Logging 'cleaning' and 'shopping' cals burned etc

spookiewon

Don't log this in.
It's NOT exercise.

What a classically male attitude!

Not all males *ahem*cough*thisguy*cough*

Not all males, but it is a classically male attitude.

Shell_7609

I'm a cubicle dweller for 8+ hours a day, so I have my activity level set as sedentary. If I do more than just everyday routine cooking, cleaning I will log that, but just the normal day to day straightening up or making myself dinner, I wont.

debussyschild

Don't log this in.
It's NOT exercise.

What a classically male attitude!

Not all males *ahem*cough*thisguy*cough*

Not all males, but it is a classically male attitude.

So you'll attack my post for being judgmental, but you're more than happy to support ridiculous gender stereotypes? Wow...

JennW130

i consider that part of my everyday lightly active activity

lkwalker71

I don't always log cleaning. I did over the weekend as I was doing a major cleaning, and was up and down alot, scrubbing, moving things. If it is minor cleaning I don't log and I did not log the entire time I was cleaning. As far as shopping, I log especially if I am doing alot of walking.

ShapeUpSidney

I personally find these kinds of threads insulting and demoralizing. I don't understand WHY anyone else cares what someone logs as exercise.

^^^^ This.

Also, my activities vary so much day to day, that I find it's most accurate to set my activity level to "sedentary" and log anything active I end up doing.

BrowneJen

That's why you have lost 27 pounds since July!! Good goin'!!

spookiewon

I used to log cleaning and house chores, but I would only count things like yard work or vigorous cleaning i.e. scrubbing, vacuuming, etc. I would also underestimate my calories burned. Now, I don't log any of those calorie expenditures at all. I count those as part of my daily activity. I only log workouts.

Logging shopping as a workout... is pretty ridiculous. It's not a deliberate and heart rate raising workout, in my opinion (unless you're battling other Black Friday shoppers, or something, then maybe...). I push myself HARD physically and mentally when I workout. The only "pushing" I do when shopping or cleaning doesn't even come CLOSE to my gym workouts, therefore, I don't count it.

I sure do wish enduring the pain of waking to shop and clean wasn't something that want' "pushing." I push myself, too, but it's to even move; because even moving causes me excruciating pain. Acting like you're somehow special because you "push yourself hard" ...is pretty ridiculous.

Your comment on my post is pretty uncalled for and wrongly presumes that I don't understand that other people do have to work harder at more routine activities. I explained my personal reasons for not logging certain cleaning and daily chore activities. I'm not claiming that I'm special. I simply set the bar higher for myself. What you want to do is your own business. I'm certainly not trying to compare the value of my workouts to someone else's. I never judged, just stated my opinion in response to the OP's question. What's so wrong with that?

That's exactly the point. Your bar is no higher than mine. You suggest my opinion that cleaning and shopping are exercise is ridiculous, and I assure you that your belief that it is not is just as ridiculous. You're offended by the exact same wording you used to describe other people's opinions. You were supposed to be offended. It was offensive when you said it, and that's what's wrong with that.

Calling something ridiculous IS judging.

Tonnina

Hi,

How many of you log calories for cleaning and shopping etc? I know alot of people do but I personally dont understand why, cleaning and shopping is just a day - day thing that people do

Not me! Heck I clean about once a week so when I do it it's very hard work! I sometimes end up sweating more cleaning my house than hitting the gym! :-P
When I shop, I walk as fast as I do on the treadmill so why not count it? I also don't shop everyday... and some days (like yesterday) I shop until I hurt.... That's gotta be doing some caloric burning!
I think it helps that not everyone eats back their calories. I don't eat back mine, if I can help it. I am set at sedentary and let me tell you, I do live the sedentary life. So logging things like shopping and cleaning which aren't everyday things for me is ok. At least I'm not logging every time I get up to walk to the bathroom/kitchen/car.... That's really lazy workouts... or logging your calories burned while driving to and from the gym? COME ON!
With that said, everyone is different. If people are logging their shopping and cleaning and still losing weight (AHEM! I AM!) then let them DO it... that's the beauty of MFP!

cmcmicheal

I agree with you. I clean for a friend once a week and it takes me 2 hours, I break a sweat and work at a very fast pace so I log it. But other than that I don't log cleaning or shopping. I will make a mental note of it though and maybe let myself have a few extra calories for the day. I am still losing weight so it's working!

