Do you consider this exercise?

firesoforion

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 think you answered your own question as well as I would have.

CuteAndCurvy83

In general no, but if I clean the house, from top to bottom, including laundry, floors, and things like cleaning baseboards and stuff then yes, because it's then above and beyond my normal activity. Just cooking dinner or cleaning the kitchen no, but again if it's something I've spent the day doing, then sure.

Cycl0tr0n

Like so many have already said, whether or not I log 'daily-life' activities depends entirely on what they are.

Scrubbing floors? Heck yes. Vigorously scrubbing the tub? Yup. Vacuuming the whole freaking house with my monster vacuum? Absolutely (I don't count that as strength training, but I should -- seriously, the thing weighs like 25 pounds, and fights me every step of the way).

Likewise, when I shop, I don't dilly-dally. I hate shopping, and I come prepared with a list, so I stride on through like I'm on the march. Once in a while something'll catch my eye and I'll pause to check it out, but for the most part all my nutritional analysis and budgeting is done before I leave home. I generally walk as fast at the grocery as I do on the rare occasion that I walk for exercise -- which is pretty fast -- so, yup, I log that too.

I don't log these calories because I'm lazy and trying to pad my caloric allowance. Indeed, I log them in part because I'm *not* lazy, and I want to make sure I'm adequately replacing the calories I burn. Normally, I clock about one to two hundred miles per week on the bike. My commutes average between 15 and 19 MPH (depends on how many stoplights I hit!); training rides upwards of 21 MPH. Inadequate refueling has been a problem for me in the past, so it makes sense to log any activities that get the ol' heart rate up.

On the other hand .. Cooking? No. Washing dishes? No. Folding laundry? No, though I probably could count it because I'm forever having to chase the cat away from the laundry basket.

That said, if my health seriously limited my activity options and I was mostly confined to bed or a chair, I could see logging those. You have to start where you are. When I was recovering from mono over the course of fall semester, sometimes washing the dishes constituted a concentrated effort.

Ultimately, it's all pretty relative. We need to judge our methods by how they effect our own bodies, and we should probably try not to judge others by their methods.

boys4rmine

I would ask the question "why are you logging it?" Do you want to just eat back those calories? Or are you truly wanting to know how many you burned. If I am just wanting to eat them back, I am not doing it for the right reason and should be getting my butt to the gym, not taking the trash to the curb.

LindaCWy

I have a very seditary job, so on the weekend if I clean my house for 3 hours and find myself going up and down 2 flights of stairs then yes, I count it, but I also do my workout on top of that. If you do it daily then you are considered to live a more active lifestyle then someone like me who has a desk job. You dig?

omgitsgarry

I walk to work, but I don't log it, because I've walked to work for the past three years so my body is use to it. I had to stop adding Wii Fit as exercise on my days off, because I was gaining weight from eating my calories back, so I use it as "stimulated work" in a way.

morgansmom02

I only log it when I go to work and clean the office. I never log cleaning my own house. I do log shoveling because it is something I don't do every day!

kayleystar

So if some want to count when they shoveled the snow, cleaned the house from top to bottom or whatever else makes them feel like they have exercised, who are we to judge them?

I count when I shovel snow because I have a huge driveway & live in Michigan. Shoveling 8-12 inches of snow is a full body workout that usually lasts for 2+ hours.

MaximalLife

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

^^^^^
THIS
It's activity - not exercise.

healthyJenn0915

I sometimes count cleaning when I scrub the floors and do a lot of vaccuming! Basically if I am breaking a sweat I count it! Otherwise I do not.

Elf_Princess1210

Why not get a pedometer and count everyt time you get 2400 steps or more?

Jennloella

I don't consider it exercise unless it gets my heart rate up.

healthyJenn0915

Also, shoveling snow (which thankfully I rarely have had to do) and mowing the lawn definately counts as exercise in my opinion!

