House work as exercise
Replies
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I need more lemon pledge
*stands up... slow claps* thanks for reminding me how amazing family guy is.0 -
My theory - if it works for you to log it, log it! I don't judge friends logging anything. Seriously.
I don't *usually* log cleaning unless I'm dance-cleaning (totally different beast involving looking like an idiot AND having a high heart rate) or if I'm highly drugged with Benadryl and it's hard to find the energy to stand, much less clean (yay for my Fourth of July.... ugh.)
My general rule - if I feel like I'm exerting myself, it counts. But then again, my calorie goal is set at 1,600, and I'm not looking to lose much more weight at this point, just to shift the weight I have.0 -
I think you should log what you want how you want and don't worry about if other people approve. Weird, I know.
What she said
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Very well stated. That's why I've begun measuring everything - which is funny because that's what my profession taught me: what we measure, we improve. I weigh my food now, I measure my heart rate to log activity accurately. You are SO right that what is best is often not what is easy!Personally, I may log housework- but NOT so I can have extra burn showing in my data- but so I can see record that I am MOVING. It doesn't matter how much people bag on it for burning calories- if you are a person that is motivated by seeing housework in your stats- DO IT. Just be realistic about how much burn you actually get and then push yourself to do something outside of the norm. Stretch your limits and push yourself to step outside of that self made box.
Do what is best for you. But also keep in mind, what's best for you isn't always what comes easy.0 -
I sugar-soaped my kitchen door at the weekend and it was a great work-out for my bingo-wings!
I'm tired of this debate and don't really care what people log, but I really want to know what sugar-soaping is! Come to think of it, I also want to know what bingo-wings are? Is this Brit slang I haven't heard before?0 -
Hi I totally agree housework is hard work, I clean my house top to bottom once a week, I get down on my hands and knees to do the floors and clean windows and give a thorough clean. I have a dog and 2 cats and you need to maintain cleaning on a regular basis when you have animals, i usually spend about 6 hours and climb 2 flights of stairs at lease 100 times in that timeframe and work my *kitten* off0
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:drinker:It's not exercise. It's the basic rudimentary functions of the 21st century human being in a first world society.
:drinker:0 -
I totally agree with you, have seen some comments (nasty ones too) about critising housework efforts and walking kids to school.
Someone I know regulary walks 2 hrs a day and of course you need to claim that. Has to be better than catching the bus !
Window washing, scrubbing floors, mowing the lawn must all be counted.
Yeh I stopped logging my situps and dumbell exercises because MFP didn't allow any calories for the strength training. For a moment I thought I wasted money on my bench !
MFP don't class it as a cardio workout, well my heart races when I do 100 situps I can assure you.
Situps are calisthenics, and there is a listing for that in the cardio section. There is also a listing for Strength Training with weights.0 -
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.
It depends on what you set as your activity level. If you put sedentary, it means you sit around and do (pretty much) nothing all day. Then yes, add in housework as exercise. If you put anything other than sedentary, then housework is already included in your calorie count and should not be added as exercise. That is what most people don't understand.
I put myself as sedentary but I only add in housework as exercise if I'm doing deep cleaning, spring cleaning, or any cleaning that is out of the ordinary for my usual day.0 -
To each their own, what business is it of mine is someone wants to log housework as cardio.0
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I don't report mine because I don't include things I did while I was getting myself into a fat condition (housework, cooking) as exercise. However, I don't begrudge those who do. I can see how it could be completely valid. Especially for those who were so sedentary that someone else was keeping house for them and they start doing it for themselves.
For me, though, I don't do it...0 -
I sugar-soaped my kitchen door at the weekend and it was a great work-out for my bingo-wings!
I'm tired of this debate and don't really care what people log, but I really want to know what sugar-soaping is! Come to think of it, I also want to know what bingo-wings are? Is this Brit slang I haven't heard before?
I agree with you. I don't really care what other people log - that is their business and if it is working for them that's all that matters.
