House work as exercise

chevy88grl

I guess my first question is:

Why does anyone care what someone else is logging as exercise? Does it REALLY matter to you what someone else is doing? Because if it really does.. perhaps you need to worry a little less about someone else and a little more about yourself.

I have my activity level set as "active" due to my job. So, I never logged daily housecleaning. However, if I scrubbed floors on my hands and knees, steam cleaned or moved furniture -- I may count it. I won't use the numbers that MFP offers because I think they tend to be a bit on the high side, but strenuous cleaning or lawn mowing (pushing my lawnmower is like pushing a tank through quick sand!) I would log it. And quite honestly if someone else doesn't agree or like it? Tough.

Bobby_Clerici

You can come and do my housework anytime!!! :drinker:

Maybe we could start a business!
We charge people a maid service fee for house cleaning, and double dip with a training fee from clients who pay us to lose weight.

:drinker:

jensan37

You can't drive after a C-section because of the risk of slamming on the brakes and tearing your stitches...

cookieta76

It really doesn't matter to me what someone logs. My week days consist of a desk job and on weekends I don't sit down most of the day. My setting is set to sedentary. For the past week I've been scraping and painting my house (and have no time for my typical work outs), but I'm moving ladders, bending, standing, climbing ladder, getting down, and yes working those bingo wings scraping and painting! I googled it and it says a 150 lb person burns 203/hour from that. So I take some of the time, but not all. I've done it for 8-10 hours / day. So yes, I'm taking some cals burned for that. And no it isn't quite zumba or a Jillian Michaels work out, but I'm out in 90 degree heat in the sun doing this as well and if nothing else I feel like I'm melting! LOL

If had an active job where I was on my feet all day and my profile was set to this, I probably wouldn't log itif I was doing it on a weekend because MFP would be calculating it to your calories needed already.

Bottom line is who does this and why I don't care....if I see someone post it I some times ask what they did and generally it's more than load dishwasher and vac.

This was going to be my exact response. I sit at a desk from 8:30 - 4:30 Monday through Friday. When I clean on weekends, I definitely log it. I'm up and down steps, lifting, vacuuming and mopping. For hours sometimes. So that is definitely not my normal every day activity. Log it ladies (and guys)!

KINGoftheBUFF

I apologize in advance...I'm sorry....but this is one of the reasons we are so obese as a society. We should not be aguing over recording basic life chores. Cleaning, walking, gardening ect. ect. it is considered life. Our ancestors walked an average of 15 - 20 miles per day. They did not call that exercise. That was their way of Life!
I clean, garden, cut the grass, Hike with the kids, I call that an active lifestyle, the way we SHOULD Be. Then I exercise! Change your perspective and you will have better results.

yustick

I think people should log how they want. It amazes me how opinionated people can be about what others do. I too have seen some pretty nasty comments.

That being said, MFP also adds an activity factor to the calories needed to stay in bed all day. So, there is some daily activity factored in your calorie goals. I use a Fitbit 24 hrs a day. It includes all my activity and that is great to me. For now, I would rather be productive.

Although I do recognize, there are specific benefits from getting your heart beat up that I am not getting from just doing my daily activities.

FitLink

i had 3 kids naturally and my friend had 3 c-sections (as she is unable to give birth naturally) and we were kinda swapping experiences, anyway, when she had her kids, each time she was strongly advised not to exercise including housework including hoovering, mopping, washing windows as it pulls the stomach area and the "cut" area wouldnt heal as it will tug the stitches/staples so in a round about way, for those who dont believe housework aint an exercise it is, even medicals say it is so obviously for those say it dont, they dont do it lmao!

I list housework as exercise and if ya give it an extra umph to it, you do get a good sweat on hehe

They also say you can't drive...? That would not make me log my commuting as "exercise"? :huh:

But they specify driving separate from "exercise," which they do include housework in. The driving admonition is because your reaction times and judgement might be compromised, not because they are worried about exercise and healing. Don't be stupid.

NakedLunchTime

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.

She didn't say that one causes her to burn calories and the other doesn't. She is saying that before she was working out she cleaned anyways and she still felt the need to get heathier. To do this she works out and runs which will actually help her lose weight and gain muscle ( if that is what she is going for). I'm sorry, but unless you have a lot of weight to lose, cleaning (unless for hours at high intensity) is not going to get you in shape. If it would, we would have many more people in shape lol

myfitnessnmhoy

I read a lot of threads since I joined, and I'm sure it goes back a lot farther than that, which criticize MFP members for doing things differently than they do. Even, in many cases, when what the person was doing was working for them.

