hrs is more than half. More than 3 hrs. Meaning I may have walked a total of 2hrs or more.Verity1111 wrote: »Considering I've been losing 2+lb per week consistently I'm pretty sure I know my body. I definitely should log six hours of work.
People have a natural tendency to overestimate their exercise, which is one reason people hesitate to log things. I wouldn't "definitely" log 2 hours of walking as 6 hours. But it's an individual choice.0 -
HeliumIsNoble wrote: »
Makes the point though, doesn't it. Not logging anything sitting down is a very broadbrush approach.Christine_72 wrote: »HeliumIsNoble wrote: »I just want to point out in response to an earlier post that using a rowing machine at the gym is seated activity. I still log it, and for good reason!
You don't need to be on your feet to increase your calorific expenditure.
I've used a rowing machine before, and i couldn't compare the exertion of that to light housework.
I don't know... Doing laundry or vacuuming/mopping and picking up toys etc etc doesn't have the same exhausting effect and muscle soreness that doing a full on workout on a rowing machine has, on me at least.
I'd be paranoid trusting a calorie burn number from cooking or cleaning, i don't do sprints or cartwheels through my kitchen or house when i'm doing housework. I wouldn't even begin to guess how much i burned, i just see it as a possible added bonus.3 -
Good luck with your health recovery1
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Why do you log exercise if you have a fitbit?4
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Why do you log exercise if you have a fitbit?
I was wondering the same thing.4 -
*shrugs*Christine_72 wrote: »HeliumIsNoble wrote: »
Makes the point though, doesn't it. Not logging anything sitting down is a very broadbrush approach.Christine_72 wrote: »HeliumIsNoble wrote: »I just want to point out in response to an earlier post that using a rowing machine at the gym is seated activity. I still log it, and for good reason!
You don't need to be on your feet to increase your calorific expenditure.
I've used a rowing machine before, and i couldn't compare the exertion of that to light housework.
I don't know... Doing laundry or vacuuming/mopping and picking up toys etc etc doesn't have the same exhausting effect and muscle soreness that doing a full on workout on a rowing machine has, on me at least.
I'd be paranoid trusting a calorie burn number from cooking or cleaning, i don't do sprints or cartwheels through my kitchen or house when i'm doing housework. I wouldn't even begin to guess how much i burned, i just see it as a possible added bonus.
In my case I have it on lightly active or active, so housework is already covered, even taking into account the fact I do it in deliberately energy-intensive ways. So this isn't an issue for me.
However, it is an issue for me if I see a hasty generalisation on the internet just before I go to bed...
In this thread, it was about whether you should ever log seated activity at all. In the next thread, it'll be something else. 1 -
HeliumIsNoble wrote: »I just want to point out in response to an earlier post that using a rowing machine at the gym is seated activity. I still log it, and for good reason!
You don't need to be on your feet to increase your calorific expenditure.
I LOVE rowing machines... fun and work a lot of parts of your body at once! yes this is very true - it burns calories.0 -
Verity1111 wrote: »Ironandwine69 wrote: »Cleaning is normal part of life. Anything that is a normal part of life is not worth logging.
Cleaning for 30 mins or an hr or maybe even 2 is normal. Cleaning for 6 hrs a day is not "normal"... it's obsessive compulsive disorder. (Which I have btw and I still don't clean for 6 hrs a day without stopping every single day).
Oh man, my house would be so clean if I cleaned for 6 hours a day! I'm talking toothbrush around the baseboards clean
Haha. Mine would probably still be a wreck. These kids are terrors lol My 2 and 5 year olds are totally nonverbal and delayed.0
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