Oh, and "bingo wings" are the wobbly bits of loose muscle/skin on the backs of the upper arms. So called by us Brits because they flap about like wings when middle aged ladies wave their arms above their heads with their winnning card when they win at a game called bingo. Do you play bingo in the States - my husband says you might call it something else? Do your winners wave their cards above their heads when they win and flap their "bingo wings" too?0 -
I call mine Grammie Bye-Bye's :laugh:0
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Well here's my opinion. That and a couple dollars might just get you a cup of coffee:-). I don't do a lot of exercising and I'm loosing my weight very slowly but this I can keep up and continue to loose weight and be myself. It's a lifestyle.0
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I totally agree with you, have seen some comments (nasty ones too) about critising housework efforts and walking kids to school.
Someone I know regulary walks 2 hrs a day and of course you need to claim that. Has to be better than catching the bus !
Window washing, scrubbing floors, mowing the lawn must all be counted.
Yeh I stopped logging my situps and dumbell exercises because MFP didn't allow any calories for the strength training. For a moment I thought I wasted money on my bench !
MFP don't class it as a cardio workout, well my heart races when I do 100 situps I can assure you.
Just log it under cardio.
Yeah, I do about 40 minutes of strength-training every day (well, almost every day; some days I just have no motivation going to the gym.) and I log it under cardio as "strength-training" then list what I did in the strength-training section so I have a record of it. You definitely burn calories lifting weights, I think about 8 calories per minute? Something like that.0 -
I’ve seen my wife turning beds washing windows taking down and washing curtains, rolling up rugs and scrubbing washing drying and polishing the kitchen floor, as well as lumping boxes and furniture about, then doing the same for each room in the house from 9 in the am till 5 in the pm. And you say that doesn’t count. Really? are you sure?
Please tell me you help her out and don't just sit and watch her do all that by herself?
:happy:
LOL Here I was giving him bonus points for noticing all the hard work she does! You're right. I, too, hope he helps when he sees this. :blushing: :flowerforyou:
Hehehe! :drinker:0 -
I normally wear my elephant thong and cowboy boots
My wife has a one piece PVC catsuit and high heels<sarcasm>But for Zumba you put on special clothes and go to a class/watch a dvd/use a Wii so it's REAL exercise. You can wear any old thing to clean and you have to do it anyway, so that's obviously NOT exercise.</sarcasm> does that count as "special clothes"
:smokin: It does indeed! In fact, when she wears it, I'd say it counts as exercise for BOTH of you! :bigsmile:
I'm either helping her or in the garden or on the allotment, or doing the car, or any one of the hundred things that couples have to do to keep a house that is 112 years old working
Please tell me you help her out and don't just sit and watch her do all that by herself? :happy:
Good to hear :happy: :bigsmile:0 -
Like all things diet and health related, this is a personal choice. The choice has no effect on your results. The numbers in MFP aren't connected to your body - all you're doing is trying to have a measuring stick of where you are every day (and honestly, it's not even that accurate lets face the fact on how much estimation goes into calorie burn and the caloric content of foods).
How do I do it? I have a desk job so I record my activity level as sedentary. I record house cleaning, gardening, mowing the lawn, etc... if it's for a significant amount of time (30 minutes or more). However, THAT is not my replacement for exercise... If I'm supposed to go for a run that day, I'm still running... if I'm supposed to lift weights that day, I'm still lifting weights that day.
That being said, it's important to understand that while burning 600 calories cleaning your house might help keep you from getting FAT, it's not going to help you get FIT. In food and exercise, all calories are not equal.0 -
I sugar-soaped my kitchen door at the weekend and it was a great work-out for my bingo-wings!
I'm tired of this debate and don't really care what people log, but I really want to know what sugar-soaping is! Come to think of it, I also want to know what bingo-wings are? Is this Brit slang I haven't heard before?
I agree with you. I don't really care what other people log - that is their business and if it is working for them that's all that matters.
Oh, and "bingo wings" are the wobbly bits of loose muscle/skin on the backs of the upper arms. So called by us Brits because they flap about like wings when middle aged ladies wave their arms above their heads with their winnning card when they win at a game called bingo. Do you play bingo in the States - my husband says you might call it something else? Do your winners wave their cards above their heads when they win and flap their "bingo wings" too?
BUT WHAT IS SUGAR SOAPING! ARGH!0 -
Just wondering, how many kids do you have?.......anything that gets you up moving, burns calories....so chasing a couple of toddlers around would, in my book, be considered exercise!!!!....whether you log it or not is your own business....to each his own!!0
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I sugar-soaped my kitchen door at the weekend and it was a great work-out for my bingo-wings!
