does scrubbing kitchen floor count in excercise?

sheri3762
sheri3762 Posts: 159
edited September 20 in Recipes
Hi everyone,
Ok, so I worked out this morning and I was gonna do turbo jam for a while tonight, but I decided to scrub my kitchen and dining room floor. Needless to day, 2 hours later and i'm finished, so I looked it up on a calorie burn counter and it said I burned 512 calories!!! Can I include this in my excercise count since its not something i do everyday (like housecleaning, etc.) I sure hope so!!!!! If thats the case, my house is gonna be pretty clean in the next few weeks!!!!lol

Replies

  • trollorbust
    trollorbust Posts: 18 Member
    Yes!! i would count it... and when you are done. I have some floors you can scrub too!! just tring to help! :)
  • DrBorkBork
    DrBorkBork Posts: 4,099 Member
    Hey, if you're sweating and panting and a little sore, it's fair game! MFP actually has "cleaning, light housework" under cardio. So go for it, and reward yourself while you're at it!
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
    Scrubbing is hard work. I would go ahead and add it in. To be on the safe side, you might want to underestimate the time a bit.
  • deedeehawaii
    deedeehawaii Posts: 279 Member
    I don't know your weight, but in anoth er post you said you want to loose about 50 pounds. So, let say you weigh 180. According to http://www.dietbites.com/Pyramid-Diet/calories-burned-actvity-index.html, a 180 pound person burns 113 calories every 15 minutes. The amount of calories burned depends on your weight. The site lists calories for specific activities, and how many calories it takes to maintain a certain weight (helpful, so that you know what you need to go BELOW in order to lose weight).
  • ccounts
    ccounts Posts: 57
    Yes, I would definitely count it. In fact, I wish our exercise list to choose from contained a comprehensive list of household and yardwork chores. :smile:
  • ccounts
    ccounts Posts: 57
    I just looked up the chart you mentioned and it's very helpful. I've added it to my favorites bar so I can quickly refer to it when tracking my exercise calories. Thanks!:flowerforyou:
  • deedeehawaii
    deedeehawaii Posts: 279 Member
    I just looked up the chart you mentioned and it's very helpful. I've added it to my favorites bar so I can quickly refer to it when tracking my exercise calories. Thanks!:flowerforyou:
    Good morning CCounts! You might like this one, too: [http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm] DeeDee
  • PattyTheUndefeated
    PattyTheUndefeated Posts: 302 Member
    Honestly, I wouldn't. Because it's a household chore and something you have to do anyway whether you are trying to get in shape or not. I think counting in everyday things like that are a bit of an excuse to not exercise. I could say, "Well, I just washed the dishes, did the laundrey, got groceries so why exercise today?". You need to do more than what you are normally accustomed to doing even if you busted your butt cleaning those floors. I would just see the floor scrubbing as extra calories burned but I wouldn't skip a workout. You'll only get yourself in the mindset that you can avoid exercise by keeping yourself busy with other things.

    :-)
  • kimber607
    kimber607 Posts: 7,128 Member
    I wouldn't
    I don't count casual walking, shopping in the mall, cleaning my house (and I have 3 floors)

    Kim
  • mrsbeck
    mrsbeck Posts: 234 Member
    I'm on Team No as well. I don't log anything that I do on a daily or weekly basis. Walking the dog, vacuuming, laundry...I do all of those things regularly, my body is expecting them, and is used to them. Housework is a low-intensity activity. It's not going to get your heart rate high enough for long enough. I wore my HRM every time I cleaned for a couple of weeks, and my calories burned were way lower than the amount the exercise log said I burned. I did log housework once--that was the day I spent six hours switching two rooms. Everything from one into the other and vice versa. I decided I was getting a couple hundred calories credit that day.

    Re-reading your post...well, if it was significantly more activity than you would have in a normal day, maybe log half the time?
  • DeeDeeLHF
    DeeDeeLHF Posts: 2,301 Member
    I would log half of it!!
This discussion has been closed.