Calories burned washing dishes - for hours

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Replies

  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    Household chores and other activities you do daily are not exercise. Exercise raises your heart rate for a sustained period. You can count it but you are only following yourself. Your body doesn't..

    LOL, what now?

    I count the calories of every. activity. I. do. :laugh:

    Well, not me, but my fitbit does. It adds and subtracts calories based on my activity level for the day. There are days when it seems I'm walking from here to Guam and back and others, like today, when I only walked to NJ. Since my fitbit interacts with MFP to adjust for my daily activities, I don't see the harm in counting this unusual 3 hour long low intensity activity.

    If I were washing dishes for 3 hours, my fitbit would adjust for the additional movement. Shrug. Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure varies from day to day (I expect) and since it's just an estimation in the first place, I can see where one may choose to ignore this and not count it as formal 'exercise'.

    However, I completely disagree that only 'formal' exercise should be counted. Surprisingly, I don't count my weight training at the gym because it's low impact & difficult to estimate for a variety of reasons, so I just expect it will add to my deficit whatever it will add. My activity level, that's a different story according to my fitbit though.
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    Thanks to those of you who have my back. :-)

    I just hate to see people argue back and forth over something so silly. I probably should have posted the original question under "Chit-Chat, Fun, and Games."

    Have a nice night everyone. :-)

    Ooo then you'd have seen some real snark :blushing:

    post-19287-Zooey-Deschanel-sad-New-Girl-J-VhQm.gif
  • elizabethannemoir
    elizabethannemoir Posts: 4
    Exactly the same as me, I have lost 20 pounds and I list all that stuff. It gives me a good idea what I can eat. It has been really helpful to me. Congrats on your weight loss so far. Some people on this website can be so darn negative.
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,010 Member
    I've worked as a dishwasher in restaurants before and it's pretty grueling work. I was always exhausted afterwards. I wouldn't log it (but I don't log any of my exercise) but it's a pretty good workout for sure :smile:
  • muffinsandcakes
    muffinsandcakes Posts: 333 Member
    sooo
    how much ?
  • joelschneider45066
    joelschneider45066 Posts: 76 Member
    I guess from my perspective, I have done several "tests" whereas I wear my HRM while doing work out in the garage or yard, etc on the weekends. When I am out there working my HR is typically averaging around 120-125 BPM, which is clearly decent calorie burning mode. I do take 'credit' for this, however I also deduct 30-40% of the calories assuming that some of it is 'just me existing'.... I dunno, maybe I am wrong, but for me it seems to work .. I have a desk job, so that activity on the weekend is certainly extra, for me atleast ... I think the OP asks a reasonable question....
  • 50sFit
    50sFit Posts: 712 Member
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    It's not enough above the burn rate to justify worrying about.
    phjorg1 wrote: »
    Maybe 60 an hour above your tdee
    This is my feeling....

  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    I'll log cleaning now and then if it's something really out of the ordinarly like annual (sometimes bi-annual) window washing. But I'll only take half the calories since most MFP listings overestimate.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    gosh- reading is so darn hard these days!!!!
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    edited October 2014
    1 calorie an hour.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    I use "fishing" for some of those things if I feel like knowing how much I might have burned. Kinda the same motions. I actually use fishing instead of softball when I play since I play right field and don't move as much as I'd like...
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    For things like this, if you're doing it for really long duration, I might just add 100 to 200 calories total. There's no good way to measure it, though estimates on additional calories
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    edited October 2014
    SassyCalyGirl wrote: »
    I am just stunned at how people search for "useless" calorie burns. I am not trying to be negative but unless you made a conscience effort to sweat your *kitten* off-it doesn't count.

    So the 6+ miles I walked yesterday (and isn't accounted for in my sedentary activity setting) didn't count because I didn't try to 'sweat my *kitten* off'? Please. It's 250-300 cals I wouldn't normally have burned. I'm counting it.

    Sweating has nothing to do with calories burned. It just means you were hot. You can count anything not accounted for in your settings. If it's < 100 cals, seriously consider taking it as a bonus deficit.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    yup, didn't count. That's still in your daily caloric expenditure based on activity level.

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