Pet Peeve - logging non 'exercise' exercise

FindingFit50s

For some people, getting up and making dinner or cleaning their house is exercise. As an RN, I once attended an extreme weight-loss class for morbidly obese people (the people that if wanting life-changing surgery needed to lose 50+ lbs in 3months) for work and learned that just walking in 5 minute bursts up their stairs was more exercise than they've probably done in a long time. The class made let you know calories in, calories out. At my house, there are 3 levels so doing laundry for everyone and putting it away can give me a few miles on my pedometer with all of the stairs I'm walking. Not everyone has the same fitness level and if cleaning house, standing to make dinner or walking to the mail box if their exercise for the day, then congrats to them for making some type of movement besides picking up a fork or remotes.

and THIS too!

Which *may* have occurred to you, OP, if you could take a moment to step outside of your self-absorbed, near-sighted conceit for a moment. You know, like: "Don't judge my journey until you've walked a mile in my body."

AND.... why the freak are so many people feeling obligated to respond to this by justifying why they do or don't log this or that??? It's NONE of her business!

MrsCon40

http://shouldilogmycleaningasexercise.com

I feel another threat to your geek card a'brewin'!

bpayne78

I didn't read all 6 pages so if this is a duplicate of what someone else said......sorry.

That being said, there are some of us (like myself), that those kinds of things ARE our exercise. I have an auto-immune disorder that affects my muscles. It's called Dermatomyositis and it is an inflammatory muscle degenerative disorder. I also have suspicions that I may have Fibromyalgia as well. This makes most physical activity difficult. To be able to go to work, I have to "save up" my energy and that means no "official workout". So for ME, the going to the beach with the kids, walking the zoo on a field trip with work, cleaning the bathrooms......that IS my movement/workout. It wears me out as much as a Zumba class may wear someone else out. That's not everyday stuff for me. I don't count doing the laundry, cooking, showering, etc because those are things that I DO do on a regular basis. But if I give the bathroom a good scrub down.....you better believe I'm going to count it.

Just my 2 cents and why I put those types of things.

stormieweather

I don't log much of anything....anymore. I used to and didn't lose weight. I discovered that I don't burn very much at all during my workouts, never mind yard work or cleaning or shopping. The most I'm likely to burn is when I run - 100 cal per mile. Whooptidoo. Specially, since I can't run very far, lol.

So, if it works for you...go for it. If it doesn't, then by all means, don't log it.

SabrinaJL

It is. If you ever do find that unicorn, please let me know. Calorie free fries sound amazing!

You're getting a lot of flak for this but you're totally taking it like a champ. So despite the fact that you did two things that are pet peeves for me, I think I actually like you. :laugh:

Egger29

I know this may come off rude, and I don't mean it like that, but it drives me crazy when people log things like "cleaning, light effort", or "food preparation" and count that as their daily exercise.

I do realize this stuff burns calories, but it is not the same kind of heart rate exceleration and body challenge that real exercise will give you. To me it feels like grasping at straws just to earn extra calories. Then you see comments underneath congratulating that person for making dinner. I mean don't get me wrong, if I clean my whole house and break a sweat, I'll for sure log that... but if I just mop the floor for 15 min, that doesn't count for me.

You don't need to be sweating for 2 hours a day at the gym to be "exercising", and not everyone can do that anyway.

Getting Fit is a LIFEstyle choice and it's a matter of adding up those smaller changes which make for a much larger difference over time.

Consider someone who might only be capable of going for a 10 minute walk every day at a slow pace. Maybe they'll only burn 50 calories doing that....BUT....if they do that every day throughout the year...that's 18250 calories over all, which WILL make a difference in that person.

Similarly, we are in general a sedentary population who spend our time sitting (in front of computers, TV's, in cars...you name it).

ANYthing that gets the average person up and doing something, counts in the long run.

staceyseeger

I only log it if it involved getting changed and going to the gym, or going for a run, anything else I figure fits in the Sedentary profile. After all even couch potatoes have to make dinner.

Agree totally!:drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Keefypoos

yeah I have to agree with you on this one. I clean for a living - maybe I should log all that work?
Netty

Maybe you have your profile to lighlty active instaed of sedentry

Missevanston

Amen to that, sista! I am so glad yo posted this topic, 'cause I hate to be rude to people...but I totally agree with you! Grasping at straws for sure..."gardening, mowing the lawn"...silly stuff to me. As a rule, I just don't comment one way or the other on those types of "exercises", so as not to offend..

thanks for speaking up!

