Is housework exercise?

FitLink

What you're aiming for is:

calories in (food) - calories out (activity, living) = a calorie deficit (normally around - 500/day to lose weight).

As long as you achieve that, it doesn't matter how you log it.

So, you can either set yourself as sedentary and log housework, walking the dog, sex or whatever,

OR

you can set yourself as lightly active, or even moderately active and log progressively fewer things.

IF you're not losing weight, then your calories in vs calories out balance is being logged incorrectly and you need work out what you're over (activity) or under recording (food)

None of this has anything to do with whether something is an individual's "normal daily activity" - MFP doesn't know what you do or don't do as normal daily activity when it calculates your calories for you. It just calculates according to the categories "sedentary", "lightly active" etc.

^^^^ Nicely said. If you set your "lifestyle" to match your actual daily activity, you don't need to log every little thing. If you actually prefer to log every little thing, good on ya, set your lifestyle to "sedentary" and have at it. The numbers will probably work out to be about the same, and you'll lose the same amount (or not) either way based on how accurately the numbers reflect reality.

It doesn't really matter as long as you are making an effort to be accurate in the number of calories you take in and the number you burn. If you burn 500 more calories a day than you take in, all other things being equal, you will lose one pound a week. How you choose to COUNT those calories is up to you.

So if your activity level fluctuates wildly due to injury, illness or other conditions, and you choose to log using a device like FitBit or BodyMedia FIT (I have both), and/or log everything, that warrants you being called names? Because I stayed out of this thread until the name calling started, but activity is activity, whether you have workout clothes on or not.

FitLink

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.

Exactly. No matter how many calories you burn at the gym, if you eat more than you burn, you'll gain weight. If you eat less you'll lose. The above statement lacks any logic what-so-ever.

suziblues2000

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.

Have you ever mopped a whole house???

"A Sissy"???? Housework, REAL housework, where you are cleaning the house non-stop from top to bottom is a huge work out!
But normal stuff, like light cleaning, dusting etc. I don't count.
Actually, I don't count any housework on my exercise thing. I could though....I think I get more of a work out when I do the hard house work than when I actually 'work out'!

suziblues2000

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.

Well I could say this: NO, it's not exercise, it's running.
OR NO, it's not exercise, it's swimming;
OR NO, it's not exercise, it's walking.

Get where I'm coming from??

House work CAN be exercise and a damn good work out too.

dlwyatt82

Any physical activity is technically "exercise", but you don't have to log every little thing. That's where the daily activity level estimate comes in, to set a base of how many calories you are assumed to burn in the day before you add in your logged workouts.

True. As it happens, due to injury, illness and nerve pain, my daily activity varies wildly. It makes more sense to set for sedentary and add in. I make that easier by letting my FitBit do the actually ADL logging, but the idea that house cleaning isn't exercise or someone is a "sissy" if they record it, is absurd.

Hey, point that gun somewhere else, I didn't make the "sissy" comments. :laugh: In fact, I reported one of his posts.

TKHappy

I don't count it, but that is my decision! Is it hard...sure it can be, when your vaccuming 4 large rooms 3x's a week (not to mention carrying the vaccum up a flight of stairs), dusting the house from top to bottom 3x's a week, really scrubbing three bathrooms down once a week, running up and down 2 flights of stairs to do 8 loads of laundry (if not more) per week, mopping 4 floors 3x's a week, and all the little things added in....it is definitely not sissy or wuss work.

I think its personal preference whether you want to add it or not, for me personaly I spend 30-60 minutes a day cleaning and on weekends anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours cleaning.

Mcctin65

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

If your butt is shrinking from all the housework, then yes. If not, then no.

^^^^^THIS! My sentiments exactly!

Jade17694

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.

It does make sense. Logging housework/chores as exercise is cheating. If everyone counted it as exercise then ate back those calories im sorry to say but i think they'd be eating calories they hadn't even earned in the first place, i don't know anyone who works up enough of a sweat/gets out of breath through cleaning. Fair enough when moving furniture you may sweat, but no one i know moves furniture every time they clean - maybe once a month.

