Logging 'cleaning' and 'shopping' cals burned etc

emilydmac

I only log it if I am out of breath/sweating or doing it for extended periods of time

Mama_CAEI

I log shopping as "walking, leisurely pace" because I don't shop very often, but when I do, it's usually a full-day thing. So I am definitely walking more than I do in my normal day-to-day life. (I work in an office so I'm sitting on my butt nearly 7 hours of the day.)
Cleaning is also not a day-to-day activity for me...I tend to do one room every couple of days, or several rooms on a weekend day, so again, it's above and beyond my normal activity level.
Anything that is more than my usual activities, I log it.

Suziq2you

Cleaning, shopping, walking the dog (maybe this one), taking a bath, having sex, watching tv, taking out the trash, having a catch with your kid, washing the car, hanging Christmas lights ......none of this stuff is going to help you lose weight - don't log it. You did all this crap while putting on the weight, it didn't turn into exercise when you joined MFP. Why is this the great debate? Exercise is good for you, everything else is life. Exercise more and it makes all this other stuff easier. The end....

You have no idea what someone's fitness level was before MFP. Prior to losing 55 pounds, I didn't play catch with my son because I couldn't stand to be outside in any kind of heat. I didn't hang Christmas lights because I was terrified to climb the ladder. Cleaning was done in 10-15 minutes intervals because I had to stop and catch my breath. So when I started MFP I logged that ****. I'm not embarrassed by it or ashamed of it.

Mama_CAEI

Cleaning, shopping, walking the dog (maybe this one), taking a bath, having sex, watching tv, taking out the trash, having a catch with your kid, washing the car, hanging Christmas lights ......none of this stuff is going to help you lose weight - don't log it. You did all this crap while putting on the weight, it didn't turn into exercise when you joined MFP. Why is this the great debate? Exercise is good for you, everything else is life. Exercise more and it makes all this other stuff easier. The end....

You have no idea what someone's fitness level was before MFP. Prior to losing 55 pounds, I didn't play catch with my son because I couldn't stand to be outside in any kind of heat. I didn't hang Christmas lights because I was terrified to climb the ladder. Cleaning was done in 10-15 minutes intervals because I had to stop and catch my breath. So when I started MFP I logged that ****. I'm not embarrassed by it or ashamed of it.

Amen to that!

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!

As a woman, I can assure that I do not under estimate my calories.

If not logging it works for you, great. But, it really bothers me when I see someone telling someone else what THEY should do. Do what works for YOU, but let everyone else make their own choices. And please, don't generalize about things. I'm betting quite a few people on this site UNDER estimate their calories because they don't want to overeat. So, once again - stop generalizing.

I specifically used the word "tend" because I agree that it is not right to generalize. Everyone is different, but we all fall somewhere on the bell curve (assuming normally distributed data) and most women tend to perform these behaviors. The OP asked what we thought about it, and that's what I think. I was not generalizing, I am a researcher/statistician, and I speak in terms of trends. And, as a whole, women do TEND to have this problem. If you don't, that's great... but many people do. I agree that you should do what works for you. I'm sorry I offended you so, but please don't YELL because you disagree. And understand that words like "tend" imply trends and not hard facts.

LittleElephant

I only log major cleaning that gets me sweating. When I'm going out for a major shopping trip I wear a pedometer so it tells me my average speed and time etc so I know how much was actually spent walking.

chevy88grl

Cleaning, shopping, walking the dog (maybe this one), taking a bath, having sex, watching tv, taking out the trash, having a catch with your kid, washing the car, hanging Christmas lights ......none of this stuff is going to help you lose weight - don't log it. You did all this crap while putting on the weight, it didn't turn into exercise when you joined MFP. Why is this the great debate? Exercise is good for you, everything else is life. Exercise more and it makes all this other stuff easier. The end....

