House work - Does it burn calories?

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Zombie_Sam85
Zombie_Sam85 Posts: 9 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

I do like a bit of house work (odd I know) but blitzing a house listening to your fave music can be very enjoyable and i feel like i have achieved something - Apart from the usual comics, games and zombies.

But what I want to know is - Can doing your house work help you lose weight?

I get that doing the dishes may not trim the fat, but surely scrubbing, whizzing around with a hoover and stretching for the dust bunnies must do something?

Is there any way to maximise this workout?
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Replies

  • hoppinglark
    hoppinglark Posts: 213 Member
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    This topic has been discussed quite a bit I think.

    There was a study (Funded by the Coca-Cola corporation) That stated that homemakers exert
    less energy now , than they did years ago due to labor saving devices etc.

    I did a quick search of Housework Workouts and there are many youtube videos of people showing
    how they added wrist weights when mopping, and taking better form when ironing etc.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    probably but why count them???? I assume they are in my BMR already.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    I agree, this topic is and has been discussed at length... and while there are many around here that disagree. Anything that gets you moving is going to burn more calories than sitting or laying down.

    The point is to move more and track your caloric intake (something you probably weren't doing before).
  • Hannah_Hopes
    Hannah_Hopes Posts: 273 Member
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    Yess! BMR is used by calculating your lifestyle if you move around a lot or not but if you don't clean to this extent daily its not counted as BMR - depends what you set your activity level to
    If you don't use labour saving equipment get out the broom and mop and duster and get scrubbing, to maximise working out while cleaning, add ankle/wrist weights, stretch high and low throw in a few lunges and ankle raises - play your favourite music and sing and dance around - you may look weird but I can guarantee you'll be having fun and you'll be working a sweat up :bigsmile:
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
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    If you sweat when you do your housework, you're burning calories.

    So depending on how vigorous the housework is, yes, of course you can lose weight doing housework. I wouldn't log it as exercise though.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    Housework is movement, it does burn calories. However, I unless you made it a point to do it fast enough to get your heart rate up, you're really, really out of shape, or you have a large house...I doubt it's doing much to improve your fitness. Whether it helps you lose weight or not is dependant upon your diet...as with any exercise.
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    Here's some recent posts:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1064993-housework-as-exercise?hl=housework#posts-16368541

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1047460-so-is-housework-considered-exercise-or-is-it-not?hl=housework&page=11#posts-16150282
  • dkgoetz
    dkgoetz Posts: 65 Member
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    If it's your usual, daily/weekly cleaning, then I'd say no. But if you're doing a major house-scrubbing every once in a while that involves a lot of work/movement and makes you sweat, I say, why not?
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    Were you doing any housework during the time period that you become overweight?
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
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    It would definitely require more calories than sitting at a desk all day, but realistically it's not much. I wouldn't count it personally, I don't even really count my regular excercise. It's factored into my TDEE so it takes the guesswork out of how many calories I burned doing any one thing in particular. If I"m really famished after a day of yardwork and I eat a couple hundred extra calories i don't stress. The same goes for when I'm not quite at 1800 calories but I'm feeling satisfied. It all balances out and IMO, counting housework calories is unecessary.
  • Zombie_Sam85
    Zombie_Sam85 Posts: 9 Member
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    Yess! BMR is used by calculating your lifestyle if you move around a lot or not but if you don't clean to this extent daily its not counted as BMR - depends what you set your activity level to
    If you don't use labour saving equipment get out the broom and mop and duster and get scrubbing, to maximise working out while cleaning, add ankle/wrist weights, stretch high and low throw in a few lunges and ankle raises - play your favourite music and sing and dance around - you may look weird but I can guarantee you'll be having fun and you'll be working a sweat up :bigsmile:

    Oh I look weird most days haha! i'll have to add in some lunges and wrist weights then XD
  • Zombie_Sam85
    Zombie_Sam85 Posts: 9 Member
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    Were you doing any housework during the time period that you become overweight?

    Not classified as overweight according to doctors and such, really aiming to lose some flab and control my bad eating habits. I do all the house work at home so i was hoping it would help me in my mini mission :)
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
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    Were you doing any housework during the time period that you become overweight?

    This is a silly question since she was clearly over eating or she wouldn't be here in the first place. It wasn't the activity that was the problem, it was the over eating of calories.
  • LeviLeDoux
    LeviLeDoux Posts: 151 Member
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    The use of "BMR" in this thread made me cringe. That is all. -_-
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Movement of all kinds burns calories. However, much of your "daily activity" type things are already included in your allotted calories. Whether you should count it as "exercise" or not depends on how you set up your calorie goals on here, and how much effort you are really expending.

    I personally don't count it, because I did house cleaning before I was on any diet, it is already part of my calories.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Yess! BMR is used by calculating your lifestyle if you move around a lot or not but if you don't clean to this extent daily its not counted as BMR - depends what you set your activity level to
    If you don't use labour saving equipment get out the broom and mop and duster and get scrubbing, to maximise working out while cleaning, add ankle/wrist weights, stretch high and low throw in a few lunges and ankle raises - play your favourite music and sing and dance around - you may look weird but I can guarantee you'll be having fun and you'll be working a sweat up :bigsmile:

    Look up BMR, please, it doesn't mean what you think it means. Use proper terminology so as not to confuse people.
  • kcaffee1
    kcaffee1 Posts: 759 Member
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    Forgive the pun...

    I've got to "weigh" in on the side that housework CAN help with your exercise. But, it will depend on how often and how much you do. I tend to lump my personal cleaning for the week into a one-time weekly time (usually no more than 30 minutes) that I'll throw in somewhere towards the end of the week for my calorie burns. (Since I eat TDEE - %, I'll adjust the posted burn to 1 cal, but keep the daily "total" in the notes section to help me see how active I was for the day.)

    However, I've just recently started working with a company where I'm doing a LOT more cleaning - some of it is harder than the rest, but I still say it averages out to the light/moderate effort category. I am amazed at how much I rack up in a 4 hour day in calorie burns. Again, because of the way I keep track of my calories, this is only a marker for me on activity - I'm mostly using the exercise log to post active minutes on my news feed, not actual burns.

    And, before a ton of people start jumping around about the size of the burns... yes, I AM large. Yes, I am pouring sweat (and it's not just because some of the houses don't have air conditioning). And, yes, I AM moving it - don't have a HRM to track how much the heart rate jumps around, but I know at the end of the day I am quite happy to stumble through a shower and flop into bed. On my longer days (about 8 hours) I feel like I've just put in a 3 hour marathon at the gym lifting and swimming.
  • Hannah_Hopes
    Hannah_Hopes Posts: 273 Member
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    Yess! BMR is used by calculating your lifestyle if you move around a lot or not but if you don't clean to this extent daily its not counted as BMR - depends what you set your activity level to

    Look up BMR, please, it doesn't mean what you think it means. Use proper terminology so as not to confuse people.

    Yes oops sorry! *cringe* I meant the activity thing it was the person who mentioned it earlier that confused me and fact you use bmr in the Harris benedict equation thing, but yeah I meant the activity level you set that mfp uses to work out your calorie deficit etc
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    Yes oops sorry! *cringe* I meant the activity thing it was the person who mentioned it earlier that confused me, but yeah I meant the activity level you set that mfp uses to work out your calorie deficit etc

    ^^^^
    This...just used to seeing that term when I am looking at my goals...
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    All movement burns calories over being sedentary. Housework is no exception. How many calories varies with intensity. You could increase the burn by wearing a weighted vest, ankle weights and/or wrist weights.

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