Counting cleaning as exercise

mandimahoney5

I am a crazy cleaner, I will spend 2 hours a day cleaning while baby is sleeping. I do feel hot and like I am about to sweat by the time I sit down.

I found cleaning is in the exercises.

Any one actually use this??? My husband questioned me about it when I told home he helped me clean and rearrand a room that he should input 2 hours in his MFP for cleaning. He could not be leave it was considered a exercise

dbmata

Cleaning? Count it!

mommyrunning

If you do it everyday it is probably better to count it as part of your daily activity and make yourself lightly active or moderately active in your settings depending on what else you do. If you do it only sometimes then yes 2 hrs of cleaning could be logged but MFP is generous with calories burned so I would underestimate it a bit.

ValGogo

Funny, just yesterday I got home and started to mop the kitchen floor. It was crazy humid (New York) and it was hot in the apt. Now, I don't have a mop (didn't buy one yet and the swiffer is just not strong enough) so I used a big rag and the broom handle. Also lots of cat hair so I had to squat to wipe up the hair in long sweeping movements with my arms and core.

Suffice it to say I was dripping with sweat and breating heavily when I finished about 20-30 minutes later. I logged the cleaning on my MFP.

I think some cleaning is exercise, hell yeah!

itsmemeg

I count it. I'm not the most successful at weight loss, however. But I will clean for a couple hours and definitely sweat, and even sometimes be sore the next day. So I say it should count.

Pirate_chick

I don't, but a lot of people do.

ValGogo

Cleaning? Count it!

Off topic, but what is the next move after the squat....does he stand up? Seriously....does he? I'm saving this picture.

Unknown

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LuckyMunky

I would argue that it depends on your activity settings. I've put mine as lightly active, and if I work up a sweat while cleaning, I count it as exercise. If it's light (just dusting, doing dishes, etc.) I don't count it. Moving furniture and doing a heavy duty scrub? Yes, that will definitely burn some serious calories over time! I tend to only log half the time I've actually spent cleaning, as it's been known that MFP can overestimate the calories burnt for many activities.

spade117

I will spend 2 hours a day cleaning

Sounds like you have a dirty house.

Velum_cado

I don't ever log anything like that as exercise because to me it *isn't*. It's physically demanding, perhaps, but it's just life. It's not something that I have to find extra motivation for, and schedule in on top of the rest of my day. If I get a few extra calories burned, great. It's a bit of an unplanned bonus. I feel like if I logged things like cleaning as exercise could really set me up to become complacent with exercise. Like, "Oh, I don't need to work out today. I cleaned the house yesterday."

That's just how I see it for myself. Do what works best for you.

diannethegeek

If you do it everyday it is probably better to count it as part of your daily activity and make yourself lightly active or moderately active in your settings depending on what else you do. If you do it only sometimes then yes 2 hrs of cleaning could be logged but MFP is generous with calories burned so I would underestimate it a bit.

^This would be my answer too. Either set your activity level a little higher or get something like a fitbit or bodybugg to track your daily activity.

dbmata

Cleaning? Count it!

Off topic, but what is the next move after the squat....does he stand up? Seriously....does he? I'm saving this picture.

Drive hard up to the heavens in a front squat of glory.

SezxyStef

If you cleaned while you were over weight no...don't count it...it's a part of life.

I was on my hands and knees scrubbing grout for 2 hours as well on Saturday you wont find it in my log.

Exercise is purposeful movement for health...cleaning is not that...esp your own house and if you do it everyday for 2 hours....can't be that dirty.