If you were severely obese - you may NOT have done these things before. I'm sorry, but I still stand behind my "to each their own" stance. It all goes back to what works for one person may not work for another. It isn't our business if someone wants to log something as exercise - it really isn't. If they aren't losing and ASK for help, then yes. Otherwise, people should worry about themselves.

Just an example: my grandma has some health issues and has put on some weight in the last year or so. Her doctor told her to walk around the house or do light housework as "exercise". She's been doing it and dropped a couple pounds. Unless you know someone's specific case - don't judge.

MacMadame

It isn't our business if someone wants to log something as exercise - it really isn't. If they aren't losing and ASK for help, then yes. Otherwise, people should worry about themselves.

Except the OP asked us our opinion. I don't think giving an opinion you don't agree with is "judging". It's our opinion that we were asked to give. It's not like someone posted that they log cleaning as exercise and a bunch of random people just arbitrarily jumped down their throat.

And I stand by my opinion which is that you have to be careful about logging daily activities that could already included in your daily calorie allotment and you have to be careful about just accepting the calorie burn that MFP or some machine tells you because often these counts are too high.

thankyou4thevenom

Well, my understanding is that the calorie requirement is based on the minimum calories that you would burn just breathing

It's not though. The minimum calories you burn just existing is your BMR. If you pick "sedentary" as your activity level, the daily calories MFP assigns you is larger than your BMR. It includes a certain amount of activity already.

So then the question becomes, does what MFP assumes for you include things like cleaning and having sex. My experience is that it does. (I don't clean much though. If I did Spring cleaning, I might consider logging it as exercise.)

The amount of calories MFP pal assigns you is not always more then your BMR.

My BMR is 1,356. If I set my setting to sedentary I only get 1200 cals. That's -156 cals. So really I should log every single movement I do.

ShapeUpSidney

Cleaning, shopping, walking the dog (maybe this one), taking a bath, having sex, watching tv, taking out the trash, having a catch with your kid, washing the car, hanging Christmas lights ......none of this stuff is going to help you lose weight - don't log it. You did all this crap while putting on the weight, it didn't turn into exercise when you joined MFP. Why is this the great debate? Exercise is good for you, everything else is life. Exercise more and it makes all this other stuff easier. The end....

What about people like me who never "put on the weight" in the first place? What about people who are trying to build muscle mass, and need to track these things closely to eat enough for supporting the anabolic process?

Oh right...you've figured it out for everyone. I'll just defer to you /sarcasm

MacMadame

The amount of calories MFP pal assigns you is not always more then your BMR.

My BMR is 1,356. If I set my setting to sedentary I only get 1200 cals. That's -156 cals. So really I should log every single movement I do.

Well that's interesting. Of course MFP said my BMR was 1023 or something ridiculous so maybe that's why I thought that. (I've had it tested and it's more like 1300.)

But there really isn't any "should" about it. It depends on what works for you... some people are laxer than others about what they log, never logging condiments or random bites of food so they need a cushion. And almost every exercise calculator I've seen records a calorie burn higher than what my HRM and BodyMedia FIT tell me I burned. Then the whole BMR that MFP gives you is just an estimate as well.

In general I see a lot more people who underestimate what they eat and overestimate what they burn and then complain they aren't losing (or aren't losing fast enough) than I see people who are suffering somehow because they didn't put in "climbed stairs for 2 minutes" every time they do it.

amoffatt

Cleaning, shopping, walking the dog (maybe this one), taking a bath, having sex, watching tv, taking out the trash, having a catch with your kid, washing the car, hanging Christmas lights ......none of this stuff is going to help you lose weight - don't log it. You did all this crap while putting on the weight, it didn't turn into exercise when you joined MFP. Why is this the great debate? Exercise is good for you, everything else is life. Exercise more and it makes all this other stuff easier. The end....

