Don't Cheat Yourself.......

LeanerBeef

I see a lot of people on here counting various non-exercise activities as calories burned. Is this really a good idea? I’ve seen things like light cleaning, food shopping, and gardening to name a few. I’ve seen some light cleaning entries blow away my weight training and cardio workout. Seriously???

I’m not trying to be mean or upset anyone. I just think you should be careful if you are logging normal life activities as calories burned, especially if you’re eating back your work out calories – I don’t really agree too much with that either. All this being said, if you’re walking your dog for 30 minutes and it used to be 5, yeah that’s exercise or if you’re breaking a sweat doing some housework, ok. But if you’re just mopping the floor – think about it.

Again, I’m not trying to upset anyone and I’m no fitness expert – obviously. If you’re working, you know you’re working. Just don’t cheat yourself….I want to see everyone reach their fitness goals – especially me! Who knows, maybe I'm wrong but that's my 2 cents for the day.......

michellehorvath

I couldn't agree more. Well said!

kcavities

i rather agree with you. i count walking and practicing (i play viola) because those are things i do hours and hours a day and i find myself tired and hungry after a good "work out" in those areas, haha. i like to reward myself for being determined and productive. and like, the other day i did 3 hours of community service cleaning and organizing some heavy stuff at a CCA resale store--it was hard work, so i counted it (and the cals burned was over 400 as i recall). but i would hesitate to count anything like cooking, sweeping, "child care--preparing food, etc," showering, brushing your hair, brushing your teeth, blinking, smiling...hahaha.

TheGoblinRoad

I halfway agree with you. I count some of that, but I also set my lifestyle as sedentary, when I'm really not. If I'm cleaning for an hour, I'm breaking a sweat and getting exercise. I tend to count about half of that.

I think that helps a bit. Gardening, however, that really is a workout! My heart can be pounding from the effort of serious gardening, which I don't do anymore since we pay for yard service.

Pandorian

My gardening is done in place of my "workout" it's far from a daily activity it's above and beyond so I track it. No way I could work, do the garden and fit time in for the gym all in the same day.
I also DO eat my exercise calories, when I have them, because I am keeping my deficit at the level that MFP set for me to have safe sustainable loss, which it gives even if I don't do any exercise at all.

karen0201

definetely agree!

LauraMarie37

I think it's legit to count those calories if they dramatically increase your activity level from your normal daily routine. If your normal activity level involves only walking from your bedroom to your kitchen to your car, then from your car to your desk, then reversing all that at the end of the day...then yes, I think a day of mopping/dusting/straigtening up should count. If you are normally on your feet all day (like a waiter or a cashier), then your BMR is probably higher already and you shouldn't eat it back, even if you do log it.

And I do think you should eat back your exercise calories...remember the MFP recomended number is already a deficit from how many calories you'd need to eat to keep your weight the same. Too much of a deficit (adding an exercise deficit to the already exisiting deficit) won't help lose wright more quickly, it will just keep your bofy from repairing itself after exercise and you won't be able to exercise as efficiently.

tobitude

You also have to remember that some people have been so sedintary in their life that some of those excercises are out of the ordinary, since I don't know their lifestyle I don't comment negatively towards them.

If it is going to cause an issue in their weight loss it will show up, but if they usually sit around doing nothing I would prefer to see them up and moving.

I figure you know better what your lifestyle is like so log what works for you.

FearAnLoathing

Unless you are standing right there watching the person clean or garden or whatever how do you know how hard they might be working?When I count my cleaning its because im on my hands and knees scrubbing floors base boards ect.moving the couches to vacum ect ect so you dont think that burns calories?Also when I had a garden there was tons of dig,weed pulling lugging around heavy bags of soil.
This topic is once again

beckymorris68

I totally agree. I have added those activities at times more out of fun and just to see my figures come back out of the red into the green, but like you say, it's just cheating myself.
I'm going to stop doing it :-)

bmw4deb

I agree, I cleaned my pool today took almost 3 hours of vaccuming,scrubbing walls
in and out to back wash pump, I counted it as 60 minutes of leisurely swimming
burned 398 calories, I think that is a pretty good guess (i only clean the pool 1-2x a year
hubby usually does it). I never count light house work, shopping ect, I will be cleaning out
a room of shelves,boxes ect and carrying them up stairs to another room this evening
so I can move all my excercise equip downstairs I will be counting that as well.

katie_on_a_mission

I totally agree! When we opened our accounts here, myfitnesspal asked us to select our activity level. I selected "lightly active." In my book, calling myself lightly active means I am already accounting for things like shopping and being on my feet while on the job, so if I count them as my workouts, I am counting them twice!

ladyhawk00

What people log as exercise is necessarily dependent on several things - what their activity level is set at, how frequently they do those activities, the intensity of the activity, and the person's general fitness level.

If someone's activity level is set at sedentary, they will need to log most things - because that activity level does not account for very many calories burned. If it is set at very active, they should not log much in the way of non-purposeful exercise.

