Cleaning(Light/Moderate)(Heavy/Vigorous) What's the differen

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LilSweetie785
LilSweetie785 Posts: 27
in Fitness and Exercise
Just started tracking yesterday. How do you know what is considered light/moderate or heavy/vigorous? Trying to track "exercise" and as a Stay at Home Mom I clean quite a bit and need to know how to track it correctly. Thanks!

Jess
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Replies

  • khrys1
    khrys1 Posts: 444 Member
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    I would think that things that are using many parts of the body, like mopping, hand scrubbing the floor, bathtub, etc., that gets your heartrate up would be more vigorous, whereas folding laundry would be light/moderate.
  • sweetdee88
    sweetdee88 Posts: 22
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    i would say light/moderate is general house clean up--dusting, sweeping, dishes, etc. heavy/vigorous would be scrubbing the floors, vacuuming large areas or up and down stairs, etc. try to go by what your body is feeling--if you work up a sweat, i'd say it was vigorous. hope that helps!
  • Andee_P
    Andee_P Posts: 1
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    you know i just started this too and im trying to figure out how to incorporate daily chores into the exercise routine. like if you dont actually get to hit the gym, or so a workout. what exercise is considerd for moving furniture, or cleaning the house, or doing laundry, walking the dog. etc... that was a good question, sorry i couldnt answer it but maybe someone else can help us both.
  • LilSweetie785
    LilSweetie785 Posts: 27
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    Thanks ladies!! I think I have a good idea now. :) Although half the time I wash the dishes I end up sweating(not all the time) so I'm still a little confused about that one. lol I think that is a good idea though to let my body tell me how "hard" the work is that i'm doing.

    Jess
  • tillybabes
    tillybabes Posts: 13
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    I found this hope it helps

    Calories Burned Doing Housework Calculations based on a 150 pound person.

    Activity
    #Of Minutes
    Calories Burned

    Waxing furniture
    30
    82

    Washing dishes
    30
    79

    Ironing
    30
    75

    Cooking
    30
    85

    Making the bed
    30
    68

    Doing laundry
    30
    73

    Window cleaning
    30
    112

    Vacuuming
    30
    112

    Painting
    30
    144

    Sweeping
    30
    112

    Mopping
    30
    127

    Stair climbing
    30
    210

    Perhaps it doesn’t take you a full 30 minutes to complete these particular cleaning projects, so by splitting the time up and combining the cleaning projects, you can figure out the amount of calories you burn daily. For example:

    Sweeping
    10 minutes---37 calories

    Vacuuming
    10 minutes--37 calories

    Ironing
    20 minutes--50 calories

    Mopping
    10 minutes--42 calories

    Making beds
    10 minutes--23 calories

    washing dishes----10minutes---26 calories
  • MariaAlexandra
    MariaAlexandra Posts: 126 Member
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    I don't know why i feel this way, but i personally don't count cleaning as an actual workout. I mean you do burn calories but yet I dont want to risk putting it into my diary without knowing if it is accurate. I consider workouts like cardio as exercising, certainly you can keep noting it down at MFP but it's just my personal opinion. :)

    Remember you can end up OVER eating if you rely too much on putting things like cleaning in diary since it might not be accurate. What about owning an HRM (Heart rate monitor) The ones with the chest straps are the most accurate and they can track your calories. Hope i helped :^)
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
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    Most of your daily activities like doing dishes, laundry, dusting...the boring daily stuff that has got to be done kinda stuff is already calculated in your goal. It is included in with where you put sedentary, lightly active, active...etc. Many people DO enter the out of the ordinary kind of stuff like scrubbing walls, mopping the floors, deep spring cleaning kinda stuff, as exercise.

