Cleaning as Exercise?

conkle23

So I do not mean to sound rude, or unmannerly. But who hear actually considers cleaning an exercise. I mean cool, your cleaning and losing calories, but I do not include it as an exercise. I believe that some people ( NOT MOST or ALL) use it as an excuse to not going to the gym. .I would love some positive or negative opinions on this. Very skeptical.

AliciaNorris81

For me, it is not logged very often.If I am rearranging furniture, cleaning the bottom of the pool, scrubbing walls, etc. If it make me break a sweat for a significant amount of time, I will log it. However, I only log for HALF of the time...I don't want to cheat myself in the end. I could log it every day if I wanted to, I run a daycare...and if you have ever had to follow 5 kids and clean up after them all day long, you would understand the sweat in that. But, I just set my activity level to active.

I guess in the end of it all, I don't particularly care what people are logging...if they are losing and staying healthy then they are doing something right. Not my business.

holly1283

I was a good wife and mother not so with cleaning. That said I do count it because it is not part of my daily routine.

conkle23

And I can totally understand that. But I think some people are using it as an excuse or to get out of something. Not saying you ladies. But I know some guys that do it too.

crafterpaula

on the days i dont exersize i use my cleaning or gardening as my exersize I have a heart monator that i put on and it tracks how many cals i burn and the time and it works I not say you should 'nt exersize but its a good suppalment !:devil:

JoolieW68

If I don't feel like exercising, then I don't exercise, and I don't use something else in its place.

As a general rule I don't log routine cleaning as exercise. But if I know I'm going to do something above and beyond the norm (like vacuuming every square inch of carpeting in my 2000+sq ft 4-bedroom 2-story house, including the stairs and moving furniture AND vacuuming the furniture), then yeah, I will wear my HRM and log it.

What does it matter to anyone else what I log anyway? It's my fitness quest, not anyone else's. If I want to log brushing my teeth, I will.

dandaninc

I suppose if you are wearing an HRM and clean continuosly for a period of time your HRM will tell you if you burned calories or not so yes I say track it.

LorinaLynn

Normal household duties? I don't log them.

The massive cleaning I do before the inlaws visit (we have seven cats and they're allergic, so I have to clean EVERYWHERE)... I log that. If I'm moving the couch and dining room table, taking down the curtains, climbing a ladder to get the ceiling fan blades, etc... that's work.

But when I first started, I logged everything. I was coming out of a major depression where I was very sedentary. I logged the walking I did while shopping. It motivated me to do more. "If I can burn XXX calories strolling the mall for an hour, what if I went for a long power walk for an hour?!" That motivated me to be a more active person, and switch my settings from sedentary to lightly active, so I no longer logged everything.

In short... if what someone is doing is working for them, don't knock it. If they're on here complaining they're not losing weight and they're logging 300 calories burned in 20 minutes of dusting the china cabinet... then you can say something.

eddieharrisjr

From a personal trainer standpoint, I can attest that cleaning is very much an exercise. Truthfully as long as your body is in motion, you will be burning some amount of calories. Actually you burn sitting still. Obviously in both cases you wouldn't burn in the exact same manner or maybe even as much as you would doing concentrated exercise, cardio, etc. I do agree with you, however, some people do use it as an excuse. That being said, the only person that is hurt by that is the individual. Personally if I do a considerable amount of housework, washing the car, shoveling snow, etc, I do track it, but it is not the bulk of my workouts tracked. In the end, calories burned is calories burned, as weight lost is weight lost, the combination of working out, and eating healthy is what gets you there ultimately.

claire7090

I count cleaning as an exercise, but I don't record the full time. Eg - if I am having my weekly big top to bottom clean of the house I would log 2 maybe 3 hours, I have actually cleaned for 5+ hours. I still go to the gym when the kids are at school ( can't go when they have holidays as I have no-one to care for them during the day).
I have reached my target weight and lost 3 dress sizes and I am now successfully maintaining so I am guessing that logging cleaning and eating back calories did not do me any harm!

conkle23

And I diffidently agree with what all you are saying. But I am saying as the aspect of using as an excuse though. Because I know people personally who do it, why I brought it up in the first place. I know when you sleep your burning calories, your burn calories no matter what you do.