I think it's just defeating the purpose. If people could get away with classing housework/chores as exercise then all the lazy people in the world probably wouldnt be classed as overweight (not saying that all lazy people are overweight) because even they must clean their flat/apartment/house/cottage/bungalow so therefore 'workout' right? And people who workout tend to be classed as healthy right? Im probably wrong but hey ho :ohwell:

That probably doesn't make sense to anyone (turned into a bit of a rant!) either but oh well, made sense in my head!

Jade17694

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.

This.

Jade17694

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?

You're a sissy if you count housework as exercise and justify it in any way you can come up with. It's not exercise.

Nerve PAIN doesn't make it a calorie burner. It means you haven't taken care of your body and are in pain. Not burning calories.

Sissy = counting housework as exercise. How dare you cheat your body.

I have to agree. I'm now leaving this thread because i am getting annoyed and am shocked at how many people think it is exercise. :grumble:

treetop57

I have no idea why you would get so upset that some people disagree with you, Jade. It's not like anyone has called you a sissy or wuss because you have found a way that works for you.

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?

You're a sissy if you count housework as exercise and justify it in any way you can come up with. It's not exercise.

Nerve PAIN doesn't make it a calorie burner. It means you haven't taken care of your body and are in pain. Not burning calories.

Sissy = counting housework as exercise. How dare you cheat your body.

You say "cheat your body" as if what is recorded online (or on paper for that matter) actually has an effect on my body. It doesn't. For purposes of burning calories, whether I have workout clothes on, am at a gym, or am doing something I need to do anyway, it's all the same. The calories burned at the gym have no more effect than the ones burned in my garage, or the ones burned in my laundry room. Recording calories actually b urned is not cheating, not my body or anything else.

You have no idea what a sissy is.

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.

It does make sense. Logging housework/chores as exercise is cheating. If everyone counted it as exercise then ate back those calories im sorry to say but i think they'd be eating calories they hadn't even earned in the first place, i don't know anyone who works up enough of a sweat/gets out of breath through cleaning. Fair enough when moving furniture you may sweat, but no one i know moves furniture every time they clean - maybe once a month.

I think it's just defeating the purpose. If people could get away with classing housework/chores as exercise then all the lazy people in the world probably wouldnt be classed as overweight (not saying that all lazy people are overweight) because even they must clean their flat/apartment/house/cottage/bungalow so therefore 'workout' right? And people who workout tend to be classed as healthy right? Im probably wrong but hey ho :ohwell:

That probably doesn't make sense to anyone (turned into a bit of a rant!) either but oh well, made sense in my head!

I'm still not seeing the logic between whether or not cleaning is exercise and whether or not someone is obese. I put on my hrm while cleaning one time and found that my hr didn't really spike and I didn't really have a big burn (something like 88 calories per hour, if you take out my 50 or so calories that I would normally burn in that hour from just being alive that leaves between 30 or 40 calories so not worth it to write up). However, I am a fit person with full bodily function and no physical limitations (outside of height, lol) who has to push very hard to get any sort of burn so I don't log my cleaning. My mother, on the flip side, is overweight with many physical limitations making some things quite difficult. So it gets me thinking, for as many times as I walked up and down the stairs on errands, including carrying various objects, bending over, picking things up at various weights, lugging objects from room to room, getting up and down on my knees while scrubbing, pressing while scouring, reaching and stretching while dusting, etc. Yeah, I can do those things easily . . . my mother cannot and therefore her experience while performing the same exact tasks is going to be very different.
I'm 5'4" 132#, a size 4, physically fit . . . my experience doing any task is going to be very different from someone who is 5'4", 200#, not a size 4, and not physically fit.
My experience and thoughtfulness proved to me that I am not the rule, and I am not the exception, I am my own experience responsible for myself. We are each responsible for ourselves and need to be thoughtful on how we account for our own calories and trust others to properly account for theirs. As opposed to disparaging a person for what they find taxing it's certainly better to ask them if they think their estimates are reasonably accurate. This is one of the reasons why so many people on here are advocates of their hrm's or fitbits, these can provide a more reasonable estimate for activity without judgement.

