To count or not to count?

MelissaLu
MelissaLu Posts: 83
edited September 20 in Fitness and Exercise
Just curious, is it pretty much pointless to count the calories I burn in cleaning? Sorry if this has already been answered before, I tryed searching but I couldn't find anything on it.. Really sorry if this is a stupid question.

Replies

  • CoachJ77
    CoachJ77 Posts: 80 Member
    I wouldn't count it. I would just say you live a low activity lifestyle if you clean daily and not add it to your calorie count. I figure, though you are burning calories cleaning, let those be those extra cals burnt you dont think about and you will lose weight faster!
  • MelissaLu
    MelissaLu Posts: 83
    Ahaha, very smart way of thinking. Thanks very much for your response! I was beginning to think: yeah, that was a stupid question xD
    I think when I'm new to something, I tend to be a little overzealous
  • acureese
    acureese Posts: 169
    it's not a stupid question, I wondered the same thing before :smile: If it's small cleaning i don't add it, but if it's my day off and it's spring-cleaning-mode time and I'm cleaning for an hour or two, I tend to add it:flowerforyou:
  • kwardklinck
    kwardklinck Posts: 1,601
    It's not a stupid question at all. It's all very confusing at times. I only count the exercise I set out to do. I don't count work at all. I am set at lightly active though so it works for me.
  • nomuffintop
    nomuffintop Posts: 24
    Thats not a stupid question at all....when I did weight watchers housework was given a bonus point value just like anyother excercise :heart:
  • sparklebritches
    sparklebritches Posts: 46
    I count it if it were something I set out to do on an off day--like 5-6 hours of garage clean up. But as far as my everyday cleaning and child chasing as a SAHM...I just set my calorie count to active and I'd say it's included.

    I'm afraid I'd sabotage myself if I tried to add in extras on top of scheduled exercise.
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    I'll echo most of the others to say that I don't tend to count stuff like that. My lifestyle is set to "lightly active" to capture all of the walking and cleaning and whatnot that I do (I don't have a car, so I probably walk a bit more than a lot of people). Now, if I spent all day helping a friend move boxes into a new apartment or all day cleaning the garage, I would probably count it!
  • heather_boyd
    heather_boyd Posts: 53
    I would say that once you've been on for a while, you get a "feel" for where you stand... If you're consistently eating right around your calorie goal, including exercise calories, but your weight loss isn't in line with the projections, then you're either not counting enough calories burned or you're over-estimating your activity levels.
  • MelissaLu
    MelissaLu Posts: 83
    Oh, wow, thanks so much for all the replies! You guys are so helpful ^_^
  • coold
    coold Posts: 85
    haha!!! u can tell i'm new here b/c i was logging in 30 minutes of cleaning just to earn a few extra calories!:bigsmile: not sure that's a smart thing to keep doing after reading this!!!:huh: haha...thanks!!!
  • Nich0le
    Nich0le Posts: 2,906 Member
    if you do a little each day then no, you should just count it as your lifestyle but I have seen people count it if they do all of thier cleaning and yardwork in one day.
  • usmcwifeb15
    usmcwifeb15 Posts: 470 Member
    I always count my cleaning! I clean every two weeks and it takes me anywhere from 5 to 8 hours to do my house top to bottom. I say if it's like this than definately count it. On my cleaning days I do a light workout in the morning and then I'm pretty much cleaning for the rest of the day.
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