I also believe in pushing people to their hardest. It has helped my friends out tons of time. And if SOME people have the mind set that all they have to do is clean everyday to get that 200 to 600 calories then they will be just fine I disagree.

kittyhasclaws

I definitely don't do it for normal household chores (vacuuming, dishes, etc), but lately I've been counting it because I'm packing to move, so I'm hauling boxes around, tromping up and down stairs, up and down a step ladder... Those are the type of things I count under "cleaning".

ProjFit

I only ever log my cleaning when It takes me more than one hour and i know Im going to break a sweat. Once a month or once every couple weeks I will do a HUGE cleaning on my place and I end up burning like 500calories and breaking a great sweat.. so ya, I usually log those.

fteale

It depends how hard you are cleaning.

twaltemade

I let my fitbit count it...they are steps. I am also set up as sedentary.

I am working in the yard today and I will count those steps too.

(i still went to the gym for over 6 hours this week, so I don' do it in lieu of exercise. However, I count it)

Chunk2206

I count cleaning not the full amount of time and I always put it as light cleaning even when i'm moving furniture to clean behind it. I'm burning calories so why not? I also do walking, tae bo, elliptical and have started doing C25K.

I don't think it matters how people burn calories as long as they are. Some people live in the middle of nowhere and going to a gym isn't an option.

At least people are doing something that's physical and that's better than nothing.

Purple_Orchid_87

my lifestyle is set to sedetary - i have a desk job
recently i clearned my house from top to bottom, and took a total of 4 hours which MFP told me was over 700cals but i only logged 2 hrs AND lowered the 350+ cals to a little over 200 to make sure I didnt cheat myself

I think if ur active in your life, then it wouldnt be included, but if ur sedetary i thought it counts

kaotik26

I logged it a couple of weeks ago because I cleaned out the sheds in my backyard. Moving heavy stuff, rearranging, scrubbing, that kind of stuff I think is a benefit to my day as far as being active. Doing dishes and vacuuming and such that I do every day? No at all. Basically if its burning under 100 calories I don't bother to log it. I think it depends on what kind of shape you are in though. Like if somebody is normally pretty sedentary it's not going to take as much for them to burn off a few calories than others who are more active.

fteale

To put it into perspective, going on my HRM, I burn twice as many calories an hour cleaning as I do doing a zumba class, and I see people logging that all the time.

otrlynn

And I diffidently agree with what all you are saying. But I am saying as the aspect of using as an excuse though. Because I know people personally who do it, why I brought it up in the first place. I know when you sleep your burning calories, your burn calories no matter what you do.

I also believe in pushing people to their hardest. It has helped my friends out tons of time. And if SOME people have the mind set that all they have to do is clean everyday to get that 200 to 600 calories then they will be just fine I disagree.

IMO, people log the calories burned during housework, child care, and yard work because they are, in fact, burning calories. I would not dream of passing judgement on someone--implying that they are using their cleaning activities as an excuse for not formally exercising. Yes, one can get in shape with eating a healthy diet, walking, cleaning, gardening, playing with kids, etc., without ever stepping into a gym or using an exercise video. In fact, when you think about it--exercising in a gym appears to be a fairly recent phenomenon. Our ancestors who most likely made their living doing manual labor had no need for "exercise".

conkle23

Yes not everyone can lose weight washing dishes and vacuuming.

mommyhof3

My house is always clean. My kids do chores every day to keep it that way. So when I go on a cleaning binge I wear my HRM and I CLEAN. I get down and scrub. I work up a good sweat. Those are the calories I count. Not the ones from making my bed or doing the dishes.

stockholmhasago

The only time I'd consider it exercise for me is when I do three or four loads of laundry.

