You can burn calories with housework!

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Replies

  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
    Your body is always burning calories, there has to be a line somewhere of what to count and what not to. I do not log normal routine housework....even loads of laundry up and down the stairs. I figure it's just bonus calories for all the time I've either over logged my calorie burn or underlogged my food intake.

    The only exception I move make is if I'm moving furniture or heavy yard work.
  • DavetheHYNIC
    DavetheHYNIC Posts: 318 Member
    Logging housework is just an half *kitten* excuse that people use for not moving their body by truly exercising. This whole process is about lifestyle change and developing your life to be an active fit person. On my side of MFP land lighthouse cleaners, dog walkers, 15 min xbox players get blasted publicly and then deleted.

    #Itsbigpimpinovaherechurch
  • chatterbox3110
    chatterbox3110 Posts: 630 Member
    Anything over and above my normal daily routine gets logged, especially if I've changed bedding, as I turn a king size mattress and that works up a sweat!
  • DelilahCat0212
    DelilahCat0212 Posts: 282 Member
    I myself do not log housework as exercise as i have always done this diet or no diet!

    I agree.
  • sammniamii
    sammniamii Posts: 669 Member
    Once a month I do a whole house cleaning - roughly 7 hrs worth. I've logged it before, that's alot of moving (or other stuff) plus I live in a long trailer (72' long) so going from one end to the other, putting all the crap the hubby has left out over the last month adds up in alot of extra steps.

    Also, look at yard work, mowing the lawn, gardening, house repairs & the lot. You'd be surprised how much you can burn doing 30min of yard work (mowing & weed-eating/edging).

    And a big freaking "SORRY" to the ones that discredit housework/cleaning and the like as exercise.... if you are just starting out or do a marathon session like I do - it IS a lot. The last time I did mine I wore my FitBit all day - it recorded nearly 560 cals extra burnt (which was after the 400+/- I burnt at the gym before coming home to clean) , which I replaced w/ the "house cleaning, light/moderate". Every little bit counts and it is GETTING you moving and moving equals calories burnt.
  • chellefutch
    chellefutch Posts: 1
    I don't log housework because I don't want it to mess up my calorie counts... especially since I am 9 months pregnant and am taking in more calories than most... and still losing weight.
  • cobracars
    cobracars Posts: 949 Member
    This is the way I look at it, if I work up a sweat doing it, I get to log it in as exercise.

    THIS exactly

    doing dishes and preparing your meal should not break a sweat. For me, mowing the lawn doesn't break a sweat. Raking leaves and digging post holes, yeah, that's harder and unusual work so I may log that as 'exercise'.

    If you want to count literally every little thing you do as burning calories you should set your daily calorie limit to '0' and then you only get to consume the calories you burned off the day before. If you do 1200 calories worth of little b/s jobs then you can eat 1200 calories back for maintenance.
  • mommasox
    mommasox Posts: 97 Member
    It does burn a good amount of calories but I don't log any of them since its part of my daily routine. I do, however, log things like gardening or moving furniture or anything else that I don't normally do.
  • cobracars
    cobracars Posts: 949 Member
    Logging housework is just an half *kitten* excuse that people use for not moving their body by truly exercising. This whole process is about lifestyle change and developing your life to be an active fit person. On my side of MFP land lighthouse cleaners, dog walkers, 15 min xbox players get blasted publicly and then deleted.

    #Itsbigpimpinovaherechurch

    Mostly agree with you, however I do a 1 mile walk at a 3mph pace in the evening and MFP logs 3mph as 'walking dog' even if you don't have a dog with you.
  • bonniecarbs
    bonniecarbs Posts: 446 Member
    I dont usually cook, but when I do I'm cooking and freezing for a week for three and it takes time. I log it. I've got more room to deep clean since I live in a basement apartment now and not a small sky rise, and I have to clean more often, so I log it. One of my MFP friends wrote a nasty note about it; she and one of her friends sent responses back and forth about me, like I was an idiot. I still log it. Like someone else said, I also exercised on my own and went to the gym as I gained weight.
  • JThomas61
    JThomas61 Posts: 892
    Logging housework is just an half *kitten* excuse that people use for not moving their body by truly exercising. This whole process is about lifestyle change and developing your life to be an active fit person. On my side of MFP land lighthouse cleaners, dog walkers, 15 min xbox players get blasted publicly and then deleted.

    #Itsbigpimpinovaherechurch


    "Logging housework is just an half *kitten* excuse that people use for not moving their body by truly exercising. This whole process is about lifestyle change and developing your life to be an active fit person"

    Thank you!!! Well said!
  • DisneyAddictRW
    DisneyAddictRW Posts: 800 Member
    I don't log housework. The only time I log calories burned is if I go above what my normal day is. Cleaning and laundry is part of my regular day. I don't log when I mow our lawn because it's a small area. When I mow at our apartment complex it's 4 hours of push mowing. I do log that not because it's not a regular thing I do. I also wear my body bugg so I can make sure I'm busting butt for those 4 hrs.
  • AnitaVolpato
    AnitaVolpato Posts: 204 Member
    Logging housework is just an half *kitten* excuse that people use for not moving their body by truly exercising. This whole process is about lifestyle change and developing your life to be an active fit person. On my side of MFP land lighthouse cleaners, dog walkers, 15 min xbox players get blasted publicly and then deleted.

