Don't forget to add up your daily chores as exercise!

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  • AggieCass09
    AggieCass09 Posts: 1,867 Member
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    did you clean when you were overweight? i'm not sure if i would count this unless i was seriously power-cleaning...because if you did it when you were overweight and it didn't help the cause then why would you count it now?
  • cloneme_losehalf
    cloneme_losehalf Posts: 356 Member
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    I only put cleaning down if it is something out of the norm, like shampooing the carpets, scrubbing baseboads, something I only to once a month or less that takes some extra time and energy.
  • ScarletKuriboh
    ScarletKuriboh Posts: 24
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    I say that you should include or exclude them depending on how you feel.

    I personally clean my house every morning and count them into my cals burned, but I don't use it as exercise only. I still work out every day and try to get the most optimal cal burn. Things like washing the car yourself i would def include, because sooooo many people just go to the car wash (so kudos to you).

    I understand that activity level should be accounted for, but then I don't think this site would include it as a cardio exercise if it didn't consider it as such.

    So do what u feel is right for you, and keep working out. Best of luck to you!
  • DKev
    DKev Posts: 266 Member
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    I would only count them if you chose "sedentary" as you lifestyle. i'm a recovering facebook-aholic and would sit on the couch most of the day, so i chose sedentary when filling out my profile. so i do enter cleaning and chores since normally, i wouldn't do them before.

    and for me, if i get to log something, it is motivation for me to get stuff done.

    good luck and do what works for you! :)

    I agree with this.
  • BGabbart
    BGabbart Posts: 173 Member
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    I have decided to log my chores as I have my activity level set to sedentary. I work from home with an online business, so I sit for quite a bit of the day. I don't intend eating more because I have used more calories, but keep well within my allowance. I'm trying to do more activity by doing something productive, rather than exercise for exercise sake, therefore my home and family benefit from my activity as well as myself.

    I also count them because i really only do them once a week and I do sweat. I leave my house M-F at 6:30 a.m and return about 6:00 pm and than fix supper, and do dishes and my workout so I don't have time during the week to clean. Saturdays are my busy day and I use my cleaning as my exercise. I have never eaten back my exercise calories though I stay between 1200-1500 calories and so far this is working for me. But I would really count washing the car as burning calories.
  • busywaterbending
    busywaterbending Posts: 844 Member
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    no, you are not suppossed to add chores as exercise. You already set your calories for the day depending on if you are moving allot or alittle thoughout your day.

    If you count chores, and everything else, that means you have to set your movement rate at couch potato, very little to no movement, and then count every little bit of exercise to get a correct reading.

    it's better to just set the amount of movement you do (sedentary, if you must!) to moderate and then adjust.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
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    did you clean when you were overweight? i'm not sure if i would count this unless i was seriously power-cleaning...because if you did it when you were overweight and it didn't help the cause then why would you count it now?

    That's the way I look at it. Fat or thin, I have always vacuumed, dusted, done the dishes, cleaned the toilet, and scrubbed with the same intensity. I only count out of the ordinary events, like snow shoveling, hours of raking up leaves...things that I don't do in a normal week. Otherwise, where do you draw the line?
  • BeeElMarvin
    BeeElMarvin Posts: 2,086 Member
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    Your daily chores should already be considered in your calorie goal for the day - you choose an "activity level" when you set up your goals. I wouldn't log them.

    I agree with this.
  • Misiaxcore
    Misiaxcore Posts: 659 Member
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    did you clean when you were overweight? i'm not sure if i would count this unless i was seriously power-cleaning...because if you did it when you were overweight and it didn't help the cause then why would you count it now?

    That's the way I look at it. Fat or thin, I have always vacuumed, dusted, done the dishes, cleaned the toilet, and scrubbed with the same intensity. I only count out of the ordinary events, like snow shoveling, hours of raking up leaves...things that I don't do in a normal week. Otherwise, where do you draw the line?

    Well put. Also, if regular chores were real exercise, why would you need to be here ?
  • bigbugboo
    bigbugboo Posts: 161
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    did you clean when you were overweight? i'm not sure if i would count this unless i was seriously power-cleaning...because if you did it when you were overweight and it didn't help the cause then why would you count it now?

    I've just moved from a small house in the city to a much bigger house and a few acres of land in the styx, so much more cleaning and general activity and a very muddy car to clean also!
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    I don't include them because I cleaned the house before I started mfp, so it was alreay a part of my daily routine (even though I have my settings on sedentary). I know people who do log them, and that logging is quite valid. It's a case by case basis.
  • d2footballJRC
    d2footballJRC Posts: 2,684 Member
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    I don't count them. Unless you are wearing a HRM you are just going to over go your calorie amounts burnt. Just let them be a bit of buffer. I hate it when people count cleaning as their daily exercise. I mean no offense to anyone but as a 350+ lb man I never felt the way I do working out at the gym when I am cleaning. I hate to see that as someones sole work out for the day. I don't log it in MFP as I don't consider it something I want to have count on my daily goal.
  • theprices
    theprices Posts: 97 Member
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    did you clean when you were overweight? i'm not sure if i would count this unless i was seriously power-cleaning...because if you did it when you were overweight and it didn't help the cause then why would you count it now?