MSrhi13

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia and lost 90lbs in a two year period--yep you guessed it by cleaning and doing daily activities. These are the things I'm physically capable of doing on a paced schedule. I didn't step into a gym or break a sweat! I guess it all depends on the person. You bet I'm going to log that! As long as my two feet are moving and my A&& isn't planted on the couch I KNOW I'm losing!

Amen! Same with me. I have MS, and there are many days that I cannot get out of bed at all. And oftentimes when I can get about a bit, my feet are so numb I can't tell where they are without looking, and they feel as if they weigh 5000#! I dare someone to tell me that spending 30 minutes putting things away and walking from room to room cleaning (loading dishwasher, switching loads of laundry, cleaning bathroom, etc) isn't exercise! It takes effort to walk when it seems like you're wearing cement loafers. I wouldn't log this every day, but I also don't do this every day. It's a real accomplishment for me to be able to do things like cook for my family and keep the house tidy for a day. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment I get from seeing a list of what I've done. I rarely eat the extra calories I earn from exercise, as I get such a thrill out of closing the day's diary with calories remaining. I just started on this site a few days ago, but I am motivated to keep seeing every night that I am under my calories limit.
You should not care, much less judge, another because of what they deem is exercise. You never know what kinds of hurdles they have to jump through to get those things accomplished. If you don't think it's exercise, then-- don't log it as exercise on your diary. To each his own.

Kristiina67

I like wearing a pedometer on my normal activities. I leave it home when I take my power walks.... I usually try to get to 7000-8000 steps by cleaning, cooking, shopping etc. But, no, I don't count them; I consider those steps as part of being a mom.

thelovelyLIZ

The only things I count as exercise is things I intentionally do for exercise. So running, pilates, yoga etc. Cooking and cleaning do burn calories, but I just consider it part of my day to day life. I think that if you're counting things like that, you're much more likely to overestimate your daily calorie expenditure. I don't even count walking when I go downtown and spend several hours walking around the shops. It keeps me under my calorie goal.

vger11

I only count yard work as exercise....and only because I can hardly move the next day.

cakeums

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.

You're not trying to offend anyone, but you're responding in a totally rude tone? Nice.

I spent 45 minutes shoveling snow on Saturday, I was sweating to the point that my clothes were wet through under my jacket (which I had vented at the sides), my HR was definitely elevated, and my arms were pretty sore the next day. You bet your smug little butt that I logged that as exercise.

There was a whole post that just explained that you should log things that are above your normal activity level. I set it as lightly active, I am a mother to small children and I work 36 hours a week waitressing. If I break a nice sweat and can feel my pulse quickening, then I am going to log it as activity. I spent hours on my feet and walking around today, on what is normally a rest day after my 13 hour Sunday shift (yes, 13 hours - I get in at 10AM, leave at 11PM, and do not have a break, nor do I sit down), so I gave myself an extra 30 mins of light exercise in today's diary. Am I using that as an excuse to eat back more calories? No, I will probably have close to 200 cal left at the end of the day. I just want to track extra activity so I can see what worked better for me some weeks than others.

Why do you even care what others are logging? Just worry about yourself.

sweet110

I use to have an *opinion* about things like this. "Grocery shopping? Really? That's exercise now, lazy bones?" But you know what? If that person is achieving their goals, well, um, I will just pat them on the back and say well done. Because that's how I'd like to be treated in return.

If they ask my opinion, I'll tell them what *I* do and why. Then they can decide for themselves what they want to do. But if they don't ask? Well, they'll figure out, through trial and error, whether it works for them or not. No judgment or evaulation from me needed.

...And everybody's happy.

You win for profile pic that I can't stop staring at today.

Plus, good points, etc. etc.

Your off-topic comments are cracking me up! And thanks!

cakeums

I also don't understand the mentality of, "I only count it if it was for 30 minutes or more." So if you went out and ran two 6 minute miles, you wouldn't log that? Come on. That's just ridiculous.