I'm tired of this debate and don't really care what people log, but I really want to know what sugar-soaping is! Come to think of it, I also want to know what bingo-wings are? Is this Brit slang I haven't heard before?
I agree with you. I don't really care what other people log - that is their business and if it is working for them that's all that matters.
Oh, and "bingo wings" are the wobbly bits of loose muscle/skin on the backs of the upper arms. So called by us Brits because they flap about like wings when middle aged ladies wave their arms above their heads with their winnning card when they win at a game called bingo. Do you play bingo in the States - my husband says you might call it something else? Do your winners wave their cards above their heads when they win and flap their "bingo wings" too?
BUT WHAT IS SUGAR SOAPING! ARGH!
LMAO! :laugh:
Sugar Soap is a cleaning product that really cuts through grease and tars (i.e. nicotine stains). It's used on paintwork before re-painting to make sure the surface is totally grease free.
Do you not have it in the US then, along with Bingo Wings? :happy: 0 -
I sugar-soaped my kitchen door at the weekend and it was a great work-out for my bingo-wings!
I'm tired of this debate and don't really care what people log, but I really want to know what sugar-soaping is! Come to think of it, I also want to know what bingo-wings are? Is this Brit slang I haven't heard before?
I agree with you. I don't really care what other people log - that is their business and if it is working for them that's all that matters.
Oh, and "bingo wings" are the wobbly bits of loose muscle/skin on the backs of the upper arms. So called by us Brits because they flap about like wings when middle aged ladies wave their arms above their heads with their winnning card when they win at a game called bingo. Do you play bingo in the States - my husband says you might call it something else? Do your winners wave their cards above their heads when they win and flap their "bingo wings" too?
BUT WHAT IS SUGAR SOAPING! ARGH!
LMAO! :laugh:
Sugar Soap is a cleaning product that really cuts through grease and tars (i.e. nicotine stains). It's used on paintwork before re-painting to make sure the surface is totally grease free.
Do you not have it in the US then, along with Bingo Wings? :happy:
Thank you Jane and Annya for clearing up this mystery!!! *applause*
I do not think we have Sugar Soap here in the States, but I'm not exactly an expert on cleaning supplies so I could be mistaken.....as for bingo wings - yes, we have bingo here and yes, we therefore have our fair share of bingo wings too! LOL0 -
Or maybe you should MYOB.
Excuse me but who do you think you are to elevate yourself to a position where you can tell other members to "MYOB"?
A thread was started on an OPEN PUBLIC forum which encourages debate on a subject and encourages people with a range of different opinions to participate.
If you disagree with his opinion then argue your case, but don't go round telling people to mind their own business.
I am the person who is telling you to MYOB. That's who I am. What other people log as exercise is NOT your business, so you need to mind your business, not theirs.
***FACEPALM***
:laugh: another charm school drop out.0 -
Or maybe you should MYOB.
Excuse me but who do you think you are to elevate yourself to a position where you can tell other members to "MYOB"?
A thread was started on an OPEN PUBLIC forum which encourages debate on a subject and encourages people with a range of different opinions to participate.
If you disagree with his opinion then argue your case, but don't go round telling people to mind their own business.
I am the person who is telling you to MYOB. That's who I am. What other people log as exercise is NOT your business, so you need to mind your business, not theirs.
***FACEPALM***
And you DO need to mind your own business! There are good reasons to set for sedentary--I gave you mine, not that it's your business--and log everything, whether you're a factory worker or anything else. And good reasons for others to choose a more active setting, regardless of profession. As I said, it's that the numbers end up reasonably accurate that matters, NOT how you arrive at them.
And she needs to mind her business too!
Why are you so incredibly irrate and rude? Are you like this IRL? All that aggression, can't be a happy place.0 -
I sugar-soaped my kitchen door at the weekend and it was a great work-out for my bingo-wings!
I'm tired of this debate and don't really care what people log, but I really want to know what sugar-soaping is! Come to think of it, I also want to know what bingo-wings are? Is this Brit slang I haven't heard before?
I agree with you. I don't really care what other people log - that is their business and if it is working for them that's all that matters.
