Cleaning counts as an exercise?

shanahtehya

new to this.....

I saw that cleaning was down as an exercise, I wouldnt think to log that in.
Just wondering if it was the 'norm' to be logged it in???

thanks
Cindy

Di3012

Personally I don't. I just log the stuff that gets me out of breath and is a specific exercise that I intended to do.

I can't see dusting or hoovering using many calories to be honest.

kimborious

I set my activity level as sedentary because 1/2 the week I work a desk job. The days I am not at work I am power cleaning and chasing a toddler. I count the heavy cleaning I do on those days because my my activity level setting doesnt account for it. Does that make sense? I would say if you hve set it at moderate, I would not count it.

SarahMorganP

I don't clean often at all. I work all day and my husband is home, so he cleans. When I do clean I get my heart rate up just as much as I would if I was on a walk, and I do count my walks. Also, my activity is set to sedentary, so anything I do other than sit on my butt at the office gets logged. If it was set for active or even lightly active I wouldn't log it.

Nopedotjpeg

Well, people count a whole lot less too. It all depends on what your activity level is set to.

ajbeans

Most people on here don't count it, at least from what I've read. I personally do. As kimborious said, I have my activity level set to sedentary, so cleaning isn't accounted for.

Personally, I usually count about half the time I spent actually cleaning (so if I worked for an hour, I count 30 minutes) because I'm rarely constantly moving. I have to stop and get a cup of water for a kid, or go to the bathroom, or whatever. And I eat my exercise calories, including those burned through cleaning. It works for me. Do what works for you.

kidrobot3

I don't clean often at all. I work all day and my husband is home, so he cleans. When I do clean I get my heart rate up just as much as I would if I was on a walk, and I do count my walks. Also, my activity is set to sedentary, so anything I do other than sit on my butt at the office gets logged. If it was set for active or even lightly active I wouldn't log it.

i actually dance when i clean. it's the only way i can enjoy it, so i count it as exercise.

cardbucfan

You will get very heated answers to this question. Personally, I do log it. I have my activity level set as sedentary too and when I do a whole house clean, I burn several hundred calories (wore my HRM to track it). I don't count the daily picking up the house, doing the dishes, cleaning up the kitchen stuff-just the full blown vacuum, dusting, mopping, cleaning bathroom thing. I don't eat back all my exercise calories for a variety of reasons but if I expend that many more calories than sitting in front of a computer, I need to refuel my body. It will be up to YOU if you log it and count it or not.

lynn5866

Interesting that you asked that question. I don't generally count stuff like this unless I exert a lot of energy. I found out yesterday that cooking was an activity and I counted it because I had been on my feet for @ 2 hours straight back and forth between the sink, stove, pantry and fridge cooking two seperate meals for myself and my husband. After all that I was so tired, I didn't even want to eat and I was pooped!!

cramernh

The way I look at it is this: the rigorous cleaning done such as scrubbing the tub/tub walls - OHHH YEAH, Im counting that.. I get one hell of a good sweat, my arms, my back all feel muscles never felt when Im doing other things... Even my abs get a great workout from scrubbing the tub.

I prefer to wash my floor the old-fashioned way personally... no mop or scrubby-type mop is going to get into the corners and tight areas... I count that.

If I get my heart rate up with these particular things, then I will count it.... but I tend not to eat those calories back because the minute I take my shower from cleaning, I knock out cold from exhaustion! LOL!

Hayesgang

I only count cardio.

I have my activity level set at sedentary as well, for me, cleaning, raking leaves, bowling or fishing (which is listed) if just part of life. A lot of times we over estimate how much physical activity or calories we burn so I'd rather not include normal daily activities.

To each their own - Do what works for you.