    In my OPINION the cals burned are rather high for the cleaning activities. I usually enter half the time spent doing the activity just to be on the safe side.
  • CarolHudson11
    CarolHudson11 Posts: 372
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    I don't enter cleaning at all because it's something I've always done in my normal daily activities and I think they actually factor in the cleaning, grocery shopping, and other stuff that you would do even if you were pretty much sedentary. I did enter it when I painted the walls in my living room because it's not something I normally do, and my arms and back were really sore the next day.
  • eamartin
    eamartin Posts: 216 Member
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    You would be surprised at how many calories you do burn by doing your "normal cleaning"
    I own a HRM and I was very surprised. Besides that, if you have your account set for light/sed. then yes, you should be counting those things as a work out because you want to net 1200 calories or w/e your account is set for. Over eating is just as bad as under eating! :)
    I usually count mine if I do a bunch of things at once, like doing laundry while I am doing dishes, cleaning floors ect and then just put it under light if I felt like it was an easy day or heavy if I felt like I was busting my bum doing those things :)
  • TakeOne
    TakeOne Posts: 345 Member
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    I don't know why i feel this way, but i personally don't count cleaning as an actual workout. I mean you do burn calories but yet I dont want to risk putting it into my diary without knowing if it is accurate. I consider workouts like cardio as exercising, certainly you can keep noting it down at MFP but it's just my personal opinion. :)

    Remember you can end up OVER eating if you rely too much on putting things like cleaning in diary since it might not be accurate. What about owning an HRM (Heart rate monitor) The ones with the chest straps are the most accurate and they can track your calories. Hope i helped :^)

    I agree. I never count that stuff. I figure it just balances out. I never enter cooking spray on the rare occasion I when I actually use any.
  • caroline1851
    caroline1851 Posts: 26
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    I don't know why i feel this way, but i personally don't count cleaning as an actual workout. I mean you do burn calories but yet I dont want to risk putting it into my diary without knowing if it is accurate. I consider workouts like cardio as exercising, certainly you can keep noting it down at MFP but it's just my personal opinion. :)

    Remember you can end up OVER eating if you rely too much on putting things like cleaning in diary since it might not be accurate.

    I agree with this
  • prencesskl
    prencesskl Posts: 123
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    I don't count this, as I was doing it before and it made no difference, I only count what is extra to my day : )
  • 388gigi
    388gigi Posts: 485 Member
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    I don't count any normal day to day stuff, i only count gym, gym classes, running, swimming, bike riding.
  • Jeriathsbaby
    Jeriathsbaby Posts: 1
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    The reason you break out in a sweat cleaning dishes, is the hot/warm water. The vapors/steam from your water and the fact that your hands are in the hot/warm water cause you to sweat just like sitting or walking on a warm day makes you sweat even if you aren't really doing anything that takes a lot of effort.
  • SamanthaJoNickel
    SamanthaJoNickel Posts: 1
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    My mother in law was told by her doctor that vaccuming isn't going to be considering a workout for her, considering its part of her job and she does it daily. Task you do daily will start to burn less calories because your body gets use to them
  • lsmsrbls
    lsmsrbls Posts: 232 Member
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    I only put it down as heavy if I feel like I got more of a workout from cleaning than I do from running. That happens maybe once every several months. The vast majority of the time I put down light. Of course, I don't clean as vigorously as some people do. haha.

    I have my activity level set to sedentary and I've been successful and very happy while logging cleaning.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Your budget has already accounted for the fact that you don't lay in bed all day doing nothing. General housework is not exercise because it doesn't significantly raise your heart rate for an extended period of time. It is certainly not exercise that needs to be counted for calories to eat back.

    Exercise is meant to increase your fitness level and cleaning doesn't meet that criteria. Just because you can log something doesn't mean you should and a lot of those online calculators don't deduct your BMR which is the calories you would have burned just doing nothing.
  • KandiceB85
    KandiceB85 Posts: 1
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    I have to disagree a little with the ones saying that it isn't a workout to clean. As far as being sedentary, it would mean sitting and watching tv most of the day (in my opinion) and probably doing as little as possible. I personally work up a good sweat when I clean, but I add a little pep into it by "racing against the clock" to get it done before the hubby and kids get home. And if you really get down to what should and shouldn't count, than should you really count walking as an exercise since you do it everyday?
  • gordonsdetail
    gordonsdetail Posts: 1
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    I count house work as cleaning but add it as light just to be on the safe side. I clean houses and detail cars which takes several hours and I'm often drenched in sweat so I'm pretty sure it is exercise.

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