Scoobies87

It annoys me too!

I once put in 'cleaning' because I was curious to see how much it had burnt and felt very silly afterwards! never again! that sort of thing should be in your activity level!

UpEarly

Who cares? I mean, do what you do and don't worry about what anyone else is doing - how the hell does it directly or indirectly affect you???

THIS!

angiolm

Unless it's causing you to not lose weight (or gain it), why in the world would it drive you crazy?

I don't log those things, but it's none of my business if someone else does.

Agreed!

Therapist_mama

I have to say this is a dead horse subject and one that just stirs up more trouble than good!

Keefypoos

I do wonder as to what might constitute proper exercise.

unless its a 26 mile run followed by 200 reps of lifting heavy weights it dosn't count!

perhaps

Therapist_mama

I didn't read all 6 pages so if this is a duplicate of what someone else said......sorry.

That being said, there are some of us (like myself), that those kinds of things ARE our exercise. I have an auto-immune disorder that affects my muscles. It's called Dermatomyositis and it is an inflammatory muscle degenerative disorder. I also have suspicions that I may have Fibromyalgia as well. This makes most physical activity difficult. To be able to go to work, I have to "save up" my energy and that means no "official workout". So for ME, the going to the beach with the kids, walking the zoo on a field trip with work, cleaning the bathrooms......that IS my movement/workout. It wears me out as much as a Zumba class may wear someone else out. That's not everyday stuff for me. I don't count doing the laundry, cooking, showering, etc because those are things that I DO do on a regular basis. But if I give the bathroom a good scrub down.....you better believe I'm going to count it.

Just my 2 cents and why I put those types of things.

Everyone has different needs and to give a blanket statement on the subject of what should or should not be logged is simply short-sighted in my opinion. The above quote is a good example of the fact that everyone has different needs and reasons for doing what they do and it is not for us to judge if it is right or wrong!

Ours is to discover what works best for us and do it with the best energy possible!

Becca_007

For some people, getting up and making dinner or cleaning their house is exercise. As an RN, I once attended an extreme weight-loss class for morbidly obese people (the people that if wanting life-changing surgery needed to lose 50+ lbs in 3months) for work and learned that just walking in 5 minute bursts up their stairs was more exercise than they've probably done in a long time. The class made let you know calories in, calories out. At my house, there are 3 levels so doing laundry for everyone and putting it away can give me a few miles on my pedometer with all of the stairs I'm walking. Not everyone has the same fitness level and if cleaning house, standing to make dinner or walking to the mail box if their exercise for the day, then congrats to them for making some type of movement besides picking up a fork or remotes.

and THIS too!

Which *may* have occurred to you, OP, if you could take a moment to step outside of your self-absorbed, near-sighted conceit for a moment. You know, like: "Don't judge my journey until you've walked a mile in my body."

AND.... why the freak are so many people feeling obligated to respond to this by justifying why they do or don't log this or that??? It's NONE of her business!

I have to say this is a dead horse subject and one that just stirs up more trouble than good!

Maybe someone should just bump the original thread that first got started a couple years ago on this instead of restarting one every day? :indifferent: Granted it would be about 1000 pages long by now if not 10,000. It's an old topic that not everyone wants to keep seeing pop up on the boards just because someone feels like being rude.

Who cares? I mean, do what you do and don't worry about what anyone else is doing - how the hell does it directly or indirectly affect you???

THIS! Seriously:huh: , it's none of my business and certainly won't effect my life. One never knows where another starts their journey, why judge someone for what they put down for a workout, it doesn't even make sense!?:noway:

rml_16

Amen to that, sista! I am so glad yo posted this topic, 'cause I hate to be rude to people...but I totally agree with you! Grasping at straws for sure..."gardening, mowing the lawn"...silly stuff to me. As a rule, I just don't comment one way or the other on those types of "exercises", so as not to offend..

thanks for speaking up!

The house I grew up in sat on a full acre of HILLY land and we had a push mower. You don't think that's exercise? SERIOUSLY?

omgzstef

It's still body movement, which does count as exercise. Mowing the lawn takes a lot of effort, as does weeding or anything else outside. If you don't like how someone logs their body movement, ignore it. Shouldn't effect you and your weight loss anyway.