MsMargie1116

It depends on the type of cleaning... If I'm really vaccuuming (moving furniture and stuff), and doing a lot of lifting, moving, etc, yes, I count it, but if it's loading/unloading the dishwasher, then no... :-) Even dusting gets me up and down off and on the floor, so I even count that... :-)

Articeluvsmemphis

some do, most don't. the only time it makes sense is if it is something abnormal. something you do everyday won't burn calories like a real workout.

janine446

Hi,
I too have set my day to day stuff as sedentary as i work part time as a cleaner...of holiday villas. Of which i can be cleaning for 5 to 8 hours and, i sweat a lot in that time, especially in the heat of Tenerife - hoovering, mopping, cleaning windows, scrubbing bathrooms and kitchens etc, all top to bottom. So i do log that. But my day to day cleaning of my own place I don't bother to log, as i would rather earn my extra calories by doing an aerobics class or walking. And the extra calories I may of earned by ironing, cleaning etc are a bonus and mean i lose more weight.
Does that all make sense...hope so!
Good luck for a slimmer you in 2012.
janine xx

Just1forMe

You will get very heated answers to this question.

There's no reason for anyone to give a heated answer...it's simple science. To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in per day.

If you want to truly understand your body and your actual 24 hour calorie burns, including cleaning or standing vs. sitting, as well as intentional exercise, I highly recommend getting a BodyMedia Fit Armband. It not only gives you accurate burns for YOUR intentional exercise, it's extremely eye opening as far as how your total 24 hour calorie burn (which is what MFP uses to set your goals--but they use an average for "someone like you") can vary from day to day depending on what you do that particular day. It's the best investment I've ever made in my health and I can't recommend it enough.

So, to answer the OP's question...yes, cleaning burns calories, which raises your 24 hour burn. Your 24 hour calorie burn is the number that you will subtract 500 calories from if you want to lose 1 lb per week. I personally adjust my calorie goal daily based on what my BMF band tells me I am burning for that day (at about 1pm, it uses algorithms based on your history to tell you what you will most likely burn for the rest of the day) . So, if one day, I'm sitting at my desk all day and then go home and sit in front of the TV the rest of the night, I will burn less thanI would the next day, if I *stand* at my desk all day and go home in the evening and clean my house for a couple of hours before I sit down and watch TV. Based on what I've learned from my BMF over a long period of time, the difference between those 2 days could be as much as 400-500 calories with no intentional exercise done on either day! (I usually exercise every day...these are for the sake of illustration However, without an armband measuring your total daily burn, "cleaning" is extremely subjective. It would be really hard to "guess" how much you really burn doing things like that because of the starting and stopping and variations in intensity. So, if you don't have an armband, and want to count cleaning and other similar activities, you should be extremely conservative in how many calories you count as burned (if you eat back your exercise calories). Same with shopping in the mall for 5 or 6 hours....you'd be surprised how much variation in calorie burn you can have even between shopping trips. Suffice it to say, no where near as much as you (or MFP) would think

lukeout007

I have stipulations about counting it. If its just standard pick up (IE: Picking up laundry or my sons toys) I don't count it...especially if it takes me only 10 or 15 minutes as usual. On the other hand however last Sunday I spent almost all day doing deep cleaning, moving fairly large things, etc. I counted this as 60 minutes of cleaning (even though it was all day I figure the amount of actual active time was probably somewhere around there).

Basically if I'm cleaning out of the norm I count it. Otherwise I leave it out.

Just1forMe

And the extra calories I may of earned by ironing, cleaning etc are a bonus and mean i lose more weight.

Hopefully, but if you are consistently burning 300-600 more calories per day (2100-4200 per week) than MFP and you think you are, then you will eventually stop losing.

SnuggleXPuff

Being a bit of a germaphobe, and having a small zoo of pets, I clean my house on a daily basis. Sometimes to the point where I'm out of breath. So I usually log a few minutes of cleaning. And you'd be surprised at what can burn calories. I once read somewhere that cleaning your ears burns about 1.2 cal. Who knows if that's true but still.

Hyperspace

I spent much of Christmas break cleaning out and repairing a large shed. This involved moving a lot of heavy items and shelves, carrying around full sheets of 1/2" treated plywood, drilling holes in very old, very hard Southern Pine, and going up and down a ladder.
Yeah, I figured that counted as "heavy cleaning" exercise!

But I don't count normal stuff like cleaning the bathroom or vacuuming.

onehotgirl

I only count lawn mowing (that's kinda like cleaning... the lawns y'know) :flowerforyou:

Kayla165

Cleaning can be a great workout. I have three young children and my husband is no better than they are about cleaning up. I spend about an hour everyday doing heavy cleaning and another 30 min of light housework. I burn over 300 calories a day just cleaning the house.