am i cheating by counting cooking and cleaning as cardio?

chicpeach

I log intentional exercise only. The problem with using cleaning the house as exercise is that is it not necessarily continuous exercise. If you stop to answer the phone, watch an interesting scene that happens to be playing on the tv, spend 5 minutes convincing your teenage to clean his room, etc., those are minutes you are not actually scrubbing, sweeping, etc. If you include these minutes in your total, then you're over estimating your time spent and it's a best guess how many calories you're actually burning when you are engaged in cleaning activity.

Personally, I think it's better left as a hidden bonus burn.

dme1977

I have mine set to "sedentary" and my calories are adjusted to this.
so I COUNT ANY/ALL cleaning, laundry, vacuuming, mopping, grocery store trips, sweeping, digging in my garden, shopping (using a cart) , sex , raking the yard, taking the big trash cans to the curb, etc... the list goes on and on.
WHY WOULDN'T YOU COUNT IT?!!!!
IT IS A TYPE OF EXERCISE.
personally I don't count cooking.
As far as cheating...the only person you can cheat on here is YOURSELF!!!
so DON'T cheat yourself out of the exercise calories you are due from these daily tasks. :bigsmile:

UpEarly

3) Aren't we all smart enough to know not to eat our exercise calories? And on that topic, does it irritate anyone that our daily diary automatically adds those into our available calories. Then you have to subtract them to see what's really left, if you journal after every meal and exercise routine.

LOL... smug! Maybe you don't understand how MFP is set up? The deficit is already built into your base calorie goal, so you will lose at your prescribed rate, even when you eat all your exercise calories.

I ate most of my exercise calories and it worked for me! :-)

myfitnessnmhoy

It all depends - what did you choose for your "lifestyle" when you set your account up?

If you put your lifestyle in as "sedentary", then you should most certainly count things like housecleaning as cardio. If you spend a day walking through the mall, put that in as "casual walking".

If you have already upped your lifestyle base to account for housecleaning, then it should not be in your exercise log, because you're already accounting for that exercise as part of your routine lifestyle.

The whole point is to try to estimate calories burned to the most accurate extent possible. And, as others have said, nothing is "cheating", at least as far as everyone else is concerned. If you decide to overcount exercise or undercount eaten calories, you're only affecting your own progress. It's in your own best interest to count them as accurately as possible so you can learn what works best for you.

solskinnzombie

I spend an hour vacuuming the store at my work everyday. I sometimes build up a sweat doing so. It is an old, huge vacuum. Right before I do this I spend about 20 minutes in a cooler rearraging cases of soda and food. I usually log that as 30-40 minutes of cleaning(light moderate), so about half. I know I am burning calories when i do these things. I just dont think it is as high as mfp says.

lilv711

If I prep and cook for longer than an hour, then yes, I do log it in. Perfect example would be Thanksgiving day: I prepped, cooked, and cleaned up my workspace & that took about 5 hours.

As for cleaning, moving & organizing, I also take into account the effort it took to complete & how long it took. I live in a small apartment so if I spend more than an hour, I'm more likely to log it in. For me, anything less than an hour of cleaning my place isn't worth logging in. If I'm at my boyfriends & I help him with chores, then yes I'll log it in being that I I have to go from his room on the 2nd floor to the basement, repeatedly to do laundry.

eve7166

I dont log the daily maintenance cleaning (quick sweeping up, cooking, dishes, wiping down counters, etc) but on Sat or Sun mornin when I do deep cleaning I do log it. I do 100% effort with music and all and work up a nice sweat! Plus I have to run up and down stairs to take lundry up and down as well.

tifalva

I always count cleaning the house as cardio. I work up a sweat and I'm tired when its done. Sometimes I will count cooking but its never my WORK OUT just extra calories I've burned through the day and I don't count it towards my calories burned at the end of the week. I focus on my workouts themselves and cleaning as my calories burned through the week.
Hope you get to feeling better soon

KellyKAG

You cook and clean in your normal everyday life. In my opinion, cooking and cleaning doesn't count. Especially if you're eating back your exercise cals.

^^^ I agree with this. Only house thing I record is mowing the lawn (and I'm talking about a old push mower not a ride lawnmower. It always seems crazy to me when I see that)

stacygayle

I put it down if I do a marathon cleaning session or do something out of the ordinary with cleaning such as scrubbing the floors or washing the car. I do cleaning everyday so I don't have to clean all day on Saturday so I try to make it fun by doing it as fast as I can and try to beat the timer and I can work up quite a sweat but I usually don't count that since I do it everyday. Sometimes it is the only cardio I get especially on a hectic day so I may count it then if I don't get any other exercise in.

Flab2fitfi

I don't log mine but I have my activity level set as lightly active. I do put the school run on though as I am walking uphill pushing a buggy.

WaterBunnie

I only count anything that I wasn't doing before starting this plan, so to me cooking and cleaning is just part of my everyday activity rather than exercise. If I was catering for a wedding or doing DIY style cleaning and on my feet and doing heavy lifting all day I'd list it, but just making a meal for myself no, otherwise where does it stop?

Also, isn't cardio something that raises your heart rate over a certain %?

liftingheavy

I say log it. Do whatever you need to do to keep your spirit going and to remind you that at least you ARE moving and burning calories.

