Do you count cleaning as exercise?

Morgaath

If you're talking about "cleaning" in terms of the Olympic lift, then yes I count cleans as an exercise. However the concept of tracking "calorie burn" through an inaccurate measuring device (the HRM) is rather ridiculous to me, so no I don't track exercise calories period. If you're talking about house-work as exercise... Then I would have to ask how serious are you about working towards your goals if you're going to count house work as exercise.

See, I think calories burned are calories burned, just as calories consumed are calories consumed.
Does it matter if I climbed 12 flights of stairs on a stair master vs doing it taking the clothes up from the laundry?
If I do 4k steps more than my normal day, does it only count if I do them on a treadmill, or on a trail, vs doing them in my house while doing housework, or wandering around a mall? And seeing as normally while doing housework, or being at the mall, I often have tons of stuff I am carrying, vs just holding my water bottle.
Would you count raking up ten 30gal bags of leaves as part of a cardio workout, or do the calories only count if you burn them in a gym?

JNick77

If you're talking about "cleaning" in terms of the Olympic lift, then yes I count cleans as an exercise. However the concept of tracking "calorie burn" through an inaccurate measuring device (the HRM) is rather ridiculous to me, so no I don't track exercise calories period. If you're talking about house-work as exercise... Then I would have to ask how serious are you about working towards your goals if you're going to count house work as exercise.

See, I think calories burned are calories burned, just as calories consumed are calories consumed.
Does it matter if I climbed 12 flights of stairs on a stair master vs doing it taking the clothes up from the laundry?
If I do 4k steps more than my normal day, does it only count if I do them on a treadmill, or on a trail, vs doing them in my house while doing housework, or wandering around a mall? And seeing as normally while doing housework, or being at the mall, I often have tons of stuff I am carrying, vs just holding my water bottle.
Would you count raking up ten 30gal bags of leaves as part of a cardio workout, or do the calories only count if you burn them in a gym?

.
Not to be disrespectful, but if you're burning the same amount of calories in the gym as you do folding laundry then you're not working hard enough in the gym. Secondly, the concept of counting calories is burned is too loosely used. The "counters" on the cardio machines are not even remotely accurate and should not be used. Secondly, the HRM's are pretty inaccurate themselves and are probably not worth using. It's more worthwhile to calculate your calorie needs for losing weight based on a healthy deficit of your TDEE or BMR. Is a lot less stressful too and losing weight or even managing your weight can be stressful enough.

KANGOOJUMPS

yep, my vacuum is brutal,

cwolfman13

When I was using the MFP method, Cleaning, cooking, etc...that's all just a part of my NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)...my day to day hum drum...it was accounted for in my MFP goal. I only count actual exercise as exercise.

cwolfman13

If you're talking about "cleaning" in terms of the Olympic lift, then yes I count cleans as an exercise. However the concept of tracking "calorie burn" through an inaccurate measuring device (the HRM) is rather ridiculous to me, so no I don't track exercise calories period. If you're talking about house-work as exercise... Then I would have to ask how serious are you about working towards your goals if you're going to count house work as exercise.

See, I think calories burned are calories burned, just as calories consumed are calories consumed.
Does it matter if I climbed 12 flights of stairs on a stair master vs doing it taking the clothes up from the laundry?
If I do 4k steps more than my normal day, does it only count if I do them on a treadmill, or on a trail, vs doing them in my house while doing housework, or wandering around a mall? And seeing as normally while doing housework, or being at the mall, I often have tons of stuff I am carrying, vs just holding my water bottle.
Would you count raking up ten 30gal bags of leaves as part of a cardio workout, or do the calories only count if you burn them in a gym?

The problem is that day to day chores and what not are already accounted for in your activity level...actual exercise is not accounted for when you set your MFP activity level...so if you're counting activity that has already been accounted for...then you're double counting and hosing yourself.

bcattoes

If you're talking about "cleaning" in terms of the Olympic lift, then yes I count cleans as an exercise. However the concept of tracking "calorie burn" through an inaccurate measuring device (the HRM) is rather ridiculous to me, so no I don't track exercise calories period. If you're talking about house-work as exercise... Then I would have to ask how serious are you about working towards your goals if you're going to count house work as exercise.

See, I think calories burned are calories burned, just as calories consumed are calories consumed.
Does it matter if I climbed 12 flights of stairs on a stair master vs doing it taking the clothes up from the laundry?
If I do 4k steps more than my normal day, does it only count if I do them on a treadmill, or on a trail, vs doing them in my house while doing housework, or wandering around a mall? And seeing as normally while doing housework, or being at the mall, I often have tons of stuff I am carrying, vs just holding my water bottle.
Would you count raking up ten 30gal bags of leaves as part of a cardio workout, or do the calories only count if you burn them in a gym?

The problem is that day to day chores and what not are already accounted for in your activity level...actual exercise is not accounted for when you set your MFP activity level...so if you're counting activity that has already been accounted for...then you're double counting and hosing yourself.

If he is walking 4k steps or taking 12 flights of stairs more than usual, how is that a day to day chore?

It's not the activity that should determine whether you count it. It's whether it's above and beyond your usual activity level.

chezjuan

I've been pretty much all over the map on this question.

When I started on MFP a year ago I would count major cleaning efforts as exercise (basically top-to-bottom, 3-hour active efforts, not simple dusting/vacuuming) but I would only count 1/2 the time I spent doing it. Likewise, I would count doing errands if I was actually out walking around for several hours (like if I walked to the grocery store rather than drove, then lugged my bags home). Again, I would only log about 1/2 the time. I had my daily activity set to sedentary (M-F is spent behind a desk), so I figured that if it was outside of my normal daily activity, it could be logged. My weight loss progressed about where it should have during that time.

The more in shape I got, and the more time I spent at the gym, the less I logged those activities. I was also more active in my daily life and, although I wasn't cleaning I was moving more than when I started, so it really didn't seem like something I should log. My weight loss kept progressing about as expected.

Now, I follow TDEE and don't log any exercise. I am at maintenance, and it is also going as planned.

The best recommendation I have is to do what works for you, but don't log cleaning if you just want to eat a bowl of ice cream and don't want to see a red number on MFP. If you do decide to log it, only do so if you are going above and beyond your normal activity level, and then be conservative with your estimate.

JNick77

Now, I follow TDEE and don't log any exercise. I am at maintenance, and it is also going as planned.

The best recommendation I have is to do what works for you, but don't log cleaning if you just want to eat a bowl of ice cream and don't want to see a red number on MFP. If you do decide to log it, only do so if you are going above and beyond your normal activity level, and then be conservative with your estimate.

^