So....If I take a walk for a few miles I should log it as exercise, but if I take my dog on this same walk, then it classifys as a no log exercise... I dont get why????:huh:

Shell_7609

Cleaning, shopping, walking the dog (maybe this one), taking a bath, having sex, watching tv, taking out the trash, having a catch with your kid, washing the car, hanging Christmas lights ......none of this stuff is going to help you lose weight - don't log it. You did all this crap while putting on the weight, it didn't turn into exercise when you joined MFP. Why is this the great debate? Exercise is good for you, everything else is life. Exercise more and it makes all this other stuff easier. The end....

So....If I take a walk for a few miles I should log it as exercise, but if I take my dog on this same walk, then it classifys as a no log exercise... I dont get why????:huh:

I definitely think walking the dog should be logged as exercise. Maybe not if you just take the dog out on a leash long enough to take care of their needs then go back inside, but if you take the dog for an actual walk around the park, neighborhood etc, that would be considered the same exercise as if you're walking without the dog. Depending on what kind of dog you're walking, It might actually be more of a workout

Ange_

I agree that this should be just part of your activity level. So if you do a lot of cleaning then maybe have a medium activity level and not log it as exercise.
An exception i make though is for unusually strenuous occasional things. Such as right am helping to renovate a house and landscape the garden. I have an office/lab based job so this is unusual for me so i log it.
Also exceptions including moving house (i wore my HRM to do that to log accurately and it added up to ALOT!). And gardening. But as i garden a little bit everyday i only count it if i am doing an occasional strenuous thing. So yesterday when i built some raised garden beds and filled them with soil which involved lifting a lot of 25L bags of potting mix and manure etc i logged that. Just estimated though and i probably underestimated too.

CiciPorcayo

To be completely honest if people wanna log cleaning and shopping for exercise it shouldn't really concern you. Not to sound rude at all sorry if I do... I mean it is only hurting them and I am sure they shopped and cleaned the house before they decided to join MFP and it obviously didn't work or they wouldn't be on here. let them do whatever, it is their fat that won't burn . Worry about you!

CMmrsfloyd

To be completely honest if people wanna log cleaning and shopping for exercise it shouldn't really concern you. Not to sound rude at all sorry if I do... I mean it is only hurting them and I am sure they shopped and cleaned the house before they decided to join MFP and it obviously didn't work or they wouldn't be on here. let them do whatever, it is their fat that won't burn . Worry about you!

Worked great for me, thanks. Interesting that you're saying 'worry about you' but the breath before that you're being judgemental about what others are doing.

LeanerBeef

Cleaning, shopping, walking the dog (maybe this one), taking a bath, having sex, watching tv, taking out the trash, having a catch with your kid, washing the car, hanging Christmas lights ......none of this stuff is going to help you lose weight - don't log it. You did all this crap while putting on the weight, it didn't turn into exercise when you joined MFP. Why is this the great debate? Exercise is good for you, everything else is life. Exercise more and it makes all this other stuff easier. The end....

So....If I take a walk for a few miles I should log it as exercise, but if I take my dog on this same walk, then it classifys as a no log exercise... I dont get why????:huh:

I definitely think walking the dog should be logged as exercise. Maybe not if you just take the dog out on a leash long enough to take care of their needs then go back inside, but if you take the dog for an actual walk around the park, neighborhood etc, that would be considered the same exercise as if you're walking without the dog. Depending on what kind of dog you're walking, It might actually be more of a workout

Why's everyone yelling at me, lol. I said maybe for the dog. If it's walk, it's a walk, dog or not. I've seen 7 min walking dog - really? If you're just starting out and 7 minutes is your start point, yes, log it and that is awesome. If it's part of your normal routine, eh, that's on you. If you clean your house top to bottom, scrubbing and sweating, yes that is work and if you want to log it. If you run the vacuum for 10 minutes are you going to eat back the 37 calories that burns. Obviously moving is better than not moving and whatever works for you, go for it. I guess I just hate to see people cheat themselves. I'm really not trying to judge or tell anyone what they should be doing. Whatever works for you - do it! I've yet to be crowned King of the Calories Burned Court.