b757

I have my profile set to light activity. I do log cleaning, but not shopping. I don't feel bad doing this, because I am pretty sure my calories burned for my weight lifting workouts are well under what they should be, by MFP standards. For example, I did 20 mins of strength training with 5 exercises that targeted at least 4 muscle groups at a time, (3 sets of 10-15 reps each) and only burned 66 calories? I seriously doubt it. Besides, if I made the effort to do something, then I earned the calories burned, even if it is just cleaning. Shopping though I have no way of knowing so I don't bother with that one.

riley711

I don't log minor cleaning, but I do log serious cleaning. And since I do think the MFP estimate is too high, I don't put the full amount of time I spent cleaning. However, it is more activity than I typically get so yes, I log it. Maybe only 2 hours instead of the 4 I actually spent, but I do log it. As for shopping, I often wear my chest strap and HRM to determine the calories burned. I park farther away from the stores and power walk to and between stores. Plus all the bending, lifting, reaching and stretching once in the stores yields a very nice calorie burn. To those who don't log these activities, that's fine. There is no hard and fast rule. We each have to do what works best for ourselves!! :flowerforyou:

ShapeUpSidney

You've either never cleaned in your life or never done it properly. Cleaning is physically hard work when done properly.

Ha! LOVE YOU!!! I don't know about other people, but I'm always fast and furious when I clean. There's definitely some elbow grease involved. I log it, since I can't seem to find a way to do anything slowly without getting my heart rate up. I'm always rushing around.

And shopping? Umm...I live in Seattle and don't drive, so it always involves tons of walking, carrying packages, and plenty of hills.

RosalindaP

I only log my weekly deep cleaning and the best answer I can give is because I want to! My food and exercise diary are public I know but they are still mine so if I want to go back and review and check myself to see how I've been doing I usually don't have time to exercise on cleaning day, even if I did have the energy. So for me it isn't about trying to get extra kudos or cheat myself into thinking I have earned extra calories...it's more of a reminder. Instead of working out I spent my hour and a half to 3 hours cleaning up. Then I know I wasn't just being lazy that day.

Helenatrandom

A calorie burnt is a calorie burnt.

Do you log sex :blushing: ? Hey, at the end of the day, it all adds up!

Yes! Not often enough, though!

I can't find that on the list! I have considered logging it in as "wrestling", but I'm not sure how accurate that is! It's not like either of us are trying to get out of the hold....:bigsmile: (and neither of us has ever "lost" a bout! )

spookiewon

Don't log this in.
It's NOT exercise.

What a classically male attitude!

Not all males *ahem*cough*thisguy*cough*

Not all males, but it is a classically male attitude.

So you'll attack my post for being judgmental, but you're more than happy to support ridiculous gender stereotypes? Wow...

Again, a reply fitting to the post in question. His attitude is pretty much the same as yours--that the two of you somehow have higher standards.

ShapeUpSidney

That's exactly the point. Your bar is no higher than mine. You suggest my opinion that cleaning and shopping are exercise is ridiculous, and I assure you that your belief that it is not is just as ridiculous. You're offended by the exact same wording you used to describe other people's opinions. You were supposed to be offended. It was offensive when you said it, and that's what's wrong with that.

Calling something ridiculous IS judging.

I agree with you completely. And it has nothing to do with the thickness of my skin. I don't know about anyone else, but I can spot *kitten* behavior without being personally offended. It's totally doable.

Next someone will start a thread about "How can you log 'jogging' as exercise? I mean, I run for 12 miles at a 6 min pace, and THAT's a workout. But pfft...jogging? Get real."

Do what works for you and leave everyone else alone. OP: you apparently know what works for you, so what opinion or advice are you really looking for? Either cheer your friends on or dont. It's totally up to you.

spookiewon

A calorie burnt is a calorie burnt.

Do you log sex :blushing: ? Hey, at the end of the day, it all adds up!

Yes! Not often enough, though!

That's another one of those things that (even though it's NOT an every day activity sometimes... grrr) I just would rather include in my daily calorie expenditure.

And count as you like, but if you ask your doctor, it's exercise. A really great cardio workout, BTW.

aubarnold

I typically log just "workouts" but the other day I scrubbed all the walls, window sills, cupboards, baseboards, and floors in my living room, foyer, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and dining room....it took 4 hours....so yep, damn right I logged it lol

katatak1

I refuse to log cleaning and shopping. Women, as a whole, tend to undercalculate their calories consumed, and overcalculate their calories burned- and it's because we log stuff like this. If it isn't planned, I won't log it.

While it may be physically demanding, and it may get your heart rate up, I don't think you should count it unless it is a planned exercise. When you're walking in a store, you walk maybe a mile or two an hour. That's a very leisurely pace. You'll help yourself in the long run if you do it anyway and just don't log it. Think of it as bonus calories. As long as you consume above your BMR, it's only going to help you out!

asyouseefit

Working out is, after all, just a way of artificially recreating physical activity people people used to get during their workday (working in the fields, in the mine...). So, if you break a sweat of feel your HR getting higher, log it. Just don't overestimate calories burnt!

