444 calories burned in 43 minutes!

tami101

When I first joined mfp, I logged the exercise calories and ate them back! I lost weight doing this too. I stopped logging them because as I was losing weight I was able to do longer workouts and burned a sufficient amount of calories from my actual "exercise". However, it has occured to me while reading through this thread, I have not been losing weight as fast as I did when I was logging those calories. Maybe I will try logging them again and see what happens. For you, I would suggest to go ahead and log them and if you find you are not losing weight, then stop. Another bonus is my house has never been as clean as it has been in this last year! Best of luck to you!

jelr

You cannot really open a topic on the internet and say : "but please only those comment who totally agree with me". It is not going to work trust me

This, I am sorry if not everyone responded to the poster as she hoped but if she wanted pat on the back she should have posted in motivation and support. You posted in fitness and exercise and some of us do not want people getting the wrong impression that including things that already add up in your total daily expenditure as exercise. Cleaning, is a routine task in our lives and should be considered when you are figuring your activity level of sedentary/active/moderately active/etc. I understand that someone bigger may be receiving a higher calorie burn effect from such tasks but still this is all factored already or should be. I clean my house throughout the day daily including vaccuming atleast twice a day, doinbg baseboards/molding/dusting in one room of my house a day, my kitchen several times a day, multiple loads of laundry a day, bathrooms every other day, etc. I also don't count things like playing with my children as exercise whether i take them to the park and help them climb up the roller slide stairs 50 times or just chase them around. It's what keeps me from considering myself as sedentary.

chrishgt4

She was not rude or negative - she was giving out information. It just went against what the OP wanted to hear is the only issue.

One point she made which I think needs re-iterating is whenever calculating these numbers - you must remember that you would have burned some calories in that time anyway as part of your TDEE. So work out what that is and deduct it from calories burned.

chrishgt4

I just started MFP and have been reading these message boards and I think it's really sad how many people want to be negative, rude, and tear someone down on their fitness/weightloss journey ESPECIALLY on a board and site that is meant to inspire, encourage, and build each other up!!! Who cares about the actual science and blah blah blah blah blah?!?!?!?! If this person has worked her tail off, upped her heartrate, and broken a sweat and feels good and proud of herself then let her be proud!!!!! Reading these comments as well as ones from other boards has made me realize that the only participation I want with MFP is my app on my phone because apparently there's no empathy and common respect and consideration here.

You SHOULD care about the science! It's extremely important!

Would you rather people ignore the misinformation, you then follow that misinformation and then wonder why you're not losing weight?

jelr

Besides this topic has already been brought up several times and it's always the same science being discussed. No one wants to see you fail and so they want you to consider certain things when it seems you may not be taking them into account. THis really all depends how you have your stuff set up, whether you are saying you are sedentary, etc, how your calorie deficits are figured, if you eat back or not and so forth.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/642480-is-it-really-exercise-or-am-i-cheating?hl=cleaning+exercise&page=5#posts-9308726

KKabo

I just started MFP and have been reading these message boards and I think it's really sad how many people want to be negative, rude, and tear someone down on their fitness/weightloss journey ESPECIALLY on a board and site that is meant to inspire, encourage, and build each other up!!! Who cares about the actual science and blah blah blah blah blah?!?!?!?! If this person has worked her tail off, upped her heartrate, and broken a sweat and feels good and proud of herself then let her be proud!!!!! Reading these comments as well as ones from other boards has made me realize that the only participation I want with MFP is my app on my phone because apparently there's no empathy and common respect and consideration here.

I agree, I don't even add friends anymore b/c of all the self righteousness going on! OP- You're doing great! Losing weight is all about moving more and eating less no matter how you do it!

StefieLou

I don't log my normal day to day picking up around the house . . . . but I DO count my Saturday housework; doing laundry, going up and down the stairs a bunch of times to the laundry room. Then sorting and putting away the laundry, vacuuming, lots of dishes, etc. I spend a LOT of my Saturday getting the house put back together, so I usually do count some (not all) of that time towards exercise.
This past weekend even included snow shoveling.

firelle

Agree with the fact that this activity shouldn't be part of your count, since wearing HRM all the time does give false hope, BUT...

I do only burn like 30 or so doing nothing for 15-20 minutes. And you did burn a decent amount doing 30 Day Shred, so I totally believe in what you're doing.
However, if this is going to be an activity you choose to do more often/routine to complete your 7k in 7 goal (heh, when I was more active I did the same thing), then after awhile I would adjust your activity level to light instead of sedentary to compensate. Just makes things a little easier. (I do work out intensely, but very sporadically, so I'm sedentary.)

allforthethrill

I think a lot of this has gotten out of hand and some people have made some assumptions which just aren't true.