If something is a once a month activity, and is reasonably strenuous, it should be logged - because it is something your body is not adapted to and you will burn more calories doing it, than if it were something you did every day.

Obviously, wandering around carrying a feather duster for 5 minutes is not something to log. But a vigorous cleaning may be.

Finally, someone who is fit and weighs 120 lbs will burn much less than a similar person who is not yet fit and weighs 300 lbs. The person who is not fit and heavy, NEEDS to log more things, because the amount of calories they burn doing a simple task (walking for 15 minutes) is much higher and it is much more likely to be a strenuous exercise for them. And many people simply pick something that is similar to the activity they did, because they couldn't find an entry for the exact thing they did. And a lot of people will try to use a very conservative estimate - as in, I cleaned for 4 hours today, my heart rate was certainly in the moderate zone - why would I not log that? But I might say I did 2 or 3 hours, to try to avoid overestimating. But not logging it at all can be just as detrimental as logging something frivolous.

Accuracy is important in logging. But all of the numbers we use are estimates. And sometimes we just have to go with the best number we can get. However, I think one of the important things to remember is that UNDER logging your exercise is just as bad as overlogging it. You should attempt to be just as accurate in your calorie burns as you are with your calorie intake. Not logging something may be "cheating" just as much logging it, depending on the individual circumstances.

ETA: As mentioned, MFP is designed for you to eat exercise cals. It creates a built in deficit, based on your loss per week goal, regardless of exercise. If you don't replace those cals, you make that deficit larger. A larger deficit does not necessarily mean faster/more weight loss - it usually leads to feelings of deprivation, low energy, poor workouts, binges, quitting and weight regain. Might help to read these:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

1CALIJIBARO2

I for sure do not think it is CHEATING @ all. U got 2 remember that we all different in our physical aspect...Those who do lite cleaning r probably burnin some cals........For instance when I do my gardening from 3-5hrs I am most def burning some serious *kitten* cals.....somewheres from 1300-1700 burn cals.......So it is what U want to define as CHEATIN......NO DISRESPECT, but it is what it is.........anytime you are doin some kind of activity in motion I'd consider that BURN CALORIES......................MUCH LUV..........:glasses: :smokin:

FairyMiss

I somewhat agree. unless the type or amount of cleaning or gardening is out of the ordinary. everyday clean, weed pulling now. but say cleaning out a garage ( a very cluttered messy one per sea) or like the gardening i did the other . chopping, dragging and stacking big branches off the half of my maple tree that fell during a storm the other day you better believe i counted that.

mlpisme1992

If it gets your heart pumping faster and continues for a period of time, then yes I think it can be counted. I would not call cleaning my house for 10 minutes exercise. BUT if I am vacuuming the stairs and going up and down them several times, then yes I would count that. Breaking a sweat could be considered exercise.

Depends on the person and what level their body is at.

lovinmamaxo

I think most of the calories burned you named is legit and accurate. Gardening takes a lot of work as does food shopping. I literally walk 45 min if not more food shopping and yes i break a sweat sometimes when there is no air conditioning and i do NOT sit so yes in that instance i count it as calories burned. It's the same as if i were to walk outside for 15 minutes and that IS exercise. Now food prep, etc i would probably not log.. light cleaning if i am bending and walking a lot i would count it. Just my opinion

Katbaran

I rarely log house cleaning as its just part of my routine. Today, I DID log because I really tore up a room to clean. I moved furniture, I washed the window, I hauled trash and really sweated! Normally, for the usual vaccum & dust, I don't. Even then, I took credit for less time than it really took me to clean just to be sure.

I think if its work way beyond what is normal for the individual, then they should log it or not if they like. Either way, if they really aren't burning that many calories they are only fooling themselves.

TBirdGirl

I count them if they are a good variation from my everyday lifestyle. If it's approximately what I would do in a normal day, I don't count it. But them again I have my calories calculated for almost no exercise. That being said, I definitely count my big grocery shopping trips. I found it to be a workout even before I began logging. Shopping for a family of 6 with 4 growing kids (and a big dog) is no easy feat. Sometimes I do more work to accomplish the shopping (walking the isle, lifting large/heavy items, lifting all items placing them in my cart, pushing that heavy heavy cart, taking all the items out, lifting heavier bags than my weights, putting them back in the cart, taking the bags back out of the cart and into my car, lifting the bags back out of the car and carrying them into the house, and then putting it all away). This can be almost a 3-4 hour workout somedays and that doesn't include if I follow it up with any food prep (cleaning & slicing fruits & veggies, bagging up snack sized portions, etc).

I do understand what you are saying but we have to realize that it is hard to judge the exercise logged without really having witnessed it. So some are reasonable logging and admittedly some are not.

LeanerBeef

Effective immediately I retract gardeing - bad example I do agree that certain activities are more or less strenuous for each individual and will burn calories differently. The title of this topic is "Don't Cheat Yourself", not "You are Cheating Yourself"........ :glasses:

KickassYas

I’ve seen some light cleaning entries blow away my weight training and cardio workout. Seriously???