Keep it moving people! That's all...

ChasingHaven

I have to admit I'm in the 'to each their own' camp here. If someone is logging every little thing (eating every little calorie back) and it's working? Great! If it's not? I would hope they'd figure it out.

I think if I did decide to log it all I would use the data to insure that I was increasing my activity level over all. I actually don't log exercise and don't eat calories back- but if I increased my activity substantially this would be a great way to decide if I DID need to start eating them back.

I have a pretty active job- I'm on my feet 7+ hours continually a day there, and with the constant lifting I can easily work up a sweat. Today I was out shopping for about 11 hours, minus 2 meal breaks. I'm still not sure I would consider this extra activity for myself.

My Mother- in- law who shopped with me? She's older and has a really odd limp, which makes walking challenging for long periods of time. No luck getting an amigo today with the holiday crowds If this were her weight loss journey? I'd encourage her to log every stinking, painfully slow step. She never broke a sweat, but this level of activity was huge for her today.

It's all about the circumstances!

ShapeUpSidney

I agree that this should be just part of your activity level. So if you do a lot of cleaning then maybe have a medium activity level and not log it as exercise.

Isn't it more accurate to avoid the assumptions made by MFP when we set activity levels, and itemize things instead? Based on a minimal baseline activity level, I mean...

CMmrsfloyd

I agree that this should be just part of your activity level. So if you do a lot of cleaning then maybe have a medium activity level and not log it as exercise.

Isn't it more accurate to avoid the assumptions made by MFP when we set activity levels, and itemize things instead? Based on a minimal baseline activity level, I mean...

Exactly. The 'activity level' is an assumption and most people have no way of knowing how accurate it really is beyond experiementing with the calorie goals and seeing if the results they get are what they expected. That's exactly why mine is set to 'sedentary' and I log my exercise. I feel it's more accurate than me taking a stab at bumping up my activity level and hoping I got it right.

amoffatt

Cleaning, shopping, walking the dog (maybe this one), taking a bath, having sex, watching tv, taking out the trash, having a catch with your kid, washing the car, hanging Christmas lights ......none of this stuff is going to help you lose weight - don't log it. You did all this crap while putting on the weight, it didn't turn into exercise when you joined MFP. Why is this the great debate? Exercise is good for you, everything else is life. Exercise more and it makes all this other stuff easier. The end....

So....If I take a walk for a few miles I should log it as exercise, but if I take my dog on this same walk, then it classifys as a no log exercise... I dont get why????:huh:

I definitely think walking the dog should be logged as exercise. Maybe not if you just take the dog out on a leash long enough to take care of their needs then go back inside, but if you take the dog for an actual walk around the park, neighborhood etc, that would be considered the same exercise as if you're walking without the dog. Depending on what kind of dog you're walking, It might actually be more of a workout

Why's everyone yelling at me, lol. I said maybe for the dog. If it's walk, it's a walk, dog or not. I've seen 7 min walking dog - really? If you're just starting out and 7 minutes is your start point, yes, log it and that is awesome. If it's part of your normal routine, eh, that's on you. If you clean your house top to bottom, scrubbing and sweating, yes that is work and if you want to log it. If you run the vacuum for 10 minutes are you going to eat back the 37 calories that burns. Obviously moving is better than not moving and whatever works for you, go for it. I guess I just hate to see people cheat themselves. I'm really not trying to judge or tell anyone what they should be doing. Whatever works for you - do it! I've yet to be crowned King of the Calories Burned Court.

Keep it moving people! That's all...

Yup, exactly!! Keep moving.

P.S. I wasnt yelling at anyone.:bigsmile:

swatts7622

Well that answers that question lol! Great read

MacMadame

Exactly. The 'activity level' is an assumption and most people have no way of knowing how accurate it really is beyond experiementing with the calorie goals and seeing if the results they get are what they expected. That's exactly why mine is set to 'sedentary' and I log my exercise. I feel it's more accurate than me taking a stab at bumping up my activity level and hoping I got it right.