TXRanchGirl

I used to count EVERY little thing I did..now I dont.
I jut log my actual exercise videos.

pastryari

No.

azymth99

You can count it, but I think you're working against yourself, especially if you eat according to the calorie adjustments in MFP. Including it in daily activity is probably more accurate.

tibby531

I count it when I do my weekly whole-house cleaning (2-4 hours). but not the daily "oh, I did dished for ten minutes" stuff.

mandimahoney5

I am actually looking in to one of these. The flex is what I want. I was waiting until I got a smart phone again ( when the iPhone 6 is out in September so I can set it to sunk through the phone. baby decided my I phone 4 needed to take a swim in juice and ruined it)

I'd say if you're going to go down that road you'd be best off getting a FitBit and just counting the steps you take cleaning so you have a better idea of what your activity really is during that time period. Otherwise don't count it.

mandimahoney5

My settings are for Sedentary ( sitting ) calories per day recommended 1300 per day.
I am a stay at home mom so didn't know what to use. But thought that was best, I spend my days chasing a 2 y old around, watching cartoons, cleaning and 5 days a week 1-1.5 hours at the gym.

I would argue that it depends on your activity settings. I've put mine as lightly active, and if I work up a sweat while cleaning, I count it as exercise. If it's light (just dusting, doing dishes, etc.) I don't count it. Moving furniture and doing a heavy duty scrub? Yes, that will definitely burn some serious calories over time! I tend to only log half the time I've actually spent cleaning, as it's been known that MFP can overestimate the calories burnt for many activities.

MuseofSong

Fitbit, from experience, does not accurately count my steps when I'm in the house. Fitbit is not going to accurately measure housework activities either. When you're inside the shower enclosure scrubbing hard water spots off your shower door and enclosure, inch by inch, for an hour, fitbit isn't going to measure that.

If you are set to sedentary, count your exercise as activity. Otherwise, set yourself to lightly active and only count it if you go beyond your two hours'of usual daily cleaning.

When I'm on vacation, I set to sedentary and housework activities that go beyond me just straightening up or tossing in a load of laundry etc (little to no effort stuff) gets counted. When I'm at work, I set to lightly active because work keeps me on my feet and walking around all the time, and it's the same thing, I'll count the extended cleaning sessions.

But, because cleaning can not be 'balanced', meaning you might favor your right or left side, it's best to also incorporate other activities, too. Moderate to heavy effort cleaning still counts though.

Just like the men of yesteryear, people don't want to consider 'women's work' as real work, and as it ever was, it is.

Oh, and sweat does not equal workout. Sweat just means you're hot. Just because something made you sweaty, or didn't, does not diminish or add to the effort you put into that activity. Sweat does not burn extra calories.

workshardplaysharder

It depends on what kind of cleaning I am doing. Last week I spent a total of about 9 hours on Thursday and another 2 or so hours Friday cleaning the house. This included dusting, straightening up, climbing up and down two flights of stairs to put things away in the attic, vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing the front porch. I was dripping with sweat. I did not count that as exercise but I could have based on the amount of effort I put in.

AlyRoseNYC

Cleaning? Count it!

Off topic, but what is the next move after the squat....does he stand up? Seriously....does he? I'm saving this picture.

Drive hard up to the heavens in a front squat of glory.

LOLOL Can you narrate all my gym sessions? hahaha Can you do a Morgan Freeman voice???

cwolfman13

Activity? Yes...Exercise? No. Personally I would just include that in your activity level if it's something you do regularly. I would think it would be difficult to determine with any kind of accuracy how much you're actually burning in order to log it and eat back "exercise" calories.

I have a desk job, but I spend quite a bit of time at home up and on my feet cooking, cleaning, fixing this or that, doing random yard work, etc...I just included that in my activity level for light active and only ever logged deliberate exercise. If I happened to have a particularly big day working on landscaping or whatever, I'd pretty much just chalk that up to a couple of extra beers when I was done.

momma2azoo

I am a crazy cleaner, I will spend 2 hours a day cleaning while baby is sleeping. I do feel hot and like I am about to sweat by the time I sit down.

I found cleaning is in the exercises.

Any one actually use this??? My husband questioned me about it when I told home he helped me clean and rearrand a room that he should input 2 hours in his MFP for cleaning. He could not be leave it was considered a exercise

No. I don't. Are you trying to loose weight? Have you always cleaned house? If so, cleaning house isn't enough exercise to have helped with your weight. It's a daily activity. It is active, but it is not exercise.