Yooperm35

Well, I don't personally log things like that unless I AM grasping at straws and trying to justify why I felt I deserved (and could eat) 10 chocolate kisses even though I am a little over my calories for the day.

Your BMR figures how many calories you need to just live - if you laid in bed and did nothing all day. Mine is currently 1229. Absolutely ANYTHING I do that includes moving is going to burn a calorie, if not two. If I mopped the floor and needed a few more calories to justify eating something I don't normally eat - I log mopping.

I lost my first 10# merely walking. I never broke a sweat (EVER). You don't have to break a sweat to burn calories, you just have to move. Cleaning gets you moving - whatever works and however someone wants to rack up their exercise calories is none of my business.

Cooriander

I have logged it, and in addition to losing calories I gain a cleaner house.

Becca_007

I have logged it, and in addition to losing calories I gain a cleaner house.

:flowerforyou:

ajbeans

I have logged it, and in addition to losing calories I gain a cleaner house.

:flowerforyou:

Heh, me too. I log cleaning quite often. Hasn't kept me from losing 26 lbs. I think I'll keep logging it. Plus, it motivates me to actually mop the kitchen floor once in a while.

Bailey543

The way I look at it, I got fat cleaning and preparing food, so obviously it didn't burn enough! I don't count it either. Stupid in my eyes, but to each their own I guess!

ambermichon

Agreed and isnt this already taken into consideration when you choose your activity level when you sign up? I mean geez most people clean their houses but that doesnt make you super active.

ncgatorfan

For some people, getting up and making dinner or cleaning their house is exercise. As an RN, I once attended an extreme weight-loss class for morbidly obese people (the people that if wanting life-changing surgery needed to lose 50+ lbs in 3months) for work and learned that just walking in 5 minute bursts up their stairs was more exercise than they've probably done in a long time. The class made let you know calories in, calories out. At my house, there are 3 levels so doing laundry for everyone and putting it away can give me a few miles on my pedometer with all of the stairs I'm walking. Not everyone has the same fitness level and if cleaning house, standing to make dinner or walking to the mail box if their exercise for the day, then congrats to them for making some type of movement besides picking up a fork or remotes.

and THIS too!

Which *may* have occurred to you, OP, if you could take a moment to step outside of your self-absorbed, near-sighted conceit for a moment. You know, like: "Don't judge my journey until you've walked a mile in my body."

AND.... why the freak are so many people feeling obligated to respond to this by justifying why they do or don't log this or that??? It's NONE of her business!

And I think we have a winner! Zing!!

Christina269

I log my cleaning if I'm breaking a sweat - other than that... nope. But - to each their own. It'll show on the scale.

jlowensby

Some people need all they can get to stay motivated and once they are there and we do comment on that we are urging them to do more!! At least that is how I take it!! It's kinda like no question is a stupid question....a calorie burned is a calorie burned no matter how you got it!! And yes some are desperate so lets be there to encourage them and help them to push themselves more! Not everyone can dedicate 40-60 minutes on a good workout, lets give them a high five when they could be sitting on their "bums"!

Christina269

And after I saw the post above me - couldn't agree more. well said! Except - maybe the insults weren't REALLY necessary - but I still respect your message.

Everyone has their own perception. No angry feelings needed.

randylevy

Boy this sure did stir up a lot of negativity. Personally, I only care about my weight loss and what works for me. If people are logging every breath they take and losing weight, good for them. I say don't sweat the small stuff unless of course the small stuff helps you lose weight.

Have a good day one and all!

chevy88grl

I understand your point completely. I sometimes question why some people are on this when they look great already. Then I come to a realization that it's a mental thing. If it makes em feel like they did something, and helps them continue to keep going; then it's for them. If something as tiny as that is a pet peeve for you, maybe we need to analyze what really matters in life. As the saying goes, "whatever floats your boat!"

So, because I am already a size 2-4, I should not be on here? I am not on here to lose weight and state that in my profile. I am here to maintain and get toned and ripped. In order to get toned and ripped while maintaining my current weight, I need to keep track of my protein and carb intake, to make sure they are high enough, while my overall calories are not in excess.

I totally agree. I've had more than one person ask me why I'm on this website when I've met my goal weight and I look great.

Hold on a second. This is MY FITNESS PAL and NOT MY WEIGHT LOSS PAL. I have other fitness goals that I am trying to achieve (with many different health issues going on), so why can't thinner people be here too? It's ridiculous.