We're all adults here, and most of us only have personal experience to draw on. If you ask for help, expect a range of opinions. If you are asked for help, offer your opinion. But understand that different things work for different people.

As to logging housework? Darn tootin' I log it! My lifestyle is set to "sedentary". I take that to mean "sitting at a desk most of the day, with the occasional walk to the bathroom and back and forth to my car". On the weekends, if I spend 3 hours tilling my 1600 square foot garden, or an hour scrubbing the floors, or 45 minutes climbing up and down a ladder, it gets logged. I usually only log the time I'm really spending actively engaged in the activity (standing there leaning on my rake while I recover from tilling the previous row is not counted!), but I count it. And I'm losing weight.

Other people may do whatever they want, with the understanding that it may or may not work for them and they are well-served keeping an open mind about what might be going wrong. If you have a 500-calorie deficit, and you're logging 1,000 calories a day for washing dishes and gaining a pound a week, well, there's your problem. But if you have a 1,000 calorie deficit and you log 100 calories for washing dishes, even if you didn't burn a single calorie (I wash dishes all the time, and anyone who says you don't burn ANY calories is full of it), you haven't cut your deficit by much and you'll still lose weight.

Log what you want, try to keep it real, and learn what works. Be honest with yourself in evaluating what is working and what is not. Keep an open mind about trying new things. You're going to hit a lot of plateaus and setbacks in your weight loss due to your changing metabolism, improved cardiovascular efficiency if you work out, keeping too aggressive a goal for too long and not eating enough, those salty restaurant chips, and that extra margarita.

What works for one person does not work for another all the time. What works for you today will almost certainly not work for you in three months. Adjust. Adapt. Experiment. Avoid suffering. Have some fun with it. Be patient. And listen to what is working for other people, because when (not if, WHEN) what is working for you now stops working, you'll have an awesome library of ideas to play with.

Easywider

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.

Get mad.

trud72

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.

SO with ya!
exersice should be done as a seprate thing(acually getting of your *kitten* to do it!!! :bigsmile: housework .... just count as abonus!:drinker:
exersice should bring your heart rate to at least 120bpm to get into the fat burning zone,i'm pretty sure when i hoove my hr dont go that high!(or maybe i just have a clean house)! lol

Easywider

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?

That you must be pretty good at cleaning.

DavPul

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.

Log whatever you like. Your body, your business.

I think you and some others have a basic point wrong. I'm fairly sure MFP is not calculating your calories with the assumption that you're staying in bed all day. "Sedentary" does not equal "Comatose". Sedentary means you don't do much physical activity as part of your daily lifestyle, no matter if you're working from home or at an office. It certainly includes calories you need for doing other things than laying in bed all day.

Personally, I am set at sedentary, but I only log activities I specifically do to raise my heart rate. So even though I may be walking around the mall shopping for an hour, or playing at the beach with my kid for 2 hours, or doing housework, I don't log it. But that's my choice. If you're getting results, I have no desire to change your mind and I'm not sure why you'd want to change mine. Everyone is free to both do what they want and believe what they want. If you're getting results, who cares?

chris1816

I'm honestly surprised this is such an issue, as far as I am concerned; cleaning, doing laundry etc is a BAU activity of being a human f*cking being.

I have a desk job, I spend anywhere from 8-12 hours at the office or work from home; I sit on my *kitten* a *kitten* ton. I set my activity level as sedentary. Do I clean my apartment? Sure, but I do little cleaning things throughout the week and maybe have to do a top to bottom cleaning one to two weeks. I have a two bedrom apartment and I live alone currently; it's not much effort at all to keep things tidy.

My activity level is still sedentary.

Now, if I had a maybe larger apartment or house and kids living with me and played a daily role involving cyclical house cleaning for a decent chunk of the day; doing a ton of laundry etc I wouldn't log it as exercise, I would just set my activity level a notch above sedentary which gives you quite a few more calories to eat every day. Frankly, I call BS on burning hundreds of calories cleaning unless you wear a HRM and prove it.

Nike fuel doesn't count btw, with Nike Fuel I can burn calories drinking whiskey and smoking.

If you do a ton of house work every day, up your activity level. I don't see how this is rocket science. Logging it as cardio for the day seems like some weird act of self gratification.