MacMadame

When I started I'd log stuff like that... not cleaning but maybe 5 minutes of stairs. But I pretty quickly stopped doing that and consider those calories already counted in my daily allotment.

I also am completely mystified by the calorie counts I see for many exercises in my news feed. In particular, I see people logging that they burned 100-200 calories per 1 mile of walking and that is just not possible. How many calories walking burns has been studied to DEATH and we know it's around 50 net calories. That is, 50 more than if you were sitting around watching tv, which also burns calories but those are part of your daily allotment. It may vary by person by 5-10 but not by 50-100!

I think people don't realize that they need to subtract off the calories for their BMR from their exercise as those calories are already counted. MFP gives you the total calories burned (and even those seem high to me for many exercises) but your BMR/RMR calories are already accounted for and have to be subtracted off to get net calories.

spookiewon

That's exactly the point. Your bar is no higher than mine. You suggest my opinion that cleaning and shopping are exercise is ridiculous, and I assure you that your belief that it is not is just as ridiculous. You're offended by the exact same wording you used to describe other people's opinions. You were supposed to be offended. It was offensive when you said it, and that's what's wrong with that.

Calling something ridiculous IS judging.

I agree with you completely. And it has nothing to do with the thickness of my skin. I don't know about anyone else, but I can spot *kitten* behavior without being personally offended. It's totally doable.

Next someone will start a thread about "How can you log 'jogging' as exercise? I mean, I run for 12 miles at a 6 min pace, and THAT's a workout. But pfft...jogging? Get real."

Do what works for you and leave everyone else alone. OP: you apparently know what works for you, so what opinion or advice are you really looking for? Either cheer your friends on or dont. It's totally up to you.

I know. In fact, my favorite xkcd is http://xkcd.com/386/ "Duty Calls" (and don't miss the mouseover text--just hover over the comic) because it's so true for so many of us. It just gets me. And clearly I'm not alone. Good for you for letting it roll off.

shawneez75

I wear a Fitbit and it logs everything. Just cleaning my home it says I walked 10,798 steps if you do the math that's 5 miles. I burn about 804 calories in 2 hours once a week.... This should get logged however I have not listed cleaning since some fitness ding dong started telling me I would never lose weight that way. I bought a monitor Fitbit and know he was wrong. I agree with others that say you have no idea if we have monitors or not and should mind your own business.
This site is to help people not hold us back. For those that think cleaning should not be logged don't and for those that do then let them. If we are losing weight cleaning and shopping then give us praise cause weare doing what works for us.

I am proud of those that get out there and walk even if it's 2 miles an hour. For some this is hard and I applaud you for making the change. If your cleaning and not on the couch eating yay for you. If your thin and have no need to log any of your cleaning or walking calories good for you. To each his own. Let MFP do what it was meant to do..... Change peoples lives!

ShapeUpSidney

I think people don't realize that they need to subtract off the calories for their BMR from their exercise as those calories are already counted. MFP gives you the total calories burned (and even those seem high to me for many exercises) but your BMR/RMR calories are already accounted for and have to be subtracted off to get net calories.

The net calorie issue always bugs me about MFP. Sometimes I do a mental adjustment at the end of the day (based on minutes I've exercised) but most times I just let it go.

If I could find a way to write a plug in to this nutritional database, I'd track all my stuff our analytical software instead...then these adjustments will be EASY

spookiewon

I wear a Fitbit and it logs everything. Just cleaning my home it says I walked 10,798 steps if you do the math that's 5 miles. I burn about 804 calories in 2 hours once a week.... This should get logged however I have not listed cleaning since some fitness ding dong started telling me I would never lose weight that way. I bought a monitor Fitbit and know he was wrong. I agree with others that say you have no idea if we have monitors or not and should mind your own business.
This site is to help people not hold us back. For those that think cleaning should not be logged don't and for those that do then let them. If we are losing weight cleaning and shopping then give us praise cause weare doing what works for us.

I am proud of those that get out there and walk even if it's 2 miles an hour. For some this is hard and I applaud you for making the change. If your cleaning and not on the couch eating yay for you. If your thin and have no need to log any of your cleaning or walking calories good for you. To each his own. Let MFP do what it was meant to do..... Change peoples lives!

