Do you consider this exercise?

vballscriscuolo

I'm sure I'm going to make a big fuss over this but I feel it's something I must share........do you consider cooking, cleaning, walking to and from kitchen, bathroom etc in your house and other daily activities exercise????

I don't understand that completely.......Anything I have to do/regularly do in a day I don't count as exercise........Cooking myself dinner isn't exercise, I have to eat to live and I'd be doing it anyway.......cleaning my house is something I have to do unless I want mice and ants everywhere and walking to the kitchen and bathroom and back........it just doesn't make sense to me?

I am here to lose weight, and if I was to count every step I took or every movement I made as exercise I'd be cheating myself......the only time I consider any of those things exercise is when I'm like scrubbing the floor with a brush or shoveling snow because I break a sweat with those...........

I guess I just needed to put my 2 cents in on the subject.......

runnercheryl

Nothing general within my own home, no. I'd say I ignore walking under ten minutes in length, as a general rule.

That said, I am truly sedentary. I very rarely cook or clean.

mrmanmeat

I'm sure I'm going to make a big fuss over this but I feel it's something I must share........do you consider cooking, cleaning, walking to and from kitchen, bathroom etc in your house and other daily activities exercise????

I don't understand that completely.......Anything I have to do/regularly do in a day I don't count as exercise........Cooking myself dinner isn't exercise, I have to eat to live and I'd be doing it anyway.......cleaning my house is something I have to do unless I want mice and ants everywhere and walking to the kitchen and bathroom and back........it just doesn't make sense to me?

I am here to lose weight, and if I was to count every step I took or every movement I made as exercise I'd be cheating myself......the only time I consider any of those things exercise is when I'm like scrubbing the floor with a brush or shoveling snow because I break a sweat with those...........

I guess I just needed to put my 2 cents in on the subject.......

No, I don't. I also laugh at people who log taking out the trash, or cleaning.

I feel like they're just being lazy, hoping that that'll count towards exercise so they don't actually have to get their *kitten* in gear.


Breaking a sweat doesn't relate to losing weight all the time. Sweating is just your body's cooling system. If you're wrapped up in a jacket shoveling snow, is your heart rate really over 100? You're just warm b/c you're not sitting still outside in the cold, so your body is cooling itself.

I hardly sweat at the gym, but I can knock out 600 calories rather quickly

cryspetstalerson

I'm sure I'm going to make a big fuss over this but I feel it's something I must share........do you consider cooking, cleaning, walking to and from kitchen, bathroom etc in your house and other daily activities exercise????

I don't understand that completely.......Anything I have to do/regularly do in a day I don't count as exercise........Cooking myself dinner isn't exercise, I have to eat to live and I'd be doing it anyway.......cleaning my house is something I have to do unless I want mice and ants everywhere and walking to the kitchen and bathroom and back........it just doesn't make sense to me?

I am here to lose weight, and if I was to count every step I took or every movement I made as exercise I'd be cheating myself......the only time I consider any of those things exercise is when I'm like scrubbing the floor with a brush or shoveling snow because I break a sweat with those...........

I guess I just needed to put my 2 cents in on the subject.......

It all depends on the person. At times, I do, ONLY because I have a lot of medical issues, and if I am able to get up and clean something up, that isn't something I normally would do. Also , I have to wash laundry the old fashioned way, by hand as I don't have the money to do it at a laundry mat, and I don't have to pay a water bill. Again, if you are one who normally cleans, then that is when it isn't considered.
But for someone who doesn't normally do that stuff, or if you are doing a days worth of cleaning, then yeah I would count it.

cardbucfan

Well let me chime in here. I just deep cleaned my house today. Mopped, vacuumed (including under beds) cleaned all the bathrooms and kitchen. This wasn't the normal, daily picking up that I do but a whole house clean. I wore my HRM while I did this for 4 hours and burned 799 calories. My activity level on here is set to sedentary and I sure as heck was NOT sedentary for those 4 hours. So I back out my existence calories for that time period and it's an extra 605 calories I burned today. You better believe I'm counting THAT.