    That's the way I look at it. Fat or thin, I have always vacuumed, dusted, done the dishes, cleaned the toilet, and scrubbed with the same intensity. I only count out of the ordinary events, like snow shoveling, hours of raking up leaves...things that I don't do in a normal week. Otherwise, where do you draw the line?

    Same for me. If I don't SET OUT to exercise, then I do not log it. I don't log daily activites like strolling in the park or doing laundry or playing with my kids...those just fall within my daily life!
  • 1a1a
    1a1a Posts: 761 Member
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    So the way I see it is, the pertinent question here is how much (or how little) activity warrants a setting of sedentary?! I set my account to sedentary, it gave me an extra 90 calories for that. If I walk around for 2 hours I'm going to burn more than that and, for some kinds of house work, walking around is definitely a component. Therefore, isn't there a possibility that I will have, in that 2 hour period already burned more than the estimated 90 given by mfp? Surely now I am in a grey area regarding calories burned, I can Not log that as exercise but actually, I am getting quite hungry and am much more likely to crack in a bad way. Speaking from experience, 1290 calories a day was a struggle (and I am mightily impressed by those that manage to eat that little).

    For those of you who ask why daily chores are not factored into one's mfp account settings, perhaps the undertaking of chores is a sporadic thing (if it isn't, then the OP could consider changing the settings). I set my account to sedentary assuming the worst of each day, some days end up being more active than others.

    I'd like a definitive answer to this dilemma too (for me it is the question of whether or not to log my casual employment as exercise) but as there probably isn't one, for myself and the OP I say, we should try logging our extra activities, and eating back the exercise calories (with health food, not junk) and keep a careful eye on the scale. If it hasn't moved or has moved upwards in a months time, I will know to reconsider as will the OP.

    PS Count cleaning, or don't but definitely do some formal exercise as well, you'll feel good for it.
  • Gigi_licious
    Gigi_licious Posts: 1,185 Member
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    I couldn't find wiping or picking nose in the database. What should I put it under?
  • 1a1a
    1a1a Posts: 761 Member
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    Calisthenics (light)

    bah ha :-(

    actually, better get a heart rate monitor :-P
  • javamonster
    javamonster Posts: 272 Member
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    If it works for you, and you're losing on that program, continue to do what you're doing. :wink: If you're back here in a month posting "Why am I not losing weight?" you might want to re-think it.

    I do 3-4 hours of barn work a day - feeding and turning out horses, mucking stalls, etc. etc....and I don't log a minute of that, because I've been doing it for twenty years and my body's used to it. I was putting on weight even doing that - I had to add other exercise to actually get back to where I should be! :flowerforyou:
  • summertime_girl
    summertime_girl Posts: 3,945 Member
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    I never count daily chores as exercise, unless it goes above and beyond what I'd been doing. I'd need to break a serious sweat to ever include it.

    Yup. I was fat when doing laundry, washing dishes, vacuuming floors. Counting exercise is never going to make a difference.
  • paxetamore
    paxetamore Posts: 399 Member
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    I would only count them if you chose "sedentary" as you lifestyle. i'm a recovering facebook-aholic and would sit on the couch most of the day, so i chose sedentary when filling out my profile. so i do enter cleaning and chores since normally, i wouldn't do them before.

    and for me, if i get to log something, it is motivation for me to get stuff done.

    good luck and do what works for you! :)

    I agree with this.

    ^this. me too. i don't like to clean, and i am only doing it for me. any extra motivation is needed. housework is not part of my normal routine, nor do i think of it as included in my mfp activity level of existence :wink:
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    I know that many of you 'old hands' will already be doing this, but I am only on day 2, and it dawned on me that i should be totting up the cleaning and other chores as part of my exercise routine. I have swept through the kitchen/diner, mopped the floor and washed the car which added up to a whopping 250+ cals used. I would have completely ignored this before, but now am looking for opportunities to clean things just to use up calories! Who knows, I should soon be fit and lean with the cleanest place in town. I can't lose (except weight and flab of course)! :laugh:

    No. This is regular work (usually). That is part of your lifestyle that you enter into the formula as MFP prompts you. Don't count things like laundry and walking across a parking lot as exercise; that is daily life.

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