Do you count cleaning as exercise?

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  • domesticduchess
    domesticduchess Posts: 2
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    If you don't think cleaning is an exercise, come work with me for a day. I'll change your mind! lol
  • chelseabuns88
    chelseabuns88 Posts: 77 Member
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    Proper cleaning is exercise, pushing the hoover round for 5 minutes or wiping the work surfaces over quickly, not so much.. but if you clean out a whole room top to bottom, or do the chores all over the house and it's above and beyond your normal daily activity, it is worth counting!

    If you're a very active, fit person, at a healthy weight and you're cleaning for half an hour.. it's more than likely irrelevant to you.. if you're sedentary and obese and struggle with exercise.. cleaning is a real workout! Whether or not to log is a personal choice based on you and your body, but it is undoubtably a form of exercise.

    Either way, there is no perfect formula for weight loss.. If you do these cleaning activities, log your calories, eat them back and you're not losing weight or inches.. reconsider your lifestyle.. If you use these calories to eat a pizza or a cake, etc.. reconsider your motives..
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
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    Straws. Grasping at.

    No.
  • Amberonamission
    Amberonamission Posts: 836 Member
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    In the beginning I did. Every little bit was counted because cleaning for hours was different from sitting on the sofa. Now cleaning like that is a daily mission and I find time to put in a workout every day. I find if I log cleaning I excuse myself from a workout. Can't do that. Every once in a while if I workout then clean like a mad woman for hours' moving furniture, scrubbing stuff, moving boxes, or lots of stairs, I may log. But, that has become more rare.
  • LauraW1219
    LauraW1219 Posts: 71 Member
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    I count it as exercise. It's a sign on the log you're trying. It have motivated me so much that my house is spotless everyday. I use my HRM when I'm cleaning. My average while cleaning is over my fat burning rate you bet I'm going to log it.
  • Micahroni84
    Micahroni84 Posts: 452 Member
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    If its a deep cleaning that isnt done on a daily basis and im sweating, than yes, i count it.
  • trophywife24
    trophywife24 Posts: 1,472 Member
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    No. I don't count anything that I did on a regular basis when I was at my heaviest as exercise.
    I honestly think that a lot of people, especially the ones that eat back their exercise cals, are doing themselves a huge disservice by logging things like cleaning, carrying around a baby, etc on their diaries for extra calories.
  • Micahroni84
    Micahroni84 Posts: 452 Member
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    Straws. Grasping at.

    No.

    It isnt grasping at straws. Its good to always start some where. Especially for those who are significantly over weight. Just moving is a challenge. If anything it gives them a good idea of what kind of activity burns how many calories. Everything is a learning experience when you are trying to lose weight.
  • trophywife24
    trophywife24 Posts: 1,472 Member
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    Straws. Grasping at.

    No.

    It isnt grasping at straws. Its good to always start some where. Especially for those who are significantly over weight. Just moving is a challenge. If anything it gives them a good idea of what kind of activity burns how many calories. Everything is a learning experience when you are trying to lose weight.

    That's true, but unless they're cleaning with a heart rate monitor on, they have no idea what they're really burning. I've found that in general, calorie burns on MFP are highly overestimated.
  • SoViLicious
    SoViLicious Posts: 2,633 Member
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    I am a SAHM, I clean constantly, so no.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    I don't technically enter the minutes I spend cleaning into MFP as exercise. But, I wear a BodyMedia Fit, so the calories I burn cleaning automatically count toward my TDEE, and therefore get imported into MFP whenever I synchronize my device.

    On my big housecleaning day, my TDEE is typically 300-400 calories higher than other days because of the extra effort I exerted while I was cleaning. By that token, I think cleaning *definitely* counts.

    Also, for the record, I hit my goal weight last June and have maintained my weight loss since then using the numbers from my BodyMedia.
  • terra32903
    terra32903 Posts: 185 Member
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    Is cleaning not something you normally do?
  • NutellaAddict
    NutellaAddict Posts: 1,258 Member
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    No its your JOB...just kidding...no I don't add it in.
  • trophywife24
    trophywife24 Posts: 1,472 Member
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    I am a SAHM, I clean constantly, so no.

    lol you are not kidding. I'm sitting here, drinking a coffee *and* wiping the table while I'm sitting at it. Does it ever end?? No.
  • SavageFeast
    SavageFeast Posts: 325 Member
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    I don't count it, because I've been cleaning for many, many years and I remain morbidly obese.
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 764 Member
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    Yes, In fact if I need calories, I would run the vacuum through the whole house and time it.
  • ceannesjourney
    ceannesjourney Posts: 250
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    Get your husband to do the work and see if HE thinks it's hard work and worth it!!! LOL! Yes, I DO count when I spend a LOT of time cleaning because my lifestyle is counted as sedentary so add my exercise calories manually.
  • kluvit
    kluvit Posts: 435 Member
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    Only a major cleanout taking a few hours and requiring hauling boxes and large items...not just regular chores like loading/unloading dishwasher, laundry, etc.
  • Leeanne1974
    Leeanne1974 Posts: 207 Member
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    I do count them!
    Like others have said, I don't log the day to day vacuuming but when I iron for 3 hours or do my Saturday mega clean which takes a good 2-3 hours of hard work i do.
    I lead a very sedentary life normally - I work in an office - and therefore I log my 20 minutes it takes to walk to my office from the car park and back too.
    if no one else likes it then tough, its my mini workout :happy:
  • al369
    al369 Posts: 170 Member
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    I'd rather not log it and have it as extra floaty magical calories than count it and end up over-estimating. Unless I purposefully set out to do a workout, I don't add it.

    lols. This is me.

    But I also have my cals set at 1800. If they were at 1200, I would probably log it because I would be desperate to eat back some cals (I've had it set to 1200 before).

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