    #Itsbigpimpinovaherechurch

    Yeah but some of us are only trying to lose baby weight such as myself. I have never had a weight problem but I have a 10 month old so and stuck in the house now days so housework is a burn for me..... :) I don't think it's a lazy *kitten* excuse especially when I also exercise....and I don't eat back my calories but I am only trying to lose vanity weight... my health is just fine... pffft
  • Raezor1207
    Raezor1207 Posts: 80 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 . . .
    Was I the only one who read this? I was thinking the same thing. Honestly though, I have logged cleaning but only if I did not have time for exercise for that day because I had house and yard work to get done that day. If it is going to take me half the day, I log some of the more strenuous cleaning. But note: my ticker has moved plenty since January because I don't use this as "exercise" all the time.
  • Pedal_Pusher
    Pedal_Pusher Posts: 1,166 Member
    I have my doubts about this.........
  • xgemma87x
    xgemma87x Posts: 18 Member
    I only log housework I do in clients houses (i am a carer) as I see it as extra to what I use to do. :smile:
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    If it didnt keep you from getting fat, it wont help you get unfat.
  • madamepsychosis
    madamepsychosis Posts: 472 Member
    Logging housework is just an half *kitten* excuse that people use for not moving their body by truly exercising. This whole process is about lifestyle change and developing your life to be an active fit person. On my side of MFP land lighthouse cleaners, dog walkers, 15 min xbox players get blasted publicly and then deleted.

    #Itsbigpimpinovaherechurch

    To be fair, I think cleaning a lighthouse would probably burn a lot of calories. Those things are HUGE!

    You burn calories just living. And don't people factor housework, their job (if they have one) and things like that into their 'lifestyle' calories? I know I do.
  • dirtydmvkid
    dirtydmvkid Posts: 184
    I brushed my teeth for 3 minutes today and burned 13 calories. I think I'll log that.
  • TrimAnew
    TrimAnew Posts: 127 Member
    I totally thought this was going to be a referance to an article that someone sent me the other day about how housework kept women in the 1950s so thin...

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2176971/1950s-housewives-kept-slim-burning-calories-housework.html

    Having pushed my grandma's massive ancient hulk of a vacuum around her living room a time or two, I can believe it.

    Not to mention lifting all those cast iron pots and pans.


    ( To be fair to the other gender, when men had more physical and less desk jobs, they too were slimmer. )
  • Panda_1999
    Panda_1999 Posts: 191 Member
    Believe it or not, we are NOT all here for the same reasons. I came to this site to track my food intake after being ill for more than a year (really bedridden for most of that time). And as I have gotten better I am tracking my increasing activity level.

    For me, my focus has been becoming stronger and functional again. Any sustained activity that gets me breathing hard and my heart rate up counts in my book. As things become easier I will be able to raise my general activity level and stop counting some of the activities I count now. But just because you have gotten something done (a clean house) doesn't mean that all the bending, lifting, reaching done in housework isn't also working your body.
  • HartJames
    HartJames Posts: 789 Member
    Are you eating back those cals? If logging any activity keeps you motivated then have at it! The problem arrises when you eat those cals back. I think a good rule of thumb is to eat back purposeful exercise cals. (running, lifting, sports, walking, hiking....)

    I dont usually cook, but when I do I'm cooking and freezing for a week for three and it takes time. I log it. I've got more room to deep clean since I live in a basement apartment now and not a small sky rise, and I have to clean more often, so I log it. One of my MFP friends wrote a nasty note about it; she and one of her friends sent responses back and forth about me, like I was an idiot. I still log it. Like someone else said, I also exercised on my own and went to the gym as I gained weight.
  • taureanbeauty293
    taureanbeauty293 Posts: 22 Member
    I myself have never logged house chores but maybe I'll start if it's something out of the ordinary, like 3 hours of deep cleaning. And 800 calories is no joke! :tongue:
    On a side note, can anyone tell me what a HRM is??

    I don't log it, but a few weeks ago I read this really nasty response about logging exercise so I decided to do a full house clean and wear my HRM just to see.

    In the 3 hours it took to deep clean my kitchen, office, living room and bathroom - I burned over 800 calories. That's more than I would have burned had I gone for a 3 hour walk.

    Still I don't log it, because I did that before I decided to make changes.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    I brushed my teeth for 3 minutes today and burned 13 calories. I think I'll log that.
    Did you floss well and gargle? That'd add 4.15 more calories burnt.
  • tonyaf78
    tonyaf78 Posts: 29 Member
    Before I started MFP, I was for the most part sedentary. I did not clean or cook often. For 3 1/2 months I had tenants or family here that helped with cooking/cleaning while I attended school and studied. Before those 3 1/2 months I was also in a deep depression on top of keeping up with a toddler and very active teenager. So, yes, I do log my cleaning as exercise (this is part of my lifestyle change). I also log shopping as exercise because: a) I am pushing a buggie full with a 30lbs toddler inside, or b) I am out for more than 30 mins. I do not count quick shopping trips, nor do I count showering, fixing hair, brushing teeth, driving, studying, sleeping, or watching tv (which I found a website where you can calculate each of these things) Sometimes, I don't count all of the cleaning that has been done, just the times that i pay attention to the time. And as you can see, it has not affected my weight loss. I have lost these 61lbs since February. I will continue to count my cleaning and cooking calories.

    ** My profile is set to Sedentary and for the most part I do not eat back my exercise calories**
    **I also do other exercise such as Jillian Michael's NMTZ, Zumba, ab workouts, and the occasional weight training session***
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    so my question about logging housework is this.....didnt you do housework before or during the time you gained weight?

    But, you could also ask - "didn't you breath, digest, pump blood, walk around etc" before or during the time you gained weight?

    I think the real question is "do you have your daily activity level set to include tasks around the house?'
    - If you do, don't log housework.
    - If you have it set to sedentary and those chores get you moving a whole lot more than they used to - then log them, eat them, and enjoy!


    For Taureanbeauty:
    HRM = heart rate monitor. Used to measure your heart rate during exercise and can estimate calories burned during exercise.

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