Oh, and "bingo wings" are the wobbly bits of loose muscle/skin on the backs of the upper arms. So called by us Brits because they flap about like wings when middle aged ladies wave their arms above their heads with their winnning card when they win at a game called bingo. Do you play bingo in the States - my husband says you might call it something else? Do your winners wave their cards above their heads when they win and flap their "bingo wings" too?
BUT WHAT IS SUGAR SOAPING! ARGH!
LMAO! :laugh:
Sugar Soap is a cleaning product that really cuts through grease and tars (i.e. nicotine stains). It's used on paintwork before re-painting to make sure the surface is totally grease free.
Do you not have it in the US then, along with Bingo Wings? :happy:
Thank you Jane and Annya for clearing up this mystery!!! *applause*
I do not think we have Sugar Soap here in the States, but I'm not exactly an expert on cleaning supplies so I could be mistaken.....as for bingo wings - yes, we have bingo here and yes, we therefore have our fair share of bingo wings too! LOL
The weird thing is I don't play Bingo and yet have a fair set of Wings........... :huh: 0 -
Housework is actual physical labor. One burns many calories sweeping, mopping, etc. I totally agree that it is right to have it counted. This is a cooking weekend for me which means I will be in the kitchen cooking meals for two weeks. I'll be on my feet 3-4 hours chopping, cooking etc, and then afterwards comes the cleanup...stove, walls, pots, oven. I'll be sure to burn more calories doing that than sitting in my rocking chair watching whatever marathon is on.0
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I totally log housework that isn't done on a daily basis for me. Yesterday I cleaned for 6 hours! How could I not log that? I didn't sit down once during my cleaning spree and I had to go up and down stairs several times. THAT is exercise! That burned more calories than had I gone to kickboxing for an hour.
Okay see but an average person rarely needs to clean for six hours, unless you are a maid in Daddy Warbuck's manor or you are cleaning up after an epic Charlie Sheen sex and coke party. Nobody is saying it cannot be a decent amount of activity however GENERALLY it is something people do every day. Based on that, its more accurate/sensible to adjust your activity level depending on that.
Do you clean your home top to bottom every day? Really?
Nope, I don't really have to. Generally unless I really slack, I rarely have to take a day of doing cleaning more than an hour. As I stated earlier though I live alone, and I have just a decently sized 2 bedroom apartment.
When I shower in the morning, shave etc, I wipe down the sink and counters with a towel or the shirt I slept in if I wore one. I'll wipe it down with disinfectant once a week at least but this at least keeps it tidy and free of water spots/crud. Shower gets sprayed with a rinse-free cleaner after every use.
I spent the money for a badass Dyson vaccum which I run twice a week, takes maybe 15 minutes tops.
Kitchen counters get wiped down if anything splatters, and I cook almost daily.
I use parchment paper over anything I heat in the microwave, rarely have to clean it.
Couches/office get dusted as needed and wiped down with polish. Doesn't take more than 5 minutes.
Toilets? Wiped down quickly after almost every use.
Non carpet floors get a quick wet mop once a week, takes 5 minutes there too.
Cieling fan blades take all of two minutes to hop ontop of my bed or stand on a chair and wipe down with a moist cloth.
Base boards are even wiped down.
Maybe on the very odd ocassion if I am utterly swamped with work I end up having to take a couple hours and give my apartment a once over, but since I'm not a messy person I rarely have to worry about it.
Only things I am lazy about are laundry and dishes, and the latter is just a matter of loading up the dishwasher once or twice a week and hand washing any cookware I use. I promise my heartrate doesn't budge.
My activity level? Sedentary, I still work and spend most of the day at my desk or on the couch. I like the feeling of my own *kitten* beneath me. I'm hispanic so I have booty.
Do I log cleaning? Nope.0 -
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
Cracking post thanks for re-sharing.
I chose sedentary as I have a desk based jojoba that I'm running up & downstairs frequently is a benefit. Most of my housework is done in 1/2hr bursts so I don't log it, however today I'm doing the monthly blitz windows paintwork moving things to Hoover underneath & behind hands & knees floor cleaning cleaning the oven I will be logging this and see no reason not too I will be working hard & if I wasn't doing it I'd be out for a run.0 -
U go girl.....
it is not right to criticise ..we all have to start somewhere !!
best thing is to just make a start..
housework is exercise to those of us that do it !!!!
depends on your start weight and age,too
....first day and I already have an opinion lol 0
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