Both methods can work though. When I was losing, I picked sedentary and logged any activity that was over 100 calories NET. (MFP and HRMs report total calories so you have to subtract out your BMR/RMR calories if you want to be truly accurate.) But in maintenance, I picked an activity level that covers my calorie burn most days when I don't exercise and only put in real workouts as extra.

Because I have a BodyMedia FIT, I know I burn 1450-1650 most days on days I don't exercise so I have 1550 as my base calories. I pick whatever activity level gets me those calories as a base. Which happens to be lightly active. But at one point I had it on the highest activity level because that's what it took to get my base calorie goal to the right place (I was working out a lot and more fit and also moved more in my job).

CMmrsfloyd

Exactly. The 'activity level' is an assumption and most people have no way of knowing how accurate it really is beyond experiementing with the calorie goals and seeing if the results they get are what they expected. That's exactly why mine is set to 'sedentary' and I log my exercise. I feel it's more accurate than me taking a stab at bumping up my activity level and hoping I got it right.

Both methods can work though. When I was losing, I picked sedentary and logged any activity that was over 100 calories NET. (MFP and HRMs report total calories so you have to subtract out your BMR/RMR calories if you want to be truly accurate.) But in maintenance, I picked an activity level that covers my calorie burn most days when I don't exercise and only put in real workouts as extra.

Because I have a BodyMedia FIT, I know I burn 1450-1650 most days on days I don't exercise so I have 1550 as my base calories. I pick whatever activity level gets me those calories as a base. Which happens to be lightly active. But at one point I had it on the highest activity level because that's what it took to get my base calorie goal to the right place (I was working out a lot and more fit and also moved more in my job).

I agree both methods can work but you are also at an advantage since you have the BMF and can more accurately measure your total daily calorie burn. I am really comtemplating getting one of those, seems like it takes a lot of the guesswork out especially when you have some days that are drastically different than others and hard to guesstimate w/o a tool like that.

MelKut

I spend all day on my feet cleaning and cooking but don't log those as "exercise" calories.

I do, however, on occasion help my aunt with her work (cleaning offices). This is the first time since joining MFP that I have done this, so I was unsure of whether to count those

I spent about 2 1/2 hours wiping down desks, taking out trash, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming (with a heaving vacuum strapped on my back) and washing the floors with a mop.

I logged this as "light cleaning moderate effort" although I did put forward a lot of effort, and it gave me 465 calories! :O that seems like too much and I don't know if I should eat back those calories

What do you guys think?

deeharley

I spend all day on my feet cleaning and cooking but don't log those as "exercise" calories.

I do, however, on occasion help my aunt with her work (cleaning offices). This is the first time since joining MFP that I have done this, so I was unsure of whether to count those

I spent about 2 1/2 hours wiping down desks, taking out trash, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming (with a heaving vacuum strapped on my back) and washing the floors with a mop.

I logged this as "light cleaning moderate effort" although I did put forward a lot of effort, and it gave me 465 calories! :O that seems like too much and I don't know if I should eat back those calories

What do you guys think?

Soon after joining MFP - and listing myself as sedentary - I got a job that would be classified as cleaning. Doing large loads of laundry, cleaning showers, vacuuming, etc, adds up to a sedentary girl. For every eight hour day I worked, I logged 2-3 hours of "light cleaning moderate effort." The main reason I did this was because I was hungrier on those days and I needed a guide to go by that added calories to my daily intake but gave me a clear number to not go over.

daffodilsoup

I don't log cleaning.

But, that's mostly because I don't clean. :bigsmile:

ruby_red_rose

I also only log workouts.

Mama_CAEI

I don't log cleaning.

But, that's mostly because I don't clean. :bigsmile:

And I do log it precisely because it's an out of the ordinary event! :laugh: