Is housework considered excersise?

Jacwhite22

DavPaul says you can burn 1000 calories in 30 minutes cleaning your house if you work hard enough.

ummmmm. no

it's a joke dude.

Thank God. I've heard worse serious statements on here before.

sad part was that there was a guy in a thread telling Dav and I (and well everyone) that's how many calories he burned. but he was also a trainer and an elite athlete (and part transformer too i think) so his burns were different.

Most athletes burn less calories doing the same activities. He was probably just full of crap.

Jacwhite22

so its 3-4 hours of non stop movements, pulling, pushing, going up and down etc. When Im done, I am more tired than after working out.

Are we still talking about cleaning house?

Yes, I move almost every furniture when I clean. You know how heavy my bed is?

Stop flirting Jack is married......how heavy is my bed sheesh:bigsmile:

You guys got issues:). I take cleanning very seriously.

Obviously.....When are you going to come clean my house?

RobinV_Seattle

I tend to agree with this. I only count "intentional" exercise, like working out at the gym or a strenuous walk. I don't even count walking my dogs as exercise, as I don't walk very fast and when I've worn my HRM to check my heart rate was barely up.

See, I count walking the dog. I used to just let her out in the yard. Now I walk her 2-3 times a day.

quelogrammage

i thought this was a little funny!

AlsDonkBoxSquat

Walking doesn't make me sweat unless it's a hot day, but when I walk more than I would normally (when I walk the dogs) I count it despite the fact that I don't find walking to bring on any major muscle contractions. Same thing with cleaning, every day or weekly routine cleaning I don't count because that is part of my regular activity, but major spring cleaning that involves moving furniture, trips into the attic, lugging boxes of **** around my house, and full reorganization (a requirement for my house every 3 - 6 months as it seems nothing truly gets put back in it's place) that is a process of days I log a conservative burn.

Edit: I find that the answer to "what is exercise" is amazingly personal and that people tend to become very judgemental about it (if you don't believe me just look at the first page of responses if you haven't yet). The answer to "what is exercise" is based on where you have your activity level set (the higher your settiing the less daily type of activity you would count individually as it's already set in your base setting), what you are capable of (some people just have a hard time getting out of a chair much less walking a flight of steps or doing some seriously involved cleaning), and finally how honest your are about your exersion level (do you sit back and say "damn I worked hard and am exhausted" or "I think I may have worked pretty hard.")

r0se125

If i do it for an extended period of time and break a sweat i count it. Like when i do "spring cleaning" and move all the furnatiure in all the rooms to vacuum under them and things like that. not when im sitting around folding laundry. lol

caslyn3

get a heart rate monitor.. if you are doing very strenuous work that makes your heart rate rise.. then you are burning calories.

log what the HRM says.

emmamiso5

I say if you sweat when you are doing it and start timer at a certain time and don't stop- it counts! I don't eat them back though.

Ddmck1

I count it when I plan on doing very heavy cleaning (i.e. mopping the floors, scrubbing, moving boxes) I wear my heart rate monitor and I can burn some significant calories doing housework. It should also depend where you activity level is set. I have mine on sedentary.

myfitnessnmhoy

Well, is it? I have been doing fall house cleaning (I mean serious cleaning, including furniture moving) for the past 3 days and I am exhausted. However, I have not logged it as exercise. Given how hungry have been (probably due to the physical exertion) I think it should count for some extra exercise calories I could eat back.

...and if I do count it, how many calories does it actually burn up?

1. You diary, your rules. Don't let people judge what you choose to count for exercise. If you burned it, you earned it. If you decide you earned too much, you'll be able to see for yourself that your weight loss slows down or stops, and you should be open-minded about experimenting and adjusting accordingly.

2. If you have your lifestyle set as sedentary and are moving furniture around, that is FAR more than the activity level expected of a sedentary lifestyle. Since this is, I presume, not a daily activity, you're better off tracking it as extra calories rather than adjusting your lifestyle.

3. There is a cardio exercise called "housekeeping/general", I think. I'd generally log about half to three-quarters the time you spend doing the housework, since in general MFP's exercise database assumes you are doing anything at its maximum effort level continuously.