You can count what ever you want, but if your goal is to get in shape and loose weight then you need to count exercise that is actually exercise. I have 5 kids and a small farm. I don't count house keeping or regular yard work. The only time I count yard work is if it's something I don't normally do, like when we clear brush by hand or take care of a downed tree. Something major and hard.

mandimahoney5

Oh yah if I am just doing dishes after dinner I don't count it. I am talking about like just now I spent an hour cleaning 2 rooms. This included whipping off all surfaces, including baby toys, walls, doors, windows, vacuuming my living room and dining room.

When I am done feeding my LO lunch I am going to put her to nap. I am then going to spend her nap time doing the same to 2 restrooms, kitchen, and bedroom.

I will finish baby's room, guest room, basement and laundry for tomorrow.

I count it when I do my weekly whole-house cleaning (2-4 hours). but not the daily "oh, I did dished for ten minutes" stuff.

mandimahoney5

90% of the time I don't use my extra calories given by exercise.

You can count it, but I think you're working against yourself, especially if you eat according to the calorie adjustments in MFP. Including it in daily activity is probably more accurate.

cwolfman13

90% of the time I don't use my extra calories given by exercise.

You can count it, but I think you're working against yourself, especially if you eat according to the calorie adjustments in MFP. Including it in daily activity is probably more accurate.

then it makes no difference whatsoever if you count these or not. the purpose of logging exercise and activity in MFP is so that you may account for activity that otherwise is not included in your activity level for an appropriate calorie intake. if you're not eating back calories from exercise, whether you log cleaning or not is completely irrelevant because you aren't utilizing the tool as designed in the first place.

thavoice

Uh.

No.

I would never consider cleaning, or yard work, or even last week patching my asphalt driveway where I wielded a 25lb tamper hundreds of times as exercise.

Some do, and more power to them. Seems like they want to count it to go towards the exercise notion but to me that is just normal every day life. Just because you sweat doesnt mean squat. I was sweating last weekend trying to go to sleep!


I dont want this to sound bad, but from my personal experience it seems like many of the people who really want to count these things as exercise want to point to it as true exercise and should be the same as actually exercising.

I just dont see it. Even when I was working my *kitten* off on the driveway that doesnt seem like exercise nor would I count or log it as such. That is just BONUS burns if you ask me. That is up and beyond actual exercising.

In the end it really is just used to make them feel good, feel them like they actually exercised.

Want to count it? More power to you, but I wouldnt expect a lot of people who religiously exercise to jump on board 100%.

ValGogo

Cleaning? Count it!

Off topic, but what is the next move after the squat....does he stand up? Seriously....does he? I'm saving this picture.

Drive hard up to the heavens in a front squat of glory.

LOLOL Can you narrate all my gym sessions? hahaha Can you do a Morgan Freeman voice???

Wow, I found another pic where the move is completed. Amazing. He looks like he's going to go backwards but he doesn't

ValGogo

Uh.

No.

I would never consider cleaning, or yard work, or even last week patching my asphalt driveway where I wielded a 25lb tamper hundreds of times as exercise.

Some do, and more power to them. Seems like they want to count it to go towards the exercise notion but to me that is just normal every day life. Just because you sweat doesnt mean squat. I was sweating last weekend trying to go to sleep!


I dont want this to sound bad, but from my personal experience it seems like many of the people who really want to count these things as exercise want to point to it as true exercise and should be the same as actually exercising.

I just dont see it. Even when I was working my *kitten* off on the driveway that doesnt seem like exercise nor would I count or log it as such. That is just BONUS burns if you ask me. That is up and beyond actual exercising.

In the end it really is just used to make them feel good, feel them like they actually exercised.

Want to count it? More power to you, but I wouldnt expect a lot of people who religiously exercise to jump on board 100%.

I'm just assuming but I don't think she was counting it so as to eliminiate bonafide exercise. I personally counted my own mopping session cuz i wanted to. Just like every calorie consumed counts, then I think every calorie burned counts.