House work as exercise

trophywife24

I don't personally log housework because, as a stay at home mom, it's something that I do every day. But for people who are not always going up and down their stairs or washing walls or vacuuming, it's a form of exercise. I do log when I do a seriously thorough cleaning though. I think this is just another one of those things that women are criticized for. *shrug* Women can be really mean to each other.

This. Especially the last line.

I don't log my exercise on here anymore but I'm also a stay at home mom with two young kids and a small apartment, all I do is clean, haha. If other people don't normally clean as much, then yes, it would be exercise.

janemem

My activity level is set at Sedentary so yes, I do log household jobs and dog walking as 'exercise' because I'm doing more than just sitting still all day.
I don't eat back my exercise calories but I like to know they are there if I do occasionally go over my calorie goal.
I also like to see my 'net' getting smaller as the day goes on (I log all food I plan to eat in the morning/night before).
One thing I have noticed since starting to log these 'exercise' minutes is that I now do far more cleaning/household tasks with much more effort and for longer than I normally would have done, purely because I know I'm going to log it and I want to see that 'net' going down.
I'm sure my poor dog wonders why we don't take a leisurely stroll any more instead of speeding it up like I have done, lol!
It works for me so I'll carry on doing it, I'm not harming anyone and I am (I hope) getting a bit fitter by doing so.

FitLink

I hope this thread will encourage some people to rethink their views.

I have read a few threads recently which criticiseMFP members for adding housework (cleaning) to their cardiovascular exercise. I find this quite bizarre as my understanding is that MFP works out the number of net calories you need to eat using the number of calories you would burn if you stayed in bed all day, your weight goal and the number of pounds you want to lose per week.

Why is housework a lesser form of exercise than any other? Is there some sort of exercise snobbery going on? Just because it has to be done, it doesnt make it less valid in my opinion. Is it a sexist thing? If so why is it predominantly women that have been critical? I sugar-soaped my kitchen door at the weekend and it was a great work-out for my bingo-wings! Are there any other forms of exercise that people think should not be listed? Dog walking? Gardening? As a single Mum I have all these responsibilities. As I also have to work, cleaning, dog walking and gardening are sometimes the only form of exercise I have time(or the opportunity) to do - and its paying off because I am listing them as exercise, sticking to my net calories (most of the time) and I am losing weight! What are your thoughts?

PS I wish MFP worked out the calories burned during strengthening exercises e.g. pressups, situps. Is there a reason for this?

I'm always on the "log it" side so I'm not sure there's any reason for me to answer but...

One group of these people condescendingly says the equivalent of "You're only cheating yourself." It's a sly way to imply cheating, when sedentary is defined by MFP as "mostly sitting," (not lying in bed, as you claim, but that's really irrelevant.) so no "cheating" is involved, and there's really no such thing as "cheating yourself," anyway. They can feel better about themselves by telling the world that YOU are a cheater, THEY would NEVER cheat.

Another group says, "I got fat while cleaning my house, obviously I'm not going to get thin by calling cleaning exercise." These people ignore the fact that MFP is a multi-pronged approach, and they, and you, didn't get fat while cleaning the house AND maintaining a caloric deficit. Don't clean and don't eat the cleaning calories or clean and eat the calories, the deficit is built in, and most of us can't clean while sitting. Net less than you burn and you lose. You body can't tell if you're using a stepper machine or running up and down your basement stairs to check the laundry. No reason why one is exercise and the other isn't. These people also can feel better than you, because they work out and you do not. It's not exercise unless you wear special clothing for it, you know.

My personal favorite are the people who say it's not exercise if you "usually do it," or "do it daily or almost daily." Of course they exclude running or workouts THEY do daily or almost daily, because these are "obviously exercise." They never seem to have an answer to whether people who pay someone else to clean for them have to subtract some calories for the ones they say MFP adds in for the cleaning that it's "normal" to do. Again, it's all about, "I'm somehow more virtuous than you."