FitLink

Not to mention insulting to us sissies.

Thanks. You're cute. Sometimes though I can't let it go (I get that's what you're saying, I'm an aspie, not stupid) because



[Mouseover text=What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!]

treetop57

My experience and thoughtfulness proved to me that I am not the rule, and I am not the exception, I am my own experience responsible for myself. We are each responsible for ourselves and need to be thoughtful on how we account for our own calories and trust others to properly account for theirs.

Wise words. Thanks!

FitLink

Any physical activity is technically "exercise", but you don't have to log every little thing. That's where the daily activity level estimate comes in, to set a base of how many calories you are assumed to burn in the day before you add in your logged workouts.

True. As it happens, due to injury, illness and nerve pain, my daily activity varies wildly. It makes more sense to set for sedentary and add in. I make that easier by letting my FitBit do the actually ADL logging, but the idea that house cleaning isn't exercise or someone is a "sissy" if they record it, is absurd.

Hey, point that gun somewhere else, I didn't make the "sissy" comments. :laugh: In fact, I reported one of his posts.

You're right. I'm sorry.

I reported them too, but I doubt anything will happen. I was told "obtrusive" was derogatory the other day (although the dictionary doesn't list it as such) but "sissy" (which the dictionary lists as derogatory) apparently is acceptable name calling.

MontagneGitane

I'm personally not comfortable logging things like housework and shopping as "cardio exercise." As others have said, I would feel as if I were cheating myself if the intent is to have extra calories to eat. However, I'm traveling my journey, not yours. If someone feels that they can accomplish their fitness goals by counting these types of activities, then that is their choice and doesn't bother me one bit.

treetop57

I reported them too, but I doubt anything will happen. I was told "obtrusive" was derogatory the other day (although the dictionary doesn't list it as such) but "sissy" (which the dictionary lists as derogatory) apparently is acceptable name calling.

I notice that the first "sissy" post has been edited to remove the word. I don't know if it was by the poster or a moderator. Of course, it was quoted multiple times, so removing the word from that one post was kind of pointless. I suppose it's also possible the poster got some sort of warning message. I've never got one of those, so I don't know how it works.

Edit: I went back and looked. The first "sissy" post is no longer there at all, so it must have been removed by a moderator. The poster could edit, but not remove.

gomisskellygo

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.

Running-Of course it would count as exercise but you wouldn't get the same burn as a new exercise. I do actually run every day and my calories burned have dropped significantly since I am running more efficiently. So I do log it, according to my HRM. As far as housework is concerned unless I am doing something COMPLETELY out of the ordinary like painting a room, refinishing furniture, I would not log it.
If you want to log it, awesome. I wouldn't.

Your body can't tell painting a room from washing the walls in that same room. Why should one count as exercise and the other not? The only way you could possibly KNOW you're running is benefitting you less is if you are measuring it with an HRM. If you wear an HRM, and it indicates calorie burn, why would this be different. Yes, you and I can both log what we want, but suggesting that an increased heart rate from running is any different from the same increased heart rate from cleaning or anything else you "have to do anyway" is nonsense. By your housework reasoning, you shouldn't report your running as exercise.

As to my own reporting? I don't report house cleaning because I wear a FitBit. I only report things FitBit isn't designed to report, like swimming or weight training. But when I clean, my FitBit DOES automagically log an adjustment, because it IS exercise.

I would consider washing walls and painting a room an activity. Because I don't do those task often enough. Due to this fact, my heart rate would be considerable higher because I am performing a task that is out of the ordinary.

I can't imagine a significant increase in my heart rate unless I was trying to make that happen. But I don't break a sweat when I sweep/mop/vacuum/put laundry away, ect..

Again, it is up to the individual. I personally do not log it.

Lastly, the HRM will always register a burn as long as your heart is beating. Regardless of what you are doing.

dlwyatt82

Heart rate alone isn't an accurate measure of calories burned, anyway. You still use energy just by moving your body around, and your heart rate spikes actually decrease over time (when performing the same activity / intensity) as your cardiovascular fitness improves.