Benno2805

My rule of thumb is, if I did the activity before I started calorie counting then I don't count it. That includes, cooking, cleaning, pushing a pushing a trolley around the supermarket, carrying a child up a flight of stairs etc.

eve7166

You can log it, But don't eat it.. I eat back my exercise calories But I would never eat those calories back, Unless you are cleaning on a 90 degree day w/out air conditioning and dripping in sweat, you are not burning fat, and that is the whole point of a workout right.. My Doctor said, its not about getting 30 minutes of exercise in everyday its about Sweating for 30 minutes everyday. Basically if you workout doesn't cause you to sweat ( unless medically you cannot) Its not Cardio!

I agree with this!!! Just because you are cooking (chopping onions never made me sweat! cry maybe but not sweat) and I have done full thanksgiving meals at my house. Even if Im tired I have stopped inbetween and let things cook certain amount of time, etc. I also do groceries but I dont count that as excersize since I stop to look and pick foods out. I would think about what you log and if your heart rate has been up for a more then 10 or 15 minutes consicutively.

Micahroni84

When I actively clean I am sweating from the lifting, the squating, the stretching. Just the motion of picking dozens of things up gets my blood pumping so I definitely count excercise! I have never counted cooking before though.

heybales

Only if you eat those calories back.

Otherwise, it's your daily activities that your deficit is really coming from. Why log them to eat them back?

janeite1990

i think you should quit looking at it as pass/fail or cheating, this isn't a test.

It is a lifestyle change. And if you normally sit on your behind all day and you started cleaning and mowing your yard and not sitting on your behind all day then you are burning more calories.

It all depends as well on how your calorie level is set up, if you have it set for sitting on the couch or in an office chair all day then you should be fine.

Exactly what I was thinking. If you are cheating, you are cheating you. You aren't cheating MFP. MFP doesn't care. If it keeps you motivated, fine, but it doesn't sound like it really has to me. Didn't you say it had been a few weeks? (Sorry, I lost track of the OP after reading all the posts.) Anyway, my opinion is that I did all the cooking, cleaning, laundry stuff before I started to get fit and lose weight. It wasn't helping my body that much then, and it probably won't now. I log only things where I put intentional effort into improving my body for a minimum of 15 minutes (I try to shoot for 30, though).

Above all, stop thinking of the whole thing as cheating. You'll look for ways to get around the system instead of embracing a change in nutrition and activity.

deksgrl

I only count anything that I wasn't doing before starting this plan, so to me cooking and cleaning is just part of my everyday activity rather than exercise. If I was catering for a wedding or doing DIY style cleaning and on my feet and doing heavy lifting all day I'd list it, but just making a meal for myself no, otherwise where does it stop?

Also, isn't cardio something that raises your heart rate over a certain %?

This^^^

"Sedentary" doesn't mean comatose. BMR (basal metabolic rate) means comatose. So even if you have set your thing to "sedentary" it doesn't mean you should log every little thing.

JoJo_fat2fab

You cook and clean in your normal everyday life. In my opinion, cooking and cleaning doesn't count. Especially if you're eating back your exercise cals.

Exatly what I was going to say!

SassyCalyGirl

YEP!

Suz_w8loss

I only count anything that I wasn't doing before starting this plan, so to me cooking and cleaning is just part of my everyday activity rather than exercise. If I was catering for a wedding or doing DIY style cleaning and on my feet and doing heavy lifting all day I'd list it, but just making a meal for myself no, otherwise where does it stop?

Also, isn't cardio something that raises your heart rate over a certain %?

This^^^

"Sedentary" doesn't mean comatose. BMR (basal metabolic rate) means comatose. So even if you have set your thing to "sedentary" it doesn't mean you should log every little thing.

^^ Exactly !

nomena

I count it because I set my activity level as sedentary and when I clean, I clean hardcore (yay OCD!). And since it's something that's not an everyday thing for me, I think it definitely counts.

Redbirdz83

It's up to you on what makes you feel good. If it helps with motivation then it'll be fine but I would try and get in at least 15-30 minutes of exercise even if it's walking(morning, wake up early, night, around you house a bunch of time) along with that. I myself don't count cleaning and chores as cardio.(AND I'm a cleaning machine) I log my working out though. Good luck and stay strong...push through!

mfp_junkie

Yes

harlanJEN

YES. But, you are only cheating yourself. So, it's your choice. Cooking and cleaning is part of ordinary, everyday activity.

MJ7910

i actually wouldn't count it if it is something you normally do as part of your day. i would only count extra cleaning efforts, personally. also i would find it more motivating to not count it because then you might do another workout. i don't know though, that is just my take on it.

Ant_M76

Cooking, as cardio? Are you kidding me...

katscoots

Hell no, it's not cheating. cleaning is hard work - you're moving, so you're burning!

ninerbuff

my life has been so hectic lately and I've been dealing with a recurrent sinus infection. I haven't worked out in weeks!!! I feel crappy, but I'm really trying to stay in my calorie range. So far, I've been pretty good about it (considering my history). That being said, I've been counting my cooking and cleaning as cardio. I'm trying any way that I can to keep my motivation up to continue counting. I keep thinking that this is cheating. Does anyone have any insight on this? Am I cheating or does this seem accruate?

Everyday work isn't exercise. If you walk to the kitchen, do you count those calories too?


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