And I also actually dislike the "peacemaker" group. They say "I would NEVER count housework, but if someone is VERY OBESE, and this motivates them to move more, maybe this all they can do right now." Also busy feeling better than those poor souls who have to count housework because they're not as "fit" as these people.

I think it's all about feeling superior. S you just do what works for you, keep your food and exercise diaries CLOSED so you don't get sidetracked by people who think they're better than you, and remember you only have to answer to yourself.

I wear a FitBit and only manually log things FitBit can't measure accurately (or in some cases, like swimming, at all). So my "cleaning" is recorded as exercise by my FitBit because it does indeed record more calories when I'm cleaning than when I'm not. Maybe the best thing would be not to call it "exercise" since it's really "calorie burning activity."

And MFP does list calories burned during strength training. Why wouldn't it?

love2bthin

You tell them girl! I totally agree with you. I work 45-50 hours a week and I would like to enjoy my weekends and just relax but if so my house would not get clean. Do I sweat when I clean? Sure I do, just like when I exercise. So yes it counts!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

marias2gaa

I think counting housework as a work out is valid because i sure do feel like Im burning calories while im sweeping mopping and doing all household chores

wellbert

If you feel like you need to eat back the calories expended by housework, by all means, track it.

FitLink

I don't log house work because I HAVE to do house work. I log my workouts and runs because I DON'T have to do any of that. That is just my opinion.

Why would you burn calories doing something you don't HAVE to do and not when you DO have to do it? How would your body tell one from the other? This makes absolutely no sense to me.

AmeChops

Regular housework I don't log, purely because it's regular and my body is quite 'used' to doing it. The not so regular 'spring clean' type affairs I'll log and things like sweeping the garden etc.

Capt_Apollo

agreed. if you google image "maid" you get some very very sexy and fit women pop up on the search. so ladies, clean your pretty little hearts out!!

Kara_xxx

Isn't the whole point of the activity levels so that you can (honestly) determine your baseline 'status quo' of activity?

So if you clean a bit and run after a toddler, set it to "lightly active" or whatever you think it justifies, rather than making hoovering a sport?

Lize11e

About the only exercise I get is housework and yardwork. I generally try not to eat too many of the calories back from either because, to be honest, I am skeptical that I really burned that many. I do log it though and I am losing weight very steadily. I see NOTHING wrong with logging chores as exercise! :happy:

casi_ann

I log my cleaning but remove it from the boards so no one can see it and make their comments and I don't eat the calories back if it is earned by cleaning. I may eat a few of the calories if I want something and I'm just 10 to 30calories off my target. Everyone is different. If I tried to go to the gym and work out for one hour I'd probably have a heart attack. Maybe when I get closer to my goal weight I'd be able to do that but not now with 100 pounds to lose (actually 85 pounds now that I lost 15 )

casi_ann

On the other hand, I work full time as a registered nurse and do lots of walking all day and don't count that because I feel i do it all the time.

janemem

agreed. if you google image "maid" you get some very very sexy and fit women pop up on the search. so ladies, clean your pretty little hearts out!!

Hehehehehe! :laugh: :bigsmile:

mhoward685

What I don't understand is why I am not losing more when I don't (usually) log my daily activities like housework, gardening and MFP doesn't calculate calories burned strength training. I entered sedentary because that is what I was when I started but not now. If MFP figures calories needs on no activity then I should be in a much larger calories deficit.

jcpmoore

It's not exercise. It's the basic rudimentary functions of the 21st century human being in a first world society.

Granted, can you break a sweat cleaning or chasing a couple toddler's around? Absolutely...But to put that on the same level as 60 minutes in the gym..or a zumba class for that matter is stretching the bounds of a lazy rationale.

You should be taking care of all your domestic work in addition to conventional exercise outlets...not cleaning the toilet and calling it a hard days work.

Nothing is worse than failing because you didn't work hard enough.

