doing housework.... does this count as exercise?

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  • Hayter2013
    Hayter2013 Posts: 77
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    Meant to ask, does anyone else's hoover feel like they are giving you a hernia! Might be the hoover or my carpets but sometimes it aches like hell! lol:laugh:
  • mooglysmom
    mooglysmom Posts: 319 Member
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    I do because I am set to sedentary. Anytime I get my butt off the couch I log it, lol. This morning I spent 45 minutes deep cleaning the bathroom, I logged it. That was hard work, ha! But I was scrubbing the floor and the walls.
  • tbskipp
    tbskipp Posts: 184 Member
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    If i cleaned my house everyday, i wouldn't count it. But, if you saw my house, you'd know that I do not clean nearly enough. :wink:
    If it's something you don't normally do and you feel it in your body, i say count it. It's movement and calorie burning!
  • samf36
    samf36 Posts: 369 Member
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    Meant to ask, does anyone else's hoover feel like they are giving you a hernia! Might be the hoover or my carpets but sometimes it aches like hell! lol:laugh:
    Nope I have an 8 pound Oreck very easy to use.
  • StartingAnewDay
    StartingAnewDay Posts: 319 Member
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    I don't, and i don't heavy clean everyday. I just count it as "extra" in my mind. For me doing laundry = lugging a basket up and down about 30 steps lol, plus I moved 2 beds etc. I didn't count any of it.

    I don't want to get in the habit of "counting it" and using it as excuse for regular exercise. "I don't feel like exercising today.. it's ok, I did 4 loads of laundry, up n down all those steps.." you see where this can lead for some?

    On days i may be close to or going over my limit, in my mind I know I did more stuff and so the extra food doesn't bother me as much.
  • melanieharper
    melanieharper Posts: 1 Member
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    Seeing as:
    1. My work lifestyle is extremely sedentary (full-time WFH laptop geek and freelance geek on the side)
    2. I'm not a housekeeping goddess (avoid like the plague, clean only every other week or so not normal activity)
    3. My hobbies are reading and research

    I figure anytime I get outta my chair and my heart rate gets up, I log it. For me, that includes dog walking, laundry hauling (7 loads up and down stairs!), scrubbing (4 bathrooms), and vaccuming. I don't count dishes as that's standing still, and I dust with my wallet. Since I rarely clean, when I do, it's exercise hacking through the layers :D
  • calliope_music
    calliope_music Posts: 1,242 Member
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    i don't include it unless i'm doing something totally crazy, like cleaning out my garage or washing the floor by hand.

    which i'm about to go do now.
  • Meaganandcheese
    Meaganandcheese Posts: 525 Member
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    I personally don't cont housework. I follow the "sport bra" rule ... if I don't have to change into workout gear to do it, I don't count it.
  • FORIANN
    FORIANN Posts: 273 Member
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    I wonder if you might get better results if you just change your profile from sedentary to active? I'm an IT guy and I spend a lot of time on butt...taking breaks every 45 min to stretch, etc and I do at least a hour of hard cardio each day and my results have been amazing. I overestimate the calories I eat and underestimate the calories I burn. This is about results at the end of the day.
  • tbskipp
    tbskipp Posts: 184 Member
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    I personally don't cont housework. I follow the "sport bra" rule ... if I don't have to change into workout gear to do it, I don't count it.

    I like that!!!!!
    :smile:
  • ErinBeth7
    ErinBeth7 Posts: 1,625 Member
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    I say you can count it if you feel you want to or need to. This is your weight loss journey and its your exercise journal. You can approach it however you darn well please!! :smile:
  • bhalter
    bhalter Posts: 582 Member
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    I don't count daily housework as exercise, however - if I have a weekend where I do a super-duper deep clean and am legit cleaning for a solid couple hours or something that is out of the norm, I'll count that as "light cleaning" under my exercise. It's not very often though that I count it.
    I personally don't cont housework. I follow the "sport bra" rule ... if I don't have to change into workout gear to do it, I don't count it.

    Lol! Good way of looking at it, but for my deep cleans, I always change into a sports bra and sweats so that I don't sweat all in my good bras and regular clothes.
  • nikrit84
    nikrit84 Posts: 46 Member
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    I count it, but not the full amount MFP gives me. Even if it is heavy scrubbing, sweeping, moping, etc I do the light cleaning and I do it for half the time. so if it is for an hour I only do 30 minutes.
  • BeetleChe13
    BeetleChe13 Posts: 498 Member
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    If you do it every day and it is part of your lifestyle, I would not count it. However, I count mine because I clean someone else's house every other week and have sweat pouring down my back when I'm done. I think that should count as exercise, whereas picking around around my own house doesn't count. Decide for yourself what counts as exercise. If you're sweaty, out-of-breath, and starving afterwards, it probably counts.
  • mem1086
    mem1086 Posts: 136 Member
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    I think it has to do with what you activity level is set at. Mine is set at Sedentary and I do most of my housecleaning on the weekends, so I count it. I wore my HRM while vaccuuming one day and after vaccuuming for 45 minutes I burned 256 calories. That's a significant burn! Another example is while doing some picking up/cleaning/ organizing for 90 minutes I bruned over 400 calories. Anything that is over the normal burn of my BMR I count. But that is me.

    Do you have a HRM? If so wear it and if the numbers are significant I say why not! You're exercising more than if you were sitting on the couch!
  • elsinora
    elsinora Posts: 398 Member
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    I log it, no matter how vigorous or not, just because I like just logging how active I've been :) However, I never eat the "exercise calories" from this and I would advise against, unless you have a Ki band or something to monitor it and know exactly how strenuous it is.

    Like I said, I just like logging the activities I do, just to see how lazy or not I have been! :)
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,550 Member
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    I ONLY count fitness-related activities as exercise. Everything else is part of my lifestyle factor (BMR X activity factor = TDEE/Maintenance).

    For me, heavy cleaning is going to maybe, at best, add 100-200 calories to my day. Not even enough to compensate for that cold beer I had afterwards :tongue: .

    The answer is this...if it doesn't hurt your weight loss, sure, go for it. But if it slows or hinders your weight loss, why would you count it?
  • jenj1313
    jenj1313 Posts: 898 Member
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    Rule of thumb for me: no, but I usually clean on my non-workout day. If you are really sweating, you might count part of it, but I find that MFP seriously over-estimates calories burned for me, so you may not want to count it all. Realize that if you're trying to lose 1 lb per week, you're already at a 500 calorie deficit each day, so you can go over a little and still lose or at least not by "over" (i.e. gaining) for the day.
  • rjo921
    rjo921 Posts: 130
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    I do log in my housework...on Sundays I clean the house top to bottom....dusting, vacuuming, cleaning 3 bathrooms, kitchen, laundry, going up and down stars constantly, making beds, etc. Anything that is just light day to day stuff I don't long in...but if I'm cleaning for hours then yes, I log it. I also wear my heart monitor as well.
  • ConnieB1979
    ConnieB1979 Posts: 239 Member
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    I dont log every day activities.....BUT I do log it when I clean out my horses stalls....Shoveling all that crap it quite the chore! LOL:laugh:

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