Now, I do not count cooking dinner, picking up the house, taking out the trash, doing laundry, but over and above like today? You bet it's exercise.

addisondisease

Even when you set yourself to seditary it is mostly talking about your day job, it even says someone like a bank teller, desk job etc.

Often times the people who count dish washing are just looking to cheat on their diet.

mrmanmeat

Well let me chime in here. I just deep cleaned my house today. Mopped, vacuumed (including under beds) cleaned all the bathrooms and kitchen. This wasn't the normal, daily picking up that I do but a whole house clean. I wore my HRM while I did this for 4 hours and burned 799 calories. My activity level on here is set to sedentary and I sure as heck was NOT sedentary for those 4 hours. So I back out my existence calories for that time period and it's an extra 605 calories I burned today. You better believe I'm counting THAT.

Now, I do not count cooking dinner, picking up the house, taking out the trash, doing laundry, but over and above like today? You bet it's exercise.

You would still burn calories if you were sitting still too. So you didn't in fact burn 800 calories just b/c you cleaned.

You exercise to get fit & healthy. That doesn't include cleaning, come on.

cardbucfan

Well let me chime in here. I just deep cleaned my house today. Mopped, vacuumed (including under beds) cleaned all the bathrooms and kitchen. This wasn't the normal, daily picking up that I do but a whole house clean. I wore my HRM while I did this for 4 hours and burned 799 calories. My activity level on here is set to sedentary and I sure as heck was NOT sedentary for those 4 hours. So I back out my existence calories for that time period and it's an extra 605 calories I burned today. You better believe I'm counting THAT.

Now, I do not count cooking dinner, picking up the house, taking out the trash, doing laundry, but over and above like today? You bet it's exercise.

You would still burn calories if you were sitting still too. So you didn't in fact burn 800 calories just b/c you cleaned.

That's why I said I backed out my existence calories of 194 for that time period. So I DID burn 605 calories doing more than being alive and sitting in front of this computer (which is where I am usually) and 605 is what I added as exercise. And you are right, I do exercise to be healthy. But when MFP tells me to eat back my exercise calories and I've burned almost the same amount cleaning my house as I did during my spin class and strength training, I'm going to eat those calories.

cryspetstalerson

Well let me chime in here. I just deep cleaned my house today. Mopped, vacuumed (including under beds) cleaned all the bathrooms and kitchen. This wasn't the normal, daily picking up that I do but a whole house clean. I wore my HRM while I did this for 4 hours and burned 799 calories. My activity level on here is set to sedentary and I sure as heck was NOT sedentary for those 4 hours. So I back out my existence calories for that time period and it's an extra 605 calories I burned today. You better believe I'm counting THAT.

Now, I do not count cooking dinner, picking up the house, taking out the trash, doing laundry, but over and above like today? You bet it's exercise.

You would still burn calories if you were sitting still too. So you didn't in fact burn 800 calories just b/c you cleaned.

That's why I said I backed out my existence calories of 194 for that time period. So I DID burn 605 calories doing more than being alive and sitting in front of this computer (which is where I am usually) and 605 is what I added as exercise.

Plus if it's not something you are normally doing, then yes it should be considered. Especially a deep cleaning. Plus you pointed that you don't normally count it. To me, 4 hours is a lot!!! Good job on that!

roxierox1989

Same as carbucfan, If I do a deep clean and if I'm up and down stairs for a few hours then I would definitely log it. Everyone is different if you feel you've worked hard and you can feel it then why not log it!! But not general day to day things like cooking or taking out rubbish etc!

vballscriscuolo

I wasn't trying to offend anyone.........like I said I have only ever included a daily activity I think once...bu I don't log it because I would have done it anyway.............deep cleaning is hard work, I'm not saying that, I just know for me personally I'm not going to log anything like that because I feel like I'm cheating becasue it's something that has to be done.......

and for the shoveling, I agree it's not real exercise but I do get sore afterwards........I think of it as more of a "weight" thing that actual exercise because I literally NEVER use weights and my arms and shoulders are always sore after so, while I never actually log it and count it, I feel like I "worked out" hahahaha.......probably because my upper body is in such poor shape haha!

vballscriscuolo

Same as carbucfan, If I do a deep clean and if I'm up and down stairs for a few hours then I would definitely log it. Everyone is different if you feel you've worked hard and you can feel it then why not log it!! But not general day to day things like cooking or taking out rubbish etc!

