You can burn calories with housework!

13

Replies

  • TXBelle1174
    TXBelle1174 Posts: 615 Member
    If you are not sitting on your butt, you are burning calories!

    Actually, if you were lying in a coma you would be burning calories...
    How is that?

    Your body burns calories just keeping you alive. I dont typically log my calories burned during a coma. They arent usually that significant. :wink:
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    This is truth, if you are in a coma you are fed calories through an IV, enough to keep you alive. It is around 1200 calories I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong. As long as you heart beats you are burning calories.
    If you are not sitting on your butt, you are burning calories!

    Actually, if you were lying in a coma you would be burning calories...
    How is that?
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    I burn 2378/24 = 100 calories doing nothing. I will seriously burn 136 additional calories putting my clothes into an automatic machine or does this include folding, ironing, putting away? Or is it 36 calories?

    I am all for counting little gains, great believer in the "Fidget factor" and how little bits make a lot rather than nothing making nothing.
    It includes putting in the automatic washer, folding and putting it away. All that adds to 136 if you do it many times for a hour total.

    Take off what you would have burned just sitting there and it doesn't add up to anywhere near what you think it does.

    Be careful what you log especially if you are a person that eats all their exercise calories back, you may find your weightloss suddenly stalls and then to cap it off, people will tend to tell you "eat more!"

    The mind baffles.......
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    If you are not sitting on your butt, you are burning calories!

    Actually, if you were lying in a coma you would be burning calories...
    How is that?

    Breathing, heart beating, digestion, moving from room to room, putting the kettle on - everything takes energy, calories are units of energy. EVERYTHING burns calories, but if you are serious about weightloss, it is best to disregard general day to day stuff, because that has already been accounted for in your daily allowance.

    I know somebody who regularly logs 1500 calories per day doing their household chores, however, their weightloss does not reflect the burn, meaning they are overestimating their "exercise" burns and eating all their calories back, putting their daily allowance way above what they actually need to be in a deficit.

    In short, no deficit = no weightloss.

    It all depends on how serious you are really...
  • rlmadrid
    rlmadrid Posts: 694 Member
    I include housework in my log just so that I can have an idea of what I'm burning outside of formal exercise. I work a desk job so all day is rest. I don't look at it as my only source of exercise though.
  • still_crafty
    still_crafty Posts: 682 Member
    there's a trend here . . . maybe I'm the only one to catch it but a lot of those that have replied that they log daily chores as exercise (because it adds up!) also seem to have tickers that haven't moved much . . .
  • vtachycardia
    vtachycardia Posts: 374
    Everyday cleaning could in theroy get logged if your activity level is set to sedentary and therefore your calories are at a sedentary level, BUT, I think the numbers are overinflated on the presets & an HRM is only accurate for true cardio so it would be hard to guess the real calories burned.

    What is true cardio?

    Is that like when I am nearly throwing up doing HIIT or Circuit training hitting the red zone on the HRM and I say to someone who enquires "what is it you are doing?" and I say getting the heart rate up, using body weight, using weights, using plyo, working the 3 planes of motion, pushing the limits. And I say, "you should give it a go, it is fun."

    And they say,

    "I only do cardio." - oh and I will just do 30 reps on the ab cradle.
  • paulsmisses
    paulsmisses Posts: 178
    I don't log normal every day cleaning but I do log stuff like moving furniture or getting on my hands and knees to scrub floors or gardening,everything else I just look at as bonus calories burned.

