Thoughts about burning calories by cleaning?

tabbycat27
tabbycat27 Posts: 9
in Fitness and Exercise
I don't mean to bash the stay-at-home moms who have a hard time establishing an official workout time, but sometimes when I see how many calories some people burn by putting "cleaning, moderate effort" into their diary it makes me feel like all the sweat pouring off of me when I jog at night is for nothing.
I have also heard from numerous people that myfitnesspal tends to overestimate calories burned on many exercises.
So, how do you feel about having "cleaning" as an exercise? Do you think it really burns that many calories?
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Replies

  • jbella99
    jbella99 Posts: 596 Member
    I only use the cleaning calories burned when I am doing spring cleaning or heavy duty on your knees scrubbing and stuff. General day to day cleaning I don't count. I use these also because I have my activity level set to sedentry and don't want to dip too far below net calories of 1200. Gardening and raking I also use. I do go to the gym 5 days a week and get a good burn there as well.
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    I don't think many of the activities MFP lists burn anywhere near the calories they claim, but I just lower the time to whatever I feel I was actually putting significant effort into it, rounded down a bit.

    For example, in the garden yesterday, I was digging up rows. That's 15 minutes of intense labor followed by 5-10 minutes of standing in the shade sweating and drinking water. I spent 3 hours, I logged an hour and a half. I really think I burned MORE calories than I came up with using that method, but the entry was "gardening - general" and I know I wouldn't have spent nearly as much effort running strings for the peas to grow on, or planting seeds (which I didn't count at all).

    I think guesstimating it the way I do works pretty well. I'm losing weight at the pace I set, so something's gotta be working right. :)
  • cavewoman15
    cavewoman15 Posts: 278 Member
    i swept and mopped all my floors, gave my dog a bath and cleaned the shower the other day. i put that in! not normal day to day stuff though. of course i don't normally clean day to day ;)
  • HelloSweetie4
    HelloSweetie4 Posts: 1,214 Member
    If it's routine cleaning, then I don't log it. But if I'm getting down and dirty with major cleaning, the I will put it in. If I'm sweating from cleaning, then it's worth logging lol
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,024 Member
    I add cleaning into my exercise regiment. But I don't consider a wipe down of the countertop to be cleaning. I'm talking about getting on my hands and knees, taking out heavy bags of garbage, using the vacuum in the whole place. By the time I'm done, I'm dripping with sweat.
  • ATLMel
    ATLMel Posts: 392 Member
    I'm of the opinion that MFP consistently and drastically overestimates calorie burn. I never count activities as "exercise" unless they are actually exercise. I consider everything else...well....life.....

    Note, I'm sure you burn plenty of calories stripping your floor varnish or re-grouting your tub...I just personally don't consider it "exercise".
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    I don't put in housecleaning, not even when I scrub the floors. The only time I'd be tempted would be if I were moving furniture around, and for long enough amount of time for it to count. Ditto gardening. When I am loading mulch in the trailer, unloading to the wheelbarrow and pushing, dumping and spreading it in the flower beds, that's exercise. Otherwise, it's part of my ordinary, everyday life.
  • biologic
    biologic Posts: 81
    i agree with ATLMel

    it is better to underestimate the amount of calories you are burning. overestimation will just cause you to lose confidence in your routine (when you don't lose as much weight as MFP is suggesting you'll lose).
  • tabbycat27
    tabbycat27 Posts: 9
    I agree with all of you! There is a definite difference between laboring in your cleaning and just tidying around the house, and I'm glad that now I don't have to feel like I'm going crazy.
    Wishing you all the best of luck! Sounds like you're all doing awesome :)
  • Ashley_Panda
    Ashley_Panda Posts: 1,404 Member
    I do if I wear my HRM. :)
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
    If I'm sweeping, scrubbing the tub, and vacuuming for an hour you can bet I'm logging it. Lugging that vacuum up 4 flights etc. So...depends on the person but I always log yard work and house cleaning. You can bet I'm breaking a sweat.

    Oh and yes, I do workout at the gym too.
  • Kandygirl
    Kandygirl Posts: 249 Member
    I don't put in housecleaning, not even when I scrub the floors. The only time I'd be tempted would be if I were moving furniture around, and for long enough amount of time for it to count. Ditto gardening. When I am loading mulch in the trailer, unloading to the wheelbarrow and pushing, dumping and spreading it in the flower beds, that's exercise. Otherwise, it's part of my ordinary, everyday life.

    i agree completely.
  • julekinz
    julekinz Posts: 80 Member
    If I list cleaning as an activity, because sometimes I help one of my friends in her house cleaning business, I only use half the minutes because the amount of calories it says you burn is astronomical. But also, when I clean for other people, it is very vigorous work. :smile:
  • JPod279
    JPod279 Posts: 722 Member
    I don't mean to bash the stay-at-home moms who have a hard time establishing an official workout time, but sometimes when I see how many calories some people burn by putting "cleaning, moderate effort" into their diary it makes me feel like all the sweat pouring off of me when I jog at night is for nothing.
    I have also heard from numerous people that myfitnesspal tends to overestimate calories burned on many exercises.
    So, how do you feel about having "cleaning" as an exercise? Do you think it really burns that many calories?

    Just curious, and I really don't mean this in a mean way, but why do you care what other people list on their diary? You show you have lost 28 lbs. I say congrats to you and don't worry abou t those other people.
  • pattyhild
    pattyhild Posts: 32 Member
    Why would someone who tracks cleaning as part of their exercise routine negate the "sweat pouring off of you"? Why do you care? If YOU aren't counting them, how does it affect you? Other than allowing you to affect a superiority complex about it, of course? If people want to count cleaning as exercise, I don't care. I don't do it, but that's MY approach. More power to them if they want to...doesn't affect my net for the day.
  • morgansmom02
    morgansmom02 Posts: 1,131 Member
    I will list cleaning only when I am doing something out of the norm. When I clean at work or when I clean my kids rooms, I log it.
  • angeldaae
    angeldaae Posts: 348 Member
    The only time I count cleaning is when I’m doing the floors. Vigorous sweeping, mopping and vacuuming is a full-body workout for me. It takes me over an hour, but I never count more than 30 minutes of it.

