How do you count housework / yard work?

Pamela_in_Progress

I never count housework because it's part of my day to day routine. I don't have a yard, so not sure about that one. I have done gardening in the past and know that it can be quite strenuous, especially if it's for a long duration.

MyRummyHens

I don't count housework or gardening, and whilst I do minimal amounts of housework I do enormous amounts of gardening.

I wear a pedometer and I set my activity level count in MFP according to how many steps I've done.

Chieflrg

Why not count everything. Even breathing...inhaling burns five calories an hour when exhaling burns three. Still trying to figure out how to log that.

yogicarl

I don't....It is not exercise, just part of daily living...If it does not push your heart rate up to at least 120 and keep it there for a while, it does not count....

sorry but - with respect - no. Your heart rate doesn't have to be significantly elevated to be burning a significant amount of calories.

I can run regularly and not lose weight but as soon as the warm months come around and I'm pottering around the yard, gardening, potting on plants, doing a bit of digging etc, I lose weight at around 1lb per week and that's without the running.

rm33064

People be hatin. It depends on how you have MFP set. If it's set to sedentary then yes you should be logging cleaning because mfp sets your goal right about your bmr. You should log all activity if it's set to sedentary. This is why fitbits are great. It takes all the guess work out of your day to day activities and gives you calories for how active you really are not how active you think you are. Get a fitbit, set your mfp to sedentary, and all you have to do is log any non step based exercises you do. That way you won't get yelled at by all the Massengills on here telling you to log your breathing...

cwolfman13

That kind of stuff is just included in my activity level as part of my NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) as I do some form or another of cleaning, cooking, yard work, etc on pretty much a daily basis. If I happen to have a big day in the yard or something I just chalk that up to bonus activity and/or maybe have an extra beer or two or something...at any rate, it all seems to come out in the wash. I lost steadily when I was losing and I've been maintaining for 12+ months now.

leggup

I do not count any cleaning. I only count things that I put on a sports bra to do. Our house is 3,300some sq feet and with dogs, I am constantly cleaning. I see that as part of daily life. I am not raising my heart rate that much for that long doing such tasks.

Once a year I do put on a sports bra and turn my raised bed garden, remove soil, move mulch, dig, trim scrubs, etc. It's grueling, long, and exhausting between the lifting and carrying. I usually log it as about 200 calories burned as a conservative estimate.

yogicarl

Why not count everything. Even breathing...inhaling burns five calories an hour when exhaling burns three. Still trying to figure out how to log that.

You can set up your own exercises in MFP. Just key in the exercise description and a calorie burn per hour and then the time you spent doing the activity. Quite easy really.

elliej

It's not a perfect rule but I pretty much don't count anything I did when I was fat - as clearly it wasn't helping me lose weight.