But I live on the top floor of an apartment, and the laundry room is at the bottom, and so every thirty minutes I'm running up and down several flight of stairs.

But even then, it doesn't get logged.

zenchild

My normal routine is 9 hours at work, come home, work out, eat dinner, clean a bit, shower, sleep. Lather, rinse, repeat. Today I got up, spent an hour cleaning the kitchen, swept half the house, worked out, ran errands, and cleaned some more. I'll bet I burned more calories today than I did yesterday. And I'm going to count it. I don't log the 20 minutes of general straightening that I do every evening or the little bits I do every day to keep the house livable. But if I spend an hour (sometimes up to six hours) cleaning and cooking and doing other assorted domestic stuff, I'm going to count it. I work up a sweat and get my heart rate up. I don't see why it has to be formal exercise to count. If I can burn some calories AND my is clean, I win.

sweetsoonergirl

It's better than sitting but it's not an excuse to not challenge your body with real exercise.

MFPBrandy

My settings are based on a sedentary, butt-in-chair job M-F. So yeah, I give myself credit for household stuff that keeps me moving and lifting. But why does it bother you to think other people are using it as a "cheat" to get out of going to the gym? They're either doing what works for them or not, but it shouldn't affect you...so who cares? I don't analyze people's workouts and wonder if they really walked 3.5 MPH, or if they're giving themselves credit for walking faster than they are.

NewChristina

If I don't feel like exercising, then I don't exercise, and I don't use something else in its place.

As a general rule I don't log routine cleaning as exercise. But if I know I'm going to do something above and beyond the norm (like vacuuming every square inch of carpeting in my 2000+sq ft 4-bedroom 2-story house, including the stairs and moving furniture AND vacuuming the furniture), then yeah, I will wear my HRM and log it.

What does it matter to anyone else what I log anyway? It's my fitness quest, not anyone else's. If I want to log brushing my teeth, I will.

Exactly :grumble:

FungusTrooper

I'm going to start logging "poking through other people's diaries for things to complain about" as an exercise.

RealWomenLovePitbulls

I log cleaning only when I am doing like extreme cleaning (not every day cleaning) and I still do my exercise for the day, however, i don't go to the gym at all. I have an elliptical at my house that I use and go for walks with my dog for exercise.

for example, the other day, i deep cleaned my carpets and was moving furniture in and out of the rooms and things like that, plus I actually worked up a little bit of a sweat... and this was out of the ordinary cleaning, so I did log it. But i don't try to log loading the dishwasher every day or anything like that. That's kind of like people who want to log their jobs... if it's not something different than what you do every day, how is it supposed to change anything?

nicholjenny

Hmmmmm..... Cleaning is really hard work. You bet it's exercise!

Mellie289

And I diffidently agree with what all you are saying. But I am saying as the aspect of using as an excuse though. Because I know people personally who do it, why I brought it up in the first place. I know when you sleep your burning calories, your burn calories no matter what you do.

I also believe in pushing people to their hardest. It has helped my friends out tons of time. And if SOME people have the mind set that all they have to do is clean everyday to get that 200 to 600 calories then they will be just fine I disagree.

I'm a busy person and some weekends, I have a choice between doing exercise or cleaning. Lately, exercise has been winning, so I won't invite anyone over, but I am going to have to sacrifice a workout soon for cleaning. I'm sure I will burn as many calories. I don't understand why that's an issue - if I'm eating under my TDEE and I burn 200-600 calories doing squats, lifting and walking, but it's with a vacuum in my hand instead of my hand weights, what's the problem? I'm still burning calories and working muscles - just not in a highly repetitive fashion.

I've never seen someone have cleaning everyday as the workout, but if someone has had a sedentary lifestyle for a long time, that may be a huge change for them and just as much of a workout as following a video or going to the gym for them.