MissyTRobinson

There was a lovely user on this site,who I have not seen around in awhile that wrote a very good post on it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/291071-activity-level-and-logging-exercise?hl=activity+level+and+logging

FitLink

I guess if u do choose to log housework maybe u should just not eat the calories back. It is a good argument on both sides because it does beg the question where do we end logging. If I do 35 minutes of cpr on someone and then lug them down 2 flights of stairs its a pretty good workout and I am sweating, but would not dream of logging it and stopping for a burger reward x

Um, why? I REALLY don't get this. You burned the calories but would not eat them because it was CPR and hauling someone up/down stairs? Or are you saying that you don't burn calories because they were traded for the person's life? I DO NOT get this.

DawnAnonymous

I go to this website for 'oddities' that aren't listed here:

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

It claims 198 calories burned for 1 hour of housework.

I am really trying to loose weight though, so everything I add to my exercise I make sure I am doing it vigerously if it's not on the list (i.e. "Just Dance" for 30 minutes - no breaks to pick out songs, just keep moving).

Good luck to all!!

myfitnessnmhoy

I apologize in advance...I'm sorry....but this is one of the reasons we are so obese as a society. We should not be aguing over recording basic life chores. Cleaning, walking, gardening ect. ect. it is considered life. Our ancestors walked an average of 15 - 20 miles per day. They did not call that exercise. That was their way of Life!
I clean, garden, cut the grass, Hike with the kids, I call that an active lifestyle, the way we SHOULD Be. Then I exercise! Change your perspective and you will have better results.

It's a matter of choice.

I choose to set my lifestyle as "sedentary" because 5 days a week I sit on my *kitten* at a desk all day.

I could choose to set my lifestyle to "lightly active" to account for my much-higher activity levels on the weekends, when I do a greater share of the housework and I also have mowing, garden work, home maintenance, and a myriad other tasks on my plate in addition to enjoying getting outside and having fun.

I do not. I log what I do on the weekends as exercise, trying to be reasonable with the calories.

The math really works out the same. My "sedentary" lifestyle setting allows me fewer calories for a given day. I specifically add the calories I use in a given day. Your "active" lifestyle allows you more calories, so you have simply included the calories differently.

That's worked well for me. I respect that what you have chosen to do has worked well for you, and applaud you for making a logical, if different, choice from mine.

But what I'm doing is working quite well for me, thank you very much.

LazyHairyBear

I think the only issue with logging cleaning the house is where to you draw the line?

If we are logging any and all kinds of exercise then every time we do something that isn't sitting we should be logging it?

I clean my flat once a week and I have never considered calorie counting this as exercise, the same way I don't consider the four flights of stairs I climb to my apartment once a day as exercise, even though I am breathless when I reach the peak, nor the five minute uphill walk to my car after work, which again can leave me breathless. I do not consider this exercise, I consider this part of my life. This is where I have chosen to draw the line.

As long as you are comfortable where your personal line is drawn then simply do what works for you and ignore everyone else's opinion. I would recommend wearing a Heart Rate Monitor while doing the cleaning just to get a more accurate reading for the activity rather than going on generic readings given by MFP.

Ninatoots

When I clean house I get on ladders ! There are 6 ceiling fans in our home, I get on my knees to scrub floors, wals, bathrub, and clean the ceiling, EVERYTHING gets a good cleaning, all heavy furniture is moved, books all taken down and dusted, NOTHING gets missed. Even inside vents in the floors, then there's out side cleaning..... sweeping the car port, washing outside walls, and windows, a ladder is needed for that! I sweat big time! I'm 67 years old and am about 201 pounds of weight to move around. It's the south here and mold must be kept out! Not good for your health! Inside cubards, all food all, pots and pans, all everything , inside closets, inside closet shelves, all must be cleans, all window blinds, all drapes washed and put back, all baths cleaned, it's a lot of WORK!

trud72

I apologize in advance...I'm sorry....but this is one of the reasons we are so obese as a society. We should not be aguing over recording basic life chores. Cleaning, walking, gardening ect. ect. it is considered life. Our ancestors walked an average of 15 - 20 miles per day. They did not call that exercise. That was their way of Life!
I clean, garden, cut the grass, Hike with the kids, I call that an active lifestyle, the way we SHOULD Be. Then I exercise! Change your perspective and you will have better results.



i'm pretty sure(tho i may be wrong) that my fitness pal did not exist then!!! :noway:

MissyTRobinson

There was a lovely user on this site,who I have not seen around in awhile that wrote a very good post on it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/291071-activity-level-and-logging-exercise?hl=activity+level+and+logging

I just read this link and it made so much sense to me. Thank you for posting it. I am new to all this so all this back and forth is very confusing. I was very very inactive before so it helps to see tht the more I move the more I burn. Thanks again.

