Is housework exercise?

Di3012

I only log actual workouts and when I cycle, which is to work and back some days.

Housework, gardening, sex, shopping etc etc, none of that gets logged, no matter how much I am sweating.

Debbe2

There is & it's under cardio. When you're sweating and continuing to work and clean I would agree that it's a workout. Go for it!

Princess_Sameen

if you are working harder than usual then YES! I log when I spring clean my room as I move all my furniture and usually as I have music on am wiggling the booty as I do it lol

and agree if you are responding to a topic if you dont have something constructive to say.. best say nothing!!

mem50

I only log housework when it is including moving furniture, washing walls, taking down..cleaning..and putting up the curtains. More or less the type of all day project type of cleaning. Spring Sprung and the house got a makeover three weeks ago. Normal stuff I count as bonus calories burned.

meg7399

Here is the deal...housework IS exercise if it is not counted into your daily goals. I set mine up for lightly active and that includes everything I do in a day. This includes dishes, laundry, cooking dinner, sweeping etc. However, once every week or two I mop the entire house...this is an hour long process since we have many furry friends that live with us...THIS is not part of my daily routine and YES I count it as it is extra. I keep showing a lose on my weight ticker so I guess it works!

kibby12

Anybody who thinks housework is never exercise, like the rude guy further up the thread, has clearly never tried to vacuum a really high-piled carpet with a crappy vacuum. It's like pushing a football player around the room repeatedly!

Krissy366

I think it very much depends on what you listed as your activity level for everyday when you signed up. If it's already included as far as how active you are, then no. If say you listed yourself as sedentary, then yes, it would.

gomisskellygo

I work my butt off most days with all the housework, surely there should be an option in the exercise diary for that somewhere?

No. Quit being a sissy and cheating yourself.

Agree. Why would you want to cheat yourself? Unless I work up a serious sweat, I will not log it. I don't feel like I am doing myself any favors by "giving" myself extra calories to consume.
But I suppose if you are just entering them and not eating them...that would work, but I don't see the point of that.

Enigmatica

I use a BodyMedia monitor that tracks how many calories I burn. Moderate level housework (vacuuming, washing floors, dusting, picking up) uses about the same level of calorie burn per minute for me as a 3.5 mph walk.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

No it isnt. If housework and food prep (i know that wasnt mentioned) was exercise hardly anyone would be overweight.

Honestly, this statement doesn't really make any sense at all. I don't understand what logging these things, for someone who doesn't necessarily normally do them and doesn't have them considered in their settings, has to do with an overall caloric deficit.

kimmydear

I don't log it. My 15-month-old is into pulling everything out of drawers right now and picking all that up feels like it should count for something, but no I still don't. I just set my activity level to lightly active. ;-)

Amberetta82

Someone said on here once, that if it's something you'd be doing regardless of trying to lose weight or get fit- it doesn't really count and you're cheating yourself by logging it.

I agree with this. Unless you just started cleaning! If it is something you have always done then, no, your body is used to it.

Just like working, I wouldn't log anything that I do on a daily basis.

+1

Nastasha915

Yep. You can log it on here too. A surprising amount of calories.

Nastasha915

I work my butt off most days with all the housework, surely there should be an option in the exercise diary for that somewhere?

No. Quit being a sissy and cheating yourself.

Agree. Why would you want to cheat yourself? Unless I work up a serious sweat, I will not log it. I don't feel like I am doing myself any favors by "giving" myself extra calories to consume.
But I suppose if you are just entering them and not eating them...that would work, but I don't see the point of that.

I don't agree. I don't eat back those kinds of calories, but I think it's good to keep track of what you are doing. Especially if you are doing a lot of cleaning.

melbot24

If you do a lot of housework daily, I would suggest changing your daily activity level (i.e lightly active to active) and then re-calculating your daily calorie goal and macro distribution.

To do this:

Navigate to the Food tab, then Goals, then click Change Goals, follow the guided options to update your diet goals.

You'll be making the changes here:

How would you describe your normal daily activities?

Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. nurse, salesman)
***Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

FitLink

I work my butt off most days with all the housework, surely there should be an option in the exercise diary for that somewhere?

No. Quit being a sissy and cheating yourself.

I dare you to even survive the nerve pain I suffer every day. How DARE you call ANYONE else a sissy?

mmstgr

My regular daily cleaning is not exercise.
But I do count it in when I am either washing the floors and windows, or re-arranging furniture, cleaning out the shed, doing yard work, etc.
The daily stuff doesn't count to me.

PeaceLoveVeggies

Here is the deal...housework IS exercise if it is not counted into your daily goals. I set mine up for lightly active and that includes everything I do in a day. This includes dishes, laundry, cooking dinner, sweeping etc. However, once every week or two I mop the entire house...this is an hour long process since we have many furry friends that live with us...THIS is not part of my daily routine and YES I count it as it is extra. I keep showing a lose on my weight ticker so I guess it works!

Here is the deal.

NO it's not. It's housework. Not exercise.

But, you're only cheating yourself.

Seriously, get over yourself sweetheart. Who are you to tell other people that them sweating buckets and being SORE after cleaning an entire house isn't exercise?

treetop57

Here's what I said on the last thread on this topic:

If you account for them by choosing a higher activity level, then don't record them and don't add the calories back into your daily food intake.

If you don't account for them in your activity level, then do record them, do add the calories back into your daily food intake, and do ignore people who try to make you feel like a wuss for recording accurately.

In either case, monitor your progress and reevaluate as needed.

Apparently, I should have said "sissy" instead of "wuss."

FitLink

Someone said on here once, that if it's something you'd be doing regardless of trying to lose weight or get fit- it doesn't really count and you're cheating yourself by logging it.

I agree with this. Unless you just started cleaning! If it is something you have always done then, no, your body is used to it.

Just like working, I wouldn't log anything that I do on a daily basis.

So if you've always run, and/or do it on a daily basis, it's not exercise? I assume you don't work out on a daily basis, then? Because it then wouldn't be exercise, would it, because your body is used to it? You'd be cheating yourself to log it.