Cleaning Calories?!?

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  • heypurdy
    heypurdy Posts: 196 Member
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    You're not the only one. I don't get it either.
  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
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    That's nothing, I log 1 calorie each time i open the fridge, you don't even wanna know how many calories I burn blinking :wink:

    I'm sorry...I just about blew water on the monitor after reading that. LMAO! :laugh:
  • VorJoshigan
    VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
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    I feel a little bit sad for the people doing it. I don't think it's a successful fitness or weightloss strategy. That being said, it's really none of my business.

    Now that I think about it though, I don't think I'm friends with anybody who does that anymore.
  • muffle1969
    muffle1969 Posts: 96 Member
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    Generally I do not log cleaning. However, when I spent 90 minutes scrubbing the tile floor in the den, I absolutely logged it, since I was sweating like I'd just come off the treadmill. I was even sore the next day.

    I also tend to log rehearsal with my 80s rock and new wave band; however, I'll call it 90 minutes of slow walking for four hours of practice. I just know that with all the equipment moving and jumping around I'm getting actual exercise. In this case, I'm likely underestimating, but I'm okay with that. :)

    I have also logged particularly exuberant sex. (Not the man-on-top-get-it-overwith-quick type.) I think that's my favorite exercise. :D
  • morningmud
    morningmud Posts: 477 Member
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    I don't log it unless it's a super-intense cleaning session, which I think has happened once. I really just wore my HRM that time to see what the burn was and just logged around 1/2 of what it said. Yard-work, however, I log as my HR usually get above target range during those activities.
  • meredith1123
    meredith1123 Posts: 843 Member
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    I dont log every ounce of cleaning I do either.
    What i do log for cleaning however is if I am doing vigorous cleaning for a job. sometimes I help a friend with her business - she cleans post construction buildings after they are done being built and boy is that a work out - and its always 5 to 8 hours at a time. It's the real dirty kind of cleaning. .... not the 'hey my floors need to be mopped' kind of cleaning.
    That's the only cleaning I log. I dont feel I burn enough for cleaning just on a regular basis. I couldnt imagine how fat i'd be if i logged those. Hell I already struggle losing weight, i'd hate to try and count those calories earned just from normal cleaning around my house! lol
  • hollybug1016
    hollybug1016 Posts: 8 Member
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    I have a full time office job so I am sitting in front of a computer a lot. I also have a husband & daughter to take care of. Most days this means that I can't get out & do a traditional work out. The majority of my activity comes from cooking, cleaning, laundry etc... I dont log those specific activities but I wear a Fitbit and that tracks it for me. It's surprising how many calories I am able to burn on a daily basis just being a wife & mother. As long as you're moving, you're burning. It may not be much and it may not be impressive but it's all some of us are practically able to do. Every little bit counts. :)
  • MystikPixie
    MystikPixie Posts: 342 Member
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    It counts if you really really clean hard. But the way I've seen most people clean I can't imagine them burning as many calories as they say. But it's still movement, it counts.
  • FitCowgirl8
    FitCowgirl8 Posts: 175 Member
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    I don't log cleaning anymore although I have to say when I started my journey I did. I logged cleaning and yardwork and everything I did. Maybe not the best strategy but it got me motivated and kept me adding new things and now I have a workout routine at the gym 5 days a week. So maybe for some if they get the support instead of judgement they will keep going and add more and more activity to their days. Everyone has to start somewhere. Also, I have to say any sort of activity no matter how menial is a lot better than sitting in front of the TV with a bag of chips so good for them for not hiring someone else to come in and clean their house so they didn't have to. And I agree with a lot of previous posters that sometimes cleaning can be quite a workout depending on what exactly you are doing...
  • tami101
    tami101 Posts: 617 Member
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    When I first started on MFP I was not physically fit enough to do long heavy workouts. Discovering that I can use cleaning as a way to burn some calories helped motivate me to get off my butt. I also lost weight eating back those exercise calories. NONE of my friends on my FL judged me for it. That's why they are my friends! I'm glad you're not my friend. Now that I am able to sustain longer workouts, I no longer log those calories. Of course, if my friends log the cleaning calories, I do not judge them. Instead, I cheer them on! Everyone has to start somewhere.
  • damaged_glitter
    damaged_glitter Posts: 14
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    I log some cleaning, but not all. I look at the 1200 calorie allowance that MFP gives me as just enough calories to maintain myself if I don't move at all. I think logging cleaning is fine, if it is actual physical labor. Dish washing probably not worth logging, vacuuming, hanging laundry on the line and weeding, yes.
  • MiNiMoNkI
    MiNiMoNkI Posts: 447 Member
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    If I can get up and do anything today I'll log it. Usually I don't worry about what other people do, I figure it's their business.

    HERE HERE!
  • marsellient
    marsellient Posts: 591 Member
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    My question for the OP is this: Did those "friends" of yours meet their goals?
  • raspberryblonde
    raspberryblonde Posts: 40
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    I'm a hotel manager, so much of my day is spent in the lightly-active category, but on those occasions when we're really busy and it's all-hands-on-deck, I might be cleaning rooms, making beds, or wrestling with industrial laundry machines. I log these as exercise, because they are over and above my normal daily activities. I do not, however, log my everyday home cleaning activities, unless they are especially strenuous.

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