That's more what I meant, is I've seen logs for 15 min of cooking and 20 min of light/moderate effort cleaning..............I know every person is different and can do what they want, but I know I did that in the past and felt guilty because I felt like I didn't desere it and just wanted an extra candy bar and that's how I got it

jrich1

IMO I think a lot of people cheat themselves.

beckylawrence70

It may be "exercise" but I don't consider it myself, exercise to me is putting on my workout gear, getting on the treadmill, elliptical or bike, or lifting weights, I NEVER calculate those "other things" into my exercise, I consider that daily life........

roxierox1989

You shouldn't feel like you've offended anyone, everybody is different and find different activities difficult. Shovelling is effectively a weight exercise.....probably heavier than any weights I would use x x

aaleigha1

I make bread and used to use a machine now I do it by hand and I do log the exercise - you try kneading bread for 20mins plus its a very good upper body work out (I batch make the bread so knead half the recipe at a time)

nurse_christieyne

I will log cleaning. It is not something that I normally do.

I have a cleaning lady who comes once a week and cleans my house.. Once in awhile, I will get a wild hair and clean a bedroom from top to bottom, organizing it in a new way... I will count that as excercise since I normally do not 'clean' my house.

cryspetstalerson

I wasn't trying to offend anyone.........like I said I have only ever included a daily activity I think once...bu I don't log it because I would have done it anyway.............deep cleaning is hard work, I'm not saying that, I just know for me personally I'm not going to log anything like that because I feel like I'm cheating becasue it's something that has to be done.......

and for the shoveling, I agree it's not real exercise but I do get sore afterwards........I think of it as more of a "weight" thing that actual exercise because I literally NEVER use weights and my arms and shoulders are always sore after so, while I never actually log it and count it, I feel like I "worked out" hahahaha.......probably because my upper body is in such poor shape haha!

I don't think you offended anyone. I think that there are different limits for everything. If you don't normally shovel snow, then that would be something to log.
There is actually a post on here that talks about this, and it says "anything outside of your normal daily activity is something you would log"

Now , if I am having a good week, and no pain, and I am able to get up and work out, then no, I am not going to log every thing I do, but if I am in tons of pain, and have one good day, where I can get up and clean the kitchen or any other room, and it takes more than 15 minutes, then yes I will log it, because the rest of the week I have done NO activity. Lately I have had good weeks, so I haven't been logging that stuff.

ninerbuff

Lol, people who put everyday house work down as exercise are fooling themselves. I could see a major spring cleaning, yard work once a week, scrubbing floors occasionally, but everyday house work is part of your daily routine. If it were really exercise, then those that do it shouldn't really be having issues with flabby arms, flabby legs, and flabby abs. You can be overweight with good muscle tone if you exercise regularly. I'm thinking that's not the case with most who log it as exercise.


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
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beckylawrence70

I totally agree MackEric, it's just silly, quit making excuses and get busy, the real way!!

phatsoslim

Well let me chime in here. I just deep cleaned my house today. Mopped, vacuumed (including under beds) cleaned all the bathrooms and kitchen. This wasn't the normal, daily picking up that I do but a whole house clean. I wore my HRM while I did this for 4 hours and burned 799 calories. My activity level on here is set to sedentary and I sure as heck was NOT sedentary for those 4 hours. So I back out my existence calories for that time period and it's an extra 605 calories I burned today. You better believe I'm counting THAT.

Now, I do not count cooking dinner, picking up the house, taking out the trash, doing laundry, but over and above like today? You bet it's exercise.

I agree. I only count cleaning if it is a SUPER BIG clean up. I never count cooking. Snow shoveling, yes I do count it. It is quite a workout. However, we haven't had much snow so far this winter, so I have only logged it in a few times.

HorrorChix89

I log everything I do because 90% of the time I'm sitting on my *kitten* in front of my laptop (like right now). I log SHOPPING, DRIVING (sometimes), WALKING.