To clear everything up, I log the calories I burn from exercise and some cleaning. Vacuuming, mopping, running around picking general stuff up. When I do log cleaning I make a conscious effort to really put in 110%, not just walk around casually, so I get my heart rate up and begin to sweat. I do not log dishes, etc. because I know it would be inaccurate.

I DO NOT eat back my calories, I just like to log them here for future reference and it also encourages me to get up and do something, like a game. It works for me to do this, which is why I'm not too worried about the burn estimate being 25% inaccurate because like I said, I don't eat back those calories.

Lastly, I didn't post this somewhere else because I do consider it to be exercise due to being up and moving, maybe someone else might really put 110% in and do the same as I did.

Calif_Girl67

i totally understand but another factor you are not considering is you were not doing STEADY STATE cardio/aerobic exercise. you did not hold your heart rate at a constant elevated number for an extended period of time. HRMs use formulas and estimates and if you were at 135bpm for 5 minutes then 155bpm for 7 minutes then back down to 130bmp for 5 minutes (and so on and so on), it will not be accurate.

you should also not count the calories you would burn anyway in those 43 minutes if you were not doing anything. a HRM would count those calories so technically you are double counting those.

basically, all i'm trying to say is a HRM should be used as a tool to measure heart rate. the fact that it gives you the estimated calorie burn is just a bonus. it is a tool designed to make your workouts more effective by monitoring your heart rate while in physical activity. you can push yourself harder or take it down a notch based on your heart rate which shows how hard you are working.

as an avid runner and someone who has used a HRM for many years, i can tell you right now...my weight loss had VERY little to do with how many calories i was burning. it wasn't until i changed my diet and focused more on how many calories i was consuming that i started to see the lbs coming off.

just sayin'...that's all.

I think you have been misinformed. I've been using an HRM for non-cardio exercise for many years (4+) and I do believe if you have a good HRM - I have one which I can do a fitness test with to gauge my own calorie expenditure at rest so can tell me with a greater degree of accuracy my caloric burn from activities that do not meet your very narrow criteria for HRM use and I've been eating back happily calories I burn and been loosing about a pound a week since I started this year.

What is more, while I am heavier today than I was 8 years ago I'm fitter and slimmer today.

I've read all that the various forum discussions on HRM and they are very useful but calorie burn is a calculation of exertion and if you are working up a sweat be it by sitting in a sauna, running or cleaning you are expending calories. If someone is able to stay consistently within their target heart rate zone (over 120bpm) then they will have a decently accurate calorie burn estimate regardless of activity.

You are correct you results will be better when you start watching what you consume so if you eat back the 300 calorie burn in an ice-cream bar you will still see the same weight loss as if you ate a nice big salad. But you are likely not to shift the inches so regardless of what the scale says you won't like like you want.

To the OP: WTG - clean baby clean!! Just remember the HRM is an estimate as much as the calorie counts you get on a ready meal so probably try and keep some wriggle room in the consumption.

What kind of HRM do you have ? Im in the market for a new one !
Thanks

samanthawardle31

I dont know about the maths but I can break a pretty good sweat hoovering the whole house/mopping the floors and changing beds. A light clean I dont log but a good clean counts! I am always under my calories so I dont think any exercise = lots more food.

samanthawardle31

Surely any activity that increases the heart rate is good and should be commended not criticised!

concordancia

My most intense cleaning is that occasional straightening. Getting all the lose ends into there proper place in olives running up and down the stairs more than usual, bending over to his things in the drawers under the laundry machines and the wine cabinet...

Calif_Girl67

Exercise is exercise as long as you are burning calories and even sweating, some people don't sweat when exercising
simply because thats how there body operates. I have logged cleaning before using a HRM as well. I even know people that have used there HRM to see exactly how many calories they have burned through out the day and while sleeping.

I say to each there own, what ever works for you hen do it, don't criticize !!

Clean on !!

mazdauk

If you work f/t and give the whole house a proper clean at the weekend, that is going to use more calories than someone who is home all day and tidies around for a few minutes at a time.

I say log it! And if after a time you find you're not losing - stop logging!

I'm just impressed with anyone who puts a lot of effort into cleaning (surely that's what husbands are for? )