I think your frustration with this lies with people who clean every week as a normal function something they have done since day one and they are calling it exercise even though their body is used to the pattern and considers it normal function. However the comment above .....

high burns ... one day i cleaned my house from top to bottom and burned about 2k cals in less than 2 hours but then i mopped scubbed moved furniture and ran around my house until i felt like i was gonna pass out. i have an HRM which separates me from those who use the presorted defaults in the database. but i logged it as cleaning. so sometimes the workouts are blanket statements and the burns are more important.

besides you're not doin it right? so to each their own.

heather0416

I agree with you!

heather0416

I’ve seen some light cleaning entries blow away my weight training and cardio workout. Seriously???

I think your frustration with this lies with people who clean every week as a normal function something they have done since day one and they are calling it exercise even though their body is used to the pattern and considers it normal function. However the comment above .....

high burns ... one day i cleaned my house from top to bottom and burned about 2k cals in less than 2 hours but then i mopped scubbed moved furniture and ran around my house until i felt like i was gonna pass out. i have an HRM which separates me from those who use the presorted defaults in the database. but i logged it as cleaning. so sometimes the workouts are blanket statements and the burns are more important.

besides you're not doin it right? so to each their own.

heather0416

I’ve seen some light cleaning entries blow away my weight training and cardio workout. Seriously???

I think your frustration with this lies with people who clean every week as a normal function something they have done since day one and they are calling it exercise even though their body is used to the pattern and considers it normal function. However the comment above .....

high burns ... one day i cleaned my house from top to bottom and burned about 2k cals in less than 2 hours but then i mopped scubbed moved furniture and ran around my house until i felt like i was gonna pass out. i have an HRM which separates me from those who use the presorted defaults in the database. but i logged it as cleaning. so sometimes the workouts are blanket statements and the burns are more important.

besides you're not doin it right? so to each their own.

stinabear13

haha yeah, my 2 kids are very destructive, so any cleaning is vigorus and takes a while and im pouring sweat. im very thurough when i shampoo the carpets so one small room takes about 2+ hours. i do log my mowing the lawn and cleaning, its rare i eat back calories, and if i do i dont eat all of them back. logging things does help motivate me to do more. as a single mother it is rough finding time to really work out much less have some alone time not getting interupted. i dont bother counting laundry or wiping counters or dishes mopping, well the mopping if im having to clean and scrub with a brush because they dumped a bulk size thing of syyrup on the floor. yeah my kids are that messy and they got my clumsyness.

heather0416

I’ve seen some light cleaning entries blow away my weight training and cardio workout. Seriously???

I think your frustration with this lies with people who clean every week as a normal function something they have done since day one and they are calling it exercise even though their body is used to the pattern and considers it normal function. However the comment above .....

high burns ... one day i cleaned my house from top to bottom and burned about 2k cals in less than 2 hours but then i mopped scubbed moved furniture and ran around my house until i felt like i was gonna pass out. i have an HRM which separates me from those who use the presorted defaults in the database. but i logged it as cleaning. so sometimes the workouts are blanket statements and the burns are more important.

besides you're not doin it right? so to each their own.

Sorry. Stupid phone. He's saying if your doing more house work than normal to count it. I totally understand where he's coming from. Don't count doing the dishes because that's an every day thing... scrubbing the floors.. which is going to cause you to break a sweat and is not an every day routine, log that in as exercise. He didn't say not to count cleaning at all..

Gemini_at_36

I have to agree, I cleaned house all day the other day in addition to lawn mowing and walking 45 minutes...I just can't make myself put house cleaning as a cardiovascular activity.:flowerforyou:

ChChCharlie

I agree! Although I did count gardening today as never do any and spent 4 solid hours digging up a couple of tree stumps and lugging a bin back and forward.. Way more strenuous than any workout I've done recently! If it was part of my normal routine I wouldn't log it. I see people logging 'working' 'cleaning' 'sex', surely these are a normal part of our routine?

ladybg81

I mainly count things as exercise that I did not do when I was fat. Like walking/ running 6 days per week in 100 degree weather. I didn't do that before so I count it. I do not count grocery shopping, light cleaning or things like that because I did those when I was fat. However, when I mop, I log because between vacuuming the floors, crawling around cleaning baseboard, swiffering and then mopping (my hardwood floor space is pretty freakin huge) I am sweating like a pig. But I have to say that is pretty much all I would log is if there is significant effort and sweat. My 2 cents as well.

georgiajuly

I see people logging 'working' 'cleaning' 'sex', surely these are a normal part of our routine?

I dunno - sometimes I'm just too lazy for any of these!
Possibly some of these are just for amusement? Once I considered logging a couple of gnats I consumed on a bike ride, but they were too small to have assigned calories.

Mveler

Once I considered logging a couple of gnats I consumed on a bike ride, but they were too small to have assigned calories.

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