    i do this, when i do extra hard work,like windows, cleaning bathroom tiles etc, gets me a lot extra cals when i cant get out to exercise!
  • Katie1951
    Katie1951 Posts: 312 Member
    I let my Fitbit track most of my activity and I can't believe how many steps I'll put in on a day that I'm doing some serious housework. That would be the big stuff, not washing dishes, or general pickup. Its the vacuuming, hauling laundry back and forth, mopping, cleaning bathrooms. It's an eye opener.
  • zCarsAndCaloriesz
    zCarsAndCaloriesz Posts: 348
    I only log house work that I don't do often or that can be strenuous. I log when I wash my windows and stuff like that, or cleaning the bath tub, lots and lots of scrubbing lol.
  • tajmel
    tajmel Posts: 401 Member
    I don't log it as I never stopped doing housework, but it is helpful to remember that ALL extra movement helps, not just workouts. Might just motivate me to scrub the baseboards... or whatever :).
  • Hope502012
    Hope502012 Posts: 98 Member
    The useful burn makes it twice as important! Log it!
  • Paradis
    Paradis Posts: 54
    I set the kitchen timer for 1 hours and do that.You get alot done doing that a few times a week.And depending on what your doing you can really work up a sweat!Today I only got to do 25 minutes so far since I had to go pick my son up from work. I will do more later.And you get a clean house whoo hoo!!!
  • BeanQueen3000
    BeanQueen3000 Posts: 161
    lets get skinny and have homes that are cleaner then everyone elses!

    Isn't this the tagline they used to sell dexedrine to housewives in the '50s?
  • ElleBee615
    ElleBee615 Posts: 177
    Your body burns calories just keeping you alive. I dont typically log my calories burned during a coma. They arent usually that significant. :wink:

    LMAO!!!!!
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    Lolololol. Funny threads make me laugh. :laugh: :laugh:
  • half_moon
    half_moon Posts: 807 Member
    I used to scoff at this.. UNTIL my family came over to see my apartment for the first time. I'm talkin' hands and knees, scrubbing the baseboards, cleaning the tub, sweating my A** off. Like legit. I don't have a HRM, but I'm sure I burned well around 600 calories. I was dying at the end of that. I didn't log it, though, since it's something I would consider a normal part of my lifestyle-- cleaning once in a while, doing dishes, cooking...
  • vjrose
    vjrose Posts: 809 Member
    I log above and beyond, so serious deep cleaning, or hard yard work. Normal routine no because my job is quite busy so I use housework to compensate for the same level of activity I would have at work.
  • mkvilmin
    mkvilmin Posts: 46
    This is the way I look at it, if I work up a sweat doing it, I get to log it in as exercise.
  • danibrnshug
    danibrnshug Posts: 27
    Out of curiosity, I wore my HRM while I did my weekly picking up and I burned about 125 calories for a little over an hour of light cleaning. I thought that was pretty neat!

    Here's a problem with counting cleaning. Lets just say you burn 100 calories an hour living, not moving, just organs using energy. Now you wear your HRM for cleaning and log 136 calories for the hour of "exercise". Now you would have burned 100 calories with just breathing and laying there over the same hour. So you log the 136 calories as exercise, but in reality it's really just 36 calories more than sitting around. Then you eat back your calories and you're actually 100 over your target. Then people wonder why they aren't seeing results. They're eating above their TDEE, the math is there, embrace it!

    Long story short, too late I know, don't log daily life activities if you want to see maximal results. Just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt. I did successfully lose 140 lbs in 7 months with nothing but diet change and exercise, if that lends credit to my opinion *shrug*. As another friend of mine says, "Success is a choice".

    Good luck!

    -M


    I agree with this!!!!
  • AnitaVolpato
    AnitaVolpato Posts: 204 Member
    I went grocery shopping and shopping for clothing for over 2 hours Sunday. When I got home I was so tired. That was 2 hours of walking so yes I logged it. It wasn't normal activity for me. I only clean house 3 times a week so I log it also. It's not something that I do everyday. The last time I vacuumed I broke out a sweat so yes I am logging it. I am set to sedentary on this site so everything else is calories burned...... :)
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
    Google "non-exercise activity thermogenesis". It adds up. If you have a Fitbit, try one day just getting up and sweeping a floor or doing knee-ups or something for 5 minutes per hour, or for ten minutes, 6 times a day. Compare that day's calorie burn to the day you sat around all day but spent an hour in the gym or on the treadmill. You'll probably find the little bursts of frequent activity add up to more overall calories.