So what would you say to my HRM that say my 20 minutes of circuit training and 45 minutes of scrubbing the bathrooms burn the same calories?

It's a simple thing-if you list your lifestyle as not active, then housework that raises your heart rate counts. If your lifestyle is listed as lightly active, then housework doesn't count. If I clean once a week instead of every day, I leave it set to inactive and list the housework. If I clean daily, I set to lightly active and leave the housework unlisted. Simple.

For me, if I'm scrubbing or cleaning and raising my heart rate, I list it. Because this is NOT my norm. If I'm washing dishes, folding clothes and such I don't because that's regular activity for me.

sgarrard01

Remember! if you've set your lifestyle to sedentry and your aiming to loose 2lbs a week than you'll not only be eating for someone who lives in bed all day, but also your under even your BMR which is the energy your body needs to function if you were in a coma (dont worry i'm not knocking it, im doing this myself!)

Therfore you need to add back everything as your body needs this fuel to work and function! calorie burn is calorie burn whether its anerobic, areobic or f'n exausting!... your body needs fuel to function so why deny it what it needs when your already denying it a large amount of the energy it needs anyway!....

FitLink

I don't log cleaning because frankly, I don't clean long enough or hard enough to consider it exercise. For example, I'll spend 10 minutes cleaning the bathroom then go do sonething else. A few hours later I might sweep for 10 minutes, then go do something else. Later I might water the plants, tidy up the living room a bit for 10 minutes then go do something else. And so on. All told on a daily basis I probably do an hour's worth of cleaning in short, 10 minute bursts. Am I supposed to count that as exercise? My heart rate doesn't go up, I rarely break a sweat, so for me it's just not exercise. I feel like I would be cheating myself if I counted it. Same with gardening...I used to count it until I realized that my heart rate wasn't increasing or anything. Same with walking my dog. He's one of those dogs who likes to mosey along and stop and act nosy about every little thing. Same with work, I teach and I'm on my feet all day, I wear a pedometer at work and I actually get a lot of steps in, but I don't count it as exercise because my heart rate isn't increasing and I'm not breaking a sweat teaching.

I don't care what other people do, so if anyone else wants to count their cleaning as exercise, fine with me. I have noticed that some on my friends list who do this, it's the only exercise they do. Which I find interesting.

As it happens, you don't have to raise your heart rate, or sweat, to burn calories. And NEAT, Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, is far more important to long term weight control than any other thing you could focus on.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12468415
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/307/5709/530.short

secretlobster

I still did housework when I was fat. I mean really, I was fat but not a fat SLOB. Come on.

Chubbud1

I agree. Im moving/cleaning and trust me, some of the crap Ive had to clean and pack has been heavy. :-)

Kara52217

Agreed.
Just yesterday I logged mine. And I wore my HRM when doing it, as I was moving the furniture and such to "deep" clean parts of the house.

I personally log my "extra" house work not my day to day stuff. But to each their own. Besides if you log it or not as long as your losing weight (which is why were all here) WHO CARES. Everyone is different for pete's sakes.

Happy Friday!!

semeyer

When I first started MFP, I would log any and all exercise I would do, including housework. As I began to get more in tune with my body, it seemed like the calories MFP was calculating for 'housework' were pretty high. Consider that during my housework, I would pause to yell at my cat to get off the wet floor I just washed, stop to watch something interesting on tv that catches my eye, I get a phone call, etc -- I realized I wasn't actually cleaning the whole 90 mins or whatever it took me to clean the house. When I noticed the calories being calculated were comparable to when I do a jillian michaels dvd...I thought something seemed a little fishy because I was not even close to as wiped as I am when I do those dvds.

I think its all a personal choice and I personally don't work hard enough when I do housework to benefit from counting it as an exercise. But if you are busting booty and really in the zone, I would log it, just be honest with yourself about how much of the time spent was done on actual cleaning.

caraiselite

i don't clean every day. most days i am sitting at a desk/laying in bed watching tv.
i log anything that i do for more than 15 minutes.