Brenda1271

I really don't care what other people think about what I log in for myself as exercise or not. If I step on the scale and it shows that I have lost weight by what I've been doing then I'm sure as hell going to do it. It doesn't matter to me what someone else logs for themselves either, I'm not here to judge anyone. I'm here for my own well being and to encourage others when I can.

MrsFolk

Cleaning is definitely moving around, but I wouldn't categorize it as physical exercise. I have three small children so I know what cleaning all day is like BUT I don't log it on MFP as real work outs.

In order to be healthy, I need to get real workouts in. If I start to tell myself that cleaning counts, I may not be motivated to work out any more. I'm not letting that happen!

FitLink

I apologize in advance...I'm sorry....but this is one of the reasons we are so obese as a society. We should not be aguing over recording basic life chores. Cleaning, walking, gardening ect. ect. it is considered life. Our ancestors walked an average of 15 - 20 miles per day. They did not call that exercise. That was their way of Life!
I clean, garden, cut the grass, Hike with the kids, I call that an active lifestyle, the way we SHOULD Be. Then I exercise! Change your perspective and you will have better results.

Those "ancestors" also didn't go to the gym or "work out." Their exercise WAS doing that 20 miles and all those NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Themogenesis) activities! IOW, it DID "count as exercise" for them. Now you're saying it shouldn't be exercise for us?

BTW, those same ancestors had MUCH shorter lifespans than even the most obese and unhealthy among us. They WERE NOT healthier than we are.

amsohs85

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?

THANK YOU FOR BEING A VOICE OF REASON HERE!!!! I've been reading these posts for the past week and a half and i was starting to wonder if i had accidently logged into FACEBOOK. How childish it is when people climb up on their high horse and judge what others find significant in THEIR journey to get healthy!!! You just have to wonder why it bothers some people so much what others log into their exercise and food diary's. It's one thing if someone comes on the forums and asks for opinions on their food and activities...by all means then you have a right. If they dont like you're opinion so be it...they asked and they got your response. I fully support the right of everyone on here to express their opinion because i believe in individuality. But i guess what some on here forget is that along with self expression should come respect for others differences. The line is crossed when someone posts that they burned x amount of calories doing whatever and then they are subject to ridicule or smart *kitten* comments as to the validity of that. If you believe that the only way to truly get fit, healthy or lose weight is to cross train, run 5 miles a day or do 90 minutes on the elliptical good for you. I respect and am awed by you're drive but maybe thats not my thing. I expect others to respect my personal choices on exercise as well. Remember respect doesnt equal approval just that you will not judge. Not to mention that you do far better to inspire by your example then try to force by belittlement!!

Really the grammer, food and exercise nazis on here need to take a deep breath and back off. Get over yourselves...you are not perfect nor is your way of doing things considered perfect by others!

Kara_xxx

You can come and do my housework anytime!!! :drinker:

Maybe we could start a business!
We charge people a maid service fee for house cleaning, and double dip with a training fee from clients who pay us to lose weight.

:drinker:

Bobby... if you come in a maid outfit I WILL pay you... :laugh:

LindaCWy

Edited because I decided I don't care

jennifer52484

The way I see it is if it's working for you to include housework as exercise, then by all means log it as exercise. But...If a person is logging housework to make excuses to consume extra calories and that same person is struggling with losing or maintaining their weight...then that person is only fooling themself.

Just sayin'
:indifferent:

This x100

annadunn12

I log my housecleaning as exercise when I am truly exerting myself and doing above and beyond my normal everyday things. It is exercise to me and I am sore afterwards. I sweat, I use muscles I wouldn't have used sitting at my desk. I AM ACTIVE and not sitting on the couch. Am I running a 5K yet, no, but I am getting there, more slowly than a lot, but I am much better than I was a year ago before I started logging anything at all. I'm getting there and I hope when I finally get to the point that I am doing what others call "real exercise" I don't look down on those who are just starting and trying to go from totally sedentary to MOVING and feeling at least a little bit better about themselves for logging it at all. We are on here to build up and not tear down. Most of the people on this site are here because they want to be healthier and probably lose weight and be more active. We are all at different levels and a 5 min walk may not seem like exercise to someone who does 5 miles a day running. Yes, there are those on here who may never get past just logging housecleaning, but there are a lot who will, with encouragement and not nastiness or criticism.
[/q

Such lovely supportive comments. Thank you for this :-)