    That said, don't eat it back (unless you do so as a "Fitbit adjustment", which is comparing your Fitbit TDEE to your MFP one and just telling you a difference).

    In MFP when you picked sedentary, lightly active, whatever, it applied a multiplier to BMR to account for these things. Even sedentary people do housework and other normal activities. That's why the estimate of their BMR is 1.2 x BMR. So for me, I'm expected to move enough in a day to burn at least 290 calories above BMR, when set to sedentary. If I put 'active' I think it's .55 x BMR, or 800 calories of non-exercise, non-BMR movement per day for me that's already factored into my deficit.
  • shoesalwaysfit
    shoesalwaysfit Posts: 48 Member
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  • reyopo
    reyopo Posts: 210 Member
    so my question about logging housework is this.....didnt you do housework before or during the time you gained weight?

    Yes. And I also did Zumba, hot yoga, aqua aerobics, walking and everything else I do at the gym...except weight training, and THAT plus calorie counting is how I lost weight. But I am not one who logs housework either...I rarely break a sweat doing it.
  • sabolfitwife
    sabolfitwife Posts: 423 Member
    I did 2 hours of yardwork/gardening and according to MFP I burned 735 kcals. I'll take it! Sure was sweating up a storm! I don't log a simple cleaning up the house session, but something like that that I don't normally do I definitely log.
  • neaneawy
    neaneawy Posts: 146 Member
    I myself do not log housework as exercise as i have always done this diet or no diet!

    I don't log the everyday stuff, but the deep cleaning, cleaning/organizing closets, cleaning carpets, intense food preparation, etc, which are over and above the normal, I log. :flowerforyou:

    Yes, to this. I don't log anything that's part of my everyday norm. That's included in my "lightly active" lifestyle, so you already get cals for not being sedentary. Major deep cleaning days and yard work days really get in the way of also having a typical workout, so I log those as exercise for the day. I usually only log 1/2 or less of the actual hours I spend working. It gets me enough extra cals so I feel like I still eat enough. I've seen the nasty posts too from those that think housework can't be tough enough for exercise. They should mind their own business. Only you know how hard you are actually working. If you feel your heart rate elevated while scrubbing a tub then count it!
  • emilypurplefrog
    emilypurplefrog Posts: 92 Member
    I only log when I'm doing cleaning that involves a lot of moving around or scrubbing. So I really only count it when I'm cleaning my bathroom or cleaning the kitchen and that is something I do not do every day and takes more time than just folding a load or two of laundry and just tiddying up around the house.
  • rlmadrid
    rlmadrid Posts: 694 Member
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    Challenge accepted.
  • wavdawg4
    wavdawg4 Posts: 139 Member
    I'd never really looked at house work at exercise but when I saw that MFP listed house chores as an exercise, I decided to begin logging it. I feel that any activity that helps me burn calories and assists me with my weight loss journey is worthy of listing!! You'd be amazed how many calories are burned by simple chores as vaccumming or mopping!

    That is a good outlook. I wouldn't really think of logging my household chores, but I think you have a point there.. "Any activitity that helps me burn calories and assists me with my weight loss journey is worthy of listing" -- perfect!
  • LeeshaNichole
    LeeshaNichole Posts: 179 Member
    I log house work (not dishes or laundry) because I make it a workout. When I'm vacuuming I jog while pushing the vacuum. When I sweep, mop I also jog. When cleaning toilet, bathtub/shower/sinks I do squats (no weights but still works). I also jog to one part of the house from the other. If I am gonna fold laundry, I do a few lifts of the laundry basket. I am usually sweating pretty good by the end of my house work. Also, if a song (I always listen to music when I clean) comes on the radio that I really like-I start doing aerobic type exercise and stay with that for 10mins (I always set a timer).

    Edit-I also rarely eat back exercise calories.

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