Most importantly, if you did unusually high levels of exercise for a couple of days and felt unusually hungry - you just answered your own question - feed the machine. Just don't go overboard with it.

DonniesGirl69

Good question, I'm getting my hair cut later on today, can I count this as exercise?

Why be $hitty?

Moving on......

OP, I don't personally count cleaning as exercise, even heavy duty cleaning and furniture moving, but it totally could be counted. I've seen alot of others logging it. It's a lot of effort and exertion, particularly if you're doing it alone.

paleirishmother

I would say no, unless it is not something you do everyday.-- spring cleaning, cleaning out the garage, yard work..etc.

mhouston2011

I think alot of people on here get carried away trying to see how big of a number they can post daily for calories burnt by exercise. I've seen alot of crazy things logged. I don't count house cleaning, cooking...I just look at those as daily activities. If you are that persistent to log it, wear a HRM and input the right numbers and don't use MFP's database. If you clean houses for a living (continously for up to 8 hours a day) then yes you are burning alot of calories cleaning. Dusting furniture, vaccuming, sweeping...don't fret over that..just think of it as a bonus as to what you already burn daily.

BogQueen1

In my humble opinion, housework you do every day, that you include as part of your BMR (say you do enough housework every day to boost you from sedentary to lightly active) then that's already counted for. However if it's something extra that you don't do every day, something you only do once or twice a month and you really work up a sweat and feel tired afterwards? I say count it.

DonniesGirl69

Good question, I'm getting my hair cut later on today, can I count this as exercise?

I love how the men post things like this.. Maybe if they DID house work they would know you can break a big sweat scrubbing the shower and moving the furniture all day.

edit: Not all men... just the majority I know.

AMEN!

On heavy cleaning days, I sweat more in the house with all the work than I do during a 5 mile run!

NikkiGetsFit185

I personally log it as exercise because i only do my "big clean" once a week and that i log under cleaning light, but the normal just tidy up stuff i do not log in, but if i am moving boxes and furniture like you stated then yes because that is outside of what you normally do.

Rdahl2

Good question, I'm getting my hair cut later on today, can I count this as exercise?

Really? Is that really a fair comparison? I get sarcasm, but really? just don't respond if that is the attitude you need to take.

^^^My thoughts exactly^^^ The op had a reasonable question. Always someone around that has to be sarcastic. I count my cleaning as exercise. Hell if im sweating while doing the work i know im burning cals. I try not to eat all those back just because im not sure how accurate the cal burn is that mfp says.

Elzecat

Well, is it? I have been doing fall house cleaning (I mean serious cleaning, including furniture moving) for the past 3 days and I am exhausted. However, I have not logged it as exercise. Given how hungry have been (probably due to the physical exertion) I think it should count for some extra exercise calories I could eat back.

...and if I do count it, how many calories does it actually burn up?

1. You diary, your rules. Don't let people judge what you choose to count for exercise. If you burned it, you earned it. If you decide you earned too much, you'll be able to see for yourself that your weight loss slows down or stops, and you should be open-minded about experimenting and adjusting accordingly.

2. If you have your lifestyle set as sedentary and are moving furniture around, that is FAR more than the activity level expected of a sedentary lifestyle. Since this is, I presume, not a daily activity, you're better off tracking it as extra calories rather than adjusting your lifestyle.

3. There is a cardio exercise called "housekeeping/general", I think. I'd generally log about half to three-quarters the time you spend doing the housework, since in general MFP's exercise database assumes you are doing anything at its maximum effort level continuously.

Most importantly, if you did unusually high levels of exercise for a couple of days and felt unusually hungry - you just answered your own question - feed the machine. Just don't go overboard with it.

This, especially #1.
Do what works for YOU and ignore the snarky responses.

kais79

It depends on your activity level setting. If you told MFP you were sedentary, this would be considered exercise. If you told MFP you were active, and you did this housework in lieu of the normal exercise/sports you would generally do, it would not be considered exercise.

THIS exactly! If you have MFP set to sedentary, doing heavy cleaning like this will definitely increase your caloric burn for the day. Very cut and dry, its biology. Count it.

MSmooth747

Simply NO. Clean is a basic routine. You can not count that and more than you count walking through the parking lot to get to your car.