I wore a Fitbit for almost two years, but kept losing them. After buying three in that time, I've switched to an UP band. They both seem to log the same amounts, so I'm confident of the accuracy, though the format is different and I'm still getting used to it. I do love UP's alarm feature. You set a time that you don't want to sedentary longer than, and if you don't do some pretty significant moving in that time it vibrates to get you up and moving. I have mine set to keep me from sitting at my desk longer than an hour at a time at work, and just walking to another office on my floor won't count as enough exercise to keep it from alarming. It does increase my activity at a time when I might unconsciously not notice otherwise. It also monitors your sleep and wakes you at the lightest sleep moment within a half hour of your set time. Both of these features can be shut off if you don't like them. The downside is it's not standalone, and you MUST have an iPod Touch, iPad, or iPhone to use it. I use the UP app, just as I used Fitbit's website, to log everything but calories. MFP just has the most awesome database, so I use that instead. But I log activity at on the UP's software, like I did with Fitbit.

My Fitbit and my UP certainly do not agree with MFP's calories burned amounts. They are considerably lower than MFP's calories burned, often less than half, and I use the numbers I get from UP, not the MFP numbers. These tools are so great!

Reyalvarado

Same here - I work in an office, and sit all day, so I do log cleaning and shopping time. I usually underestimate it a bit, and definitely log it as "Walking Slow 2 MPH", and it usually only amounts to about 15-20 mins a day at most. I even log time spent standing (this burns 50 cals more an hour) at social events and the like.

I think the key is that I calculate my BMR based on "Sedentary" which assumes sitting around most of the day. If you are already calculating based on "Light activity" or more, then it's probably not a good idea to log these kinds of activities.

tjpinch

I log anything above ordinary. Meaning, I don't log doing the dishes. I do log the 'OMG I have company coming over in three hours and my house is a mess' cleaning. If the baby is particularly fussy and I spend most of the day pacing the house bouncing him, I also log that. I have my activity set at sedentary.

spookiewon

According to Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic, it's more important to move than that it be "planned exercise" in weight loss. He stresses that his studies show that NEAT, or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, is the best way to lose weight or avoid gaining weight even if you eat too much. He says, "When we perform studies to examine how normal people walk as they go about their business during the day, we find that the velocity is about 1.1 mph. Our research suggests that weaving this kind of walking throughout the day can help overweight people shed far more pounds than they ever dreamed possible." Workouts are not the only way, or even necessarily the best way for some people, to lose weight. If they feel good to you, by all means do them, but anything that isn't sitting on the couch watching TV COUNTS, and it's all many people with chronic pain can manage. It IS judgmental and counterproductive to suggest that counting NEAT is ridiculous.

Now, if you're an endocrinologist with an organization of equal stature to the Mayo Clinic, you can tell me that your opinion is that it's ridiculous for me to count calories burned in everyday activities like shopping and cleaning. Otherwise your opinion is no better than mine, and it's perfectly sound to count these calories.

CMmrsfloyd

I logged my cleaning for quite awhile, I wore my HRM while I did long stretches of cleaning, my HR was up 'in the zone' for the majority of the time b/c I was intentionally TRYING to get a workout out of it, and believe it or not I usually burned more calories (per my Polar FT4) than what MFP estimated for 'cleaning, vigorous effort'. Just b/c YOU don't get a workout out of cleaning doesn't mean no one does. I assure you, purposely cleaning like a maniac and lugging my vaccum cleaner up the stairs, stopping on every stair to scrub the hell out of it with the vaccum hose, scrubbing bathtubs on my hands and knees, etc, got ME a workout. I ate those exercise calories like they were going out of style, and guess what? I lost weight. I'm set to 'sedentary' and I didn't count walking around the house or whatever, but if I knew I was about to do some heavy cleaning I strapped on my HRM and went for it. And if I ever did a big chunk of cleaning where I wasn't wearing my HRM, I still logged it with my best estimation. If I felt like I was working up to par with one of my heavier cleaning sessions, I logged it as such, if I knew that I wasn't going as hard as I usually did then I would go with the MFP estimate for cleaning but underestimate the time spent so as not to overestimate the calories. I don't log it as much as I used to b/c I don't do those big intentionally active spurts anymore, I do smaller bursts of cleaning here and there and then set aside time for walking/running/30dayshred, and since I need big chunks of time for those activities I don't normally set aside big chunks of time for marathon cleaning anymore. On the rare days that I DO have to clean for over an hour straight and end up with no time to do a structured workout, I will still log it.

If it works for you, do it. If you don't want to do it, don't do it. If you don't like somebody else doing it, tough, they are adults and they can choose how they want to account for their calories in whatever way works for them. If they get stuck in a plateau and ask for advice, by all means give them some suggestions, but otherwise let them handle their own business.