    Otherwise, I never count anything other than intentional exercise as exercise.
  • bricktowngal
    bricktowngal Posts: 206
    I'm a part time housekeeper at the Atlantic Club and I work 12 hour shifts. So when I have to "detail" for those 12 hours, yes, I put in the calories burned because I'm constantly on my hands and needs scrubing.
  • mamamc03
    mamamc03 Posts: 1,067 Member
    I never clean.... And by never...I mean...I get anxiety attacks trying....unless I'm getting paid. My mom is paying me to clean her house today & tomorrow. I've had on my HRM and have burned 607 in 2.5 hrs. Yes MFP estimates are off. Ifni use them, I normally reduce the time by 1/3. That seems to be close to what I would get on my HRM. So yeah...cleaning counts!!
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
    My rule for logging ANY exercise: IF it makes you breathe heavy and sweat, then log it!

    Then again, I have a desk job, if I were doing this for a living I wouldn't have my profile set on sedentary.
  • LadyNeshoba
    LadyNeshoba Posts: 159 Member
    I don't log my cleaning when I clean my apartment. But I do log it when I go and clean two office buildings. It's usually hot in there when I'm cleaning and I'm having to do a TON of cleaning as I go in twice a month. I don't ever log the full 3 1/2 hours i'm there...I only log around an hour.

    So that way it will probably be closer to what I'm actually burning.

    But like I said I only log my cleaning twice a month. :)
  • ampa916
    ampa916 Posts: 189 Member
    While I think that MFP over estimates the calories burned, when I clean my house the heaviest (which is Monday because I do not clean during the weekends lol) I am on my feet, sweeping, wiping, scrubbing, mopping, picking up moving boxes trash and vacuuming... No offense to the people who do go out for a jog etc but I just don't have that since my husband is gone sometimes weeks at a time. I go for walks etc, but moving constantly throughout my house is def a workout, (I.E it raises my heart rate and I sweat) I just really don't think that it burns as much as MFP says. so I tend to lower my time to what seems normal and if that is the only exercise I do that day I only eat back half the cals.
  • CottonCandyKisses
    CottonCandyKisses Posts: 246 Member
    I'm set at sedentary, because during the work-week I sit at a desk ALL DAY. So on the weekend (or after work) when I'm hustling around the house trying to get stuff done, I log it. I don't think I really "burned” all the calories it says I did. But I am up and moving around more than usual.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    I would only do it if I did spring cleaning!!...other wise I don't!! :)
  • RachelsReboot
    RachelsReboot Posts: 569 Member
    I list cleaning as part of my calorie burn often but when I do it's not my own house. I took on cleaning my church a couple of years ago to serve my church and as a way to sort of force myself to be active, then it turned into a job after I was layed off. I may only list 3 hours and a fraction of the calories, but that's usually because I feel guilty using my job as my calorie burn for the day but when I am doing 6-12 hours a day of commercial cleaning, it burns a lot, trust me. Now I don't count my own household cleaning, unless it's spring cleaning or Holiday prep, cause those are just insane cleaning days!
  • mywght4lfe
    mywght4lfe Posts: 13
    I don't mean to bash the stay-at-home moms who have a hard time establishing an official workout time, but sometimes when I see how many calories some people burn by putting "cleaning, moderate effort" into their diary it makes me feel like all the sweat pouring off of me when I jog at night is for nothing.
    I have also heard from numerous people that myfitnesspal tends to overestimate calories burned on many exercises.
    So, how do you feel about having "cleaning" as an exercise? Do you think it really burns that many calories?
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    i agree with ATLMel

    it is better to underestimate the amount of calories you are burning. overestimation will just cause you to lose confidence in your routine (when you don't lose as much weight as MFP is suggesting you'll lose).

    I agree, but there's a reasonable limit to that, of course. If I've spent all day in the garden and yard working hard, my 1,450 calories ain't gonna get me through the day, and I'll be sick the next day if I don't eat SOME of that exercise back. I just try to only log when I've put a lot of effort into something.

    If I sweat for more than 10 minutes, I'll log at least 2/3 the time I spent sweating as something. If my muscles are sore, something gets logged.

    But I do agree, the calories MFP comes up with are sometimes fanciful, and overlogging calorie burn can lead to disappointing setbacks.
  • mywght4lfe
    mywght4lfe Posts: 13
    It works it really does I have two sets of stairs in my house and from running things from the dining room to the bedrooms and doing dishes, to laundry,taking the stuff upstairs and taking what belongs downstairs from upstairs is alot of work, and taking out the trash and the recycling bins and trash to the curb is a chore and making lunch, and dinner is a job done everyday.:happy:
  • hazev74
    hazev74 Posts: 252 Member
    Hi! As well as having 2 small boys i work fulltime so when i clean - i tear into it!
    it takes way more time than i log and i also log it as moderate as feel the cals are too high on mfp! i know i work up a sweat anyway but mabeye thats just me??:happy:
  • GemmaRowlands
    GemmaRowlands Posts: 360 Member
    Sometimes I will spend several hours in a morning cleaning the house, but I never add that as exercise as it's just part of my every day life whether I'm trying to lose weight or not. I only log "exercise" as things that I'm doing SPECIFICALLY to exercise rather than things I'd be doing anyway.. if that makes sense.

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