SAHM and activity level

kchabby76
kchabby76 Posts: 65
edited October 5 in Fitness and Exercise
If you're a stay at home mom, which I am, and your job IS to clean the house then you can't select "cleaning" in the exercises as EXTRA exercise for the day. The adjustment at the set of your goals for cleaning the house has already adjusted for those calories burned from your normal routine day.

Thoughts?

Replies

  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
    It depends on the ativity level you select. If you select sedentary, you will be able to log more activities as part of your daily exercise. If you select a more active setting, then cleaning would definitely be part of your activity setting.
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
    it depends entirely on each persons settings. If you indicated that you are lightly active or active, then you definitely should not include those activities as exercise. If you indicated that you are sedentary it would be appropriate to enter calories burned by cleaning or cooking. Be careful not to overestimate them though (as MFP typically does)
  • mamitosami
    mamitosami Posts: 531 Member
    I have a very dirty house, so that's not even an option for me! lol! I picked sedentary. I don't count the walk to my son's school either, even though, over the day, we walk for almost an hour back and forth dropping him of and picking him up. I just count gym time, which is 90 minutes a day.
  • trlyblssd79
    trlyblssd79 Posts: 101 Member
    I totally agree. I have 4 kids and do daycare but don't count that in my exercise diary.
  • tuneses
    tuneses Posts: 467 Member
    I leave mine as light activity and only log exercise I set out to do. I never count housework or child care cause it's part of my daily activities or "job"
  • missmelinda
    missmelinda Posts: 7 Member
    I'm a SAHM/WAHM too and I don't add everyday cleaning to activities. However, on days I clean the entire house with mopping and all that, I'll add some in for activity. Not always though and not for daily upkeep type stuff. (dishes, cleaning up thomas trains and train tracks...etc.) ;)
  • mom2my5sons
    mom2my5sons Posts: 28 Member
    I'm a SAHM/WAHM too and I don't add everyday cleaning to activities. However, on days I clean the entire house with mopping and all that, I'll add some in for activity. Not always though and not for daily upkeep type stuff. (dishes, cleaning up thomas trains and train tracks...etc.) ;)

    same here :)
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I'm not a mom, but I do a little work from home and chose lightly active. I'm not as active as I was when I had an on-my-feet-all-day job, but I'm more active than when I had a desk job where I sat 8 hours a day.

    I think of sedentary as Peg Bundy, sitting on the couch watching soaps and eating bonbons all day.
  • DzyIzy
    DzyIzy Posts: 22 Member
    I'm a SAHM/WAHM too and I don't add everyday cleaning to activities. However, on days I clean the entire house with mopping and all that, I'll add some in for activity. Not always though and not for daily upkeep type stuff. (dishes, cleaning up thomas trains and train tracks...etc.) ;)

    Similar here. If I sweat and am warm and tired and feel like I worked out after a lot of cleaning I count some of it as exercise. Especially if it limits my exercise time. (Like when I am getting the house ready for company or cleaning up after company) But as a general rule I don't count it.
  • I don't add in anything for cleaning. That is part of my routine of daily life (and something I did while still getting fatter and fatter), so I only count actual, true exercise.
  • Try wearing a pedometer while you're busy running around the house. Then you can add those burned calories under "walking."
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