Every been shopping for 3 hours at a time walking around in circles because the Paper Products are on the complete opposite side of the store than the Hardware section. Or Dairy isn't as close as you would like to the Frozen Food Section. And god forbid you forget someone and end up having to walk all the way back to the back of the store only to realize they are out of stock on that item.

Maybe that's just me. Still, I don't care if anyone "laughs" at me. Cause the more they laugh at me the more I realize they're spending too much time worrying what I'M doing with MY time. Internet people are just that, INTERNET PEOPLE. I like to pretend they're all mildly intelligent computers programmed to interact with humans.

cryspetstalerson

I make bread and used to use a machine now I do it by hand and I do log the exercise - you try kneading bread for 20mins plus its a very good upper body work out (I batch make the bread so knead half the recipe at a time)

lol I do laundry by hand which I have to use something to agitate the water, so I will log that depending on how long I am doing that for.

onefitdiva

I do not count house hold chores, landscaping chores, ect. If I manage to do a little more with it than normal it's a bonus. I log only my actual cardio workouts or strength training. But hey, that's just me. I beat to my own drum.

mgmlap

if its stuff you do all the time..it doesn't count...but lets say you are helping a friend move..and you are helping to clean ..then thats out of the usual. For instance during the summer..our family helps with some community projects. We spent 12 hrs scraping paint, sweeping, pulling weeds, painting..I logged all of it..cause I dont do that normally

LoriBarefoot

I don't consider it exercise unless I'm out of breath and sweating for a considerable amount of time...which cooking and cleaning just does not do that for me. I work with a 55 year old woman who everytime I mention running or getting on my treadmill, she says she doesn't like doing stuff like that. She says she's always on the go, cleaning her house, and her yards and that she prefers that as her exercise.


I just smile and think....you are clueless.

runnermama81

I would say it depends on how your activity level is set up. If you have yourself as sedentary and vacuum for two hours I would say that counts as exercise!

firstjog11

I'm tired just reading about your activities! I only log what I actually exercise, but I know a full day of deep cleaning wipes me out physically and I would add something big like this. Normal daily living, I don't add (and I rarely sit on my couch and watch TV).

mrmanmeat

Well let me chime in here. I just deep cleaned my house today. Mopped, vacuumed (including under beds) cleaned all the bathrooms and kitchen. This wasn't the normal, daily picking up that I do but a whole house clean. I wore my HRM while I did this for 4 hours and burned 799 calories. My activity level on here is set to sedentary and I sure as heck was NOT sedentary for those 4 hours. So I back out my existence calories for that time period and it's an extra 605 calories I burned today. You better believe I'm counting THAT.

Now, I do not count cooking dinner, picking up the house, taking out the trash, doing laundry, but over and above like today? You bet it's exercise.

You would still burn calories if you were sitting still too. So you didn't in fact burn 800 calories just b/c you cleaned.

That's why I said I backed out my existence calories of 194 for that time period. So I DID burn 605 calories doing more than being alive and sitting in front of this computer (which is where I am usually) and 605 is what I added as exercise. And you are right, I do exercise to be healthy. But when MFP tells me to eat back my exercise calories and I've burned almost the same amount cleaning my house as I did during my spin class and strength training, I'm going to eat those calories.

MFP is a guideline. Not an absolute MUST.

I still don't buy it.

But it doesn't matter, you're cheating yourself, not me.

Sweet_Potato

That's more what I meant, is I've seen logs for 15 min of cooking and 20 min of light/moderate effort cleaning..............I know every person is different and can do what they want, but I know I did that in the past and felt guilty because I felt like I didn't desere it and just wanted an extra candy bar and that's how I got it

I would never log cooking, but I log strenuous cleaning type exercises under the "light/moderate effort cleaning". This might include sweeping leaves, shoveling snow, moving furniture, or cleaning floors, if I'm doing it for a signficant period of time. Whenever I spend a couple hours sweeping leaves I'm sore as hell the next day, so I think I'd be delusional to not consider it exercise.

mrmanmeat

I would say it depends on how your activity level is set up. If you have yourself as sedentary and vacuum for two hours I would say that counts as exercise!

vacuuming is exercise? come on people. this is why america is fat.