FitLink

It's not exercise. It's the basic rudimentary functions of the 21st century human being in a first world society.

Granted, can you break a sweat cleaning or chasing a couple toddler's around? Absolutely...But to put that on the same level as 60 minutes in the gym..or a zumba class for that matter is stretching the bounds of a lazy rationale.

You should be taking care of all your domestic work in addition to conventional exercise outlets...not cleaning the toilet and calling it a hard days work.

Nothing is worse than failing because you didn't work hard enough.

Who are you to tell me, or anyone else, what they "should" do? And how dare you call other people "lazy?"

Newsflash! You don't get to decide what people "should" do. You're not specially gifted. You only get to decide what you "should" do.

meljane28

Agree with you on the housework. I recently scrubbed my tub for a solid hour and was sweating like I was at the gym! Also, if you search "strength training" under Cardiovascular it is there. So I log that to get the cals and then log the individual exercises to remember what I've done.

tansygreen

I don't log mine, because I set myself up as having a moderately active lifestyle when I registered with MFP. If I had set myself up as having a sedentary lifestyle I might log the more strenuous housework.

Personally, when I walk the dogs, walk the kids to school and clean up I'm not going at it 100% or working up a sweat like I would going for a run or on an exercise bike, so I wouldn't know how to make sure I was actually burning off the amout MFP would tell me I was. Maybe if you have a HRM and you are set up as having a sedentary lifestyle, it would be much more important to log it and eat back the cals.

The way I have been doing this has been working OK for me, with a slow and steady loss since I started, so I stick with it.

I know it's not totally accurate, but then it's likely my logging isn't totally accurate either. I'm sure I don't remember to log when I take a 'taste' spoonful when cooking meals, a couple of fries left on a child's plate, a piece of gum or a jellybaby from the kids pack or whatever. I'm also not going to log mopping the kitchen floor, for the same reason, the calories burnt aren't much.

I know it all works out in the end, because my weight keeps going down at a nice steady rate. I think you should just do whatever you want, experiment and see what gets you the best results, and not worry what others do/say.

As you can see by all the replies to your post so far, everyone likes to do it differently and one way or another, most are losing weight. The only thing I would say is if you don't use a HRM, be cautious with how many you actually eat back, because MFP does overestimate cals burned during a lot of activities. I know there are a lot of people on here who aim to eat back 1/2 and it works for them.

mrsRhughes

I don't know why someone else would criticize what another person counts as exercise! I agree that it is totally individual. I personally never log cleaning because I workout 6-7 days a week and am logging more than enough exercise calories, and maintaining my weight (not trying to lose). If you don't exercise much, and clean alot, then why shouldn't you log it if it makes you feel better and you are actually burning calories that way? To each their own...

mhoward685

Are you suggesting wear a hrm during strength training and log it under cardiograph to see the true calories deficit?

Ohmydaze

Whenever I do a shift at the restaurant, I log it as cleaning, light for a normal shift, heavy if we're busy, because it's hard work. Yes, we may only be smiling and carrying plates, but I walk around, wash dishes, clear and clean tables and rush around doing the bills. I'm on my feet and busy for a solid 5 hours, and I'm tired by the end. That's clearly burning calories.

I also log if I'm vaccuming, particularly trying to get dog hair out of the carpet, because It's tiring! Or if I spend an hour washing dishes and putting them away, I'll probably log half an hour light cleaning.

*Shrug* Why not. It's my diary, not theirs.

vim_n_vigor

This is just another reason why I am so happy I have my fitbit. It logs my movement for me and I don't have to tell you if it was running, shopping or cleaning. All of your activity contributes to the amount of food you need to eat in a day, even walking to the bathroom. With my fitbit, I see all of that extra activity and have a much better idea of what my activity level is. I though I was sedentary. Yeah, I was a bit off on that one!