Do you count house/yard work or shopping as exercising??

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Replies

  • lieselLalor
    lieselLalor Posts: 169 Member
    I log if I am shoveling snow because that REALLY kicks my butt. I don't really do any other yard work and I'm constantly cleaning so I don't feel like I could log it reasonably. I wish I knew how many calories I burn at work because there are some days I know I've burned at least 500 calories with all the running around I do.
  • tidesong
    tidesong Posts: 451 Member
    If it's things I do around the house every day, then no. If it's something I don't normally do but work up a good sweat doing so, then sometimes.
  • sarahthin
    sarahthin Posts: 210 Member
    Housework that brings a sweat or stretches my muscles and joints. Yes. The same with yard work. Having had two knee surgeries, a lot of the movements are about the same as my rehab was. After a while even getting us becomes an exercise.
  • Seachicken84
    Seachicken84 Posts: 98 Member
    When you set up your profile at MFP it asks what level of activity you have in your life low being a couch potato mid being moderately active and high is pretty self explanatory. Now I may have the exact details wrong but the generalities are accurate. In my opinion non strenuous housework/yard work is already factored into the middle and high ranges. If like some have mentioned you work up a sweat, then count some of that cleaning. But some of it is already calculated into your formula MFP uses to spit out a colorie intake for you.
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,749 Member
    When I shoveled for 2 hours in the winter time I absolutely counted that as exercise and if I get roped into doing other stuff outside around the house where I am lifting, straining and breaking a sweat I will count that too.

    House work I count when I do a big clean which takes me 5 hours.
  • RenCara
    RenCara Posts: 300 Member
    cleaning the house, no. mowing the law, yes. my rule is that if i do something around the house, and should shower afterwards b/c of sweating so much, i count it. on my feed i see all types of stuff that people count...cleaning, food prep, stuff like that. to each his/her own, i guess. for me, if i should shower after, it counts.


    That's a great way to determine if it is worthy of logging. I have never logged cleaning, shopping or food prep. but I do log snow shoveling and the yard work that is extensive.
  • alyssa92982
    alyssa92982 Posts: 1,093 Member
    Ha! Funny I seen this I just counted mowing the yard today for a calorie burner. I also count shoveling snow. If its something that gets my heart rate up them I wear my monitor and count it for sure.
  • MandaPaigeSparkles88
    MandaPaigeSparkles88 Posts: 1,289 Member
    Yes I don't care if I am walking around Walmart shopping or cleaning, dusting, and stocking the pop and beer coolers at work if I am walking and moving I count it.
  • ddky
    ddky Posts: 381 Member
    Nothing gets my heart rate up like a 70% off sale. Two or three hours walking around the malls also counts for something. Sometimes I log it, sometimes not.
  • parias1126
    parias1126 Posts: 64 Member
    Housework and yardwork don't count as far as I'm concerned since I did those things before I decided to change my lifestyle a year ago.
  • sunnyhlw77
    sunnyhlw77 Posts: 204 Member
    I don't add cleaning/housework or shopping to my exercise log but I do yardwork, like digging dirt, lawn mowing and snow shovelling. Have no reason why. I guess it's bonus unaccounted for exercise, lol!
  • pamklass
    pamklass Posts: 17
    Big cleans yes, It can sometimes take me 5 hours to do, And I figure lots of people I know hire house cleaners and yard maintenance people and I do my own so I should get credit for that :)
  • nettasue35
    nettasue35 Posts: 190 Member
    I only count it if it is out of my normal routine. Like today normally my hubby sweeps and mops, but today I did so I counted it.
  • needtobefitt
    needtobefitt Posts: 37
    house work -no, yard work -yes
    and sometimes i log shopping. but not grocery shopping. Only when im in a mall walking a lot, and trying on a ton of clothes. i will get tired after walking and constantly trying on clothes, so why not log it?
    If i do this for around 2 hours, leaving me no time to exercise, i will log it.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    when i run around crazy cleaning my house, i estimate how much of that was running up and down my stairs. if that's going on for several hours, then it really adds up. anything else i can think of i wouldn't count, because i did those things when i was fat on a normal basis, so i'm counting what i'm doing beyond what i did before. aside from the stairs bc an hour of stairs is an extremely high number of cals burned.
  • nczuczu
    nczuczu Posts: 611 Member
    Cleaning around the house, rarely, unless I am completely cleaning the basement. But general housework, no.

    Lawn work, yes. It is above and beyond what I normally do...walking behind the lawn mower, trimming the bushes, hauling the trimmings to the street and raking, I know I am burning a TON of calories

    Snow shoveling - yes! but not when I use the snow blower.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    if it doesn't make you sweat, it's not exercise.

    If I'm shoveling manure, digging holes for trees - yes. If I'm raking. no
    That makes the standing still I did in FL exercise, and eliminates the cardio I do for 45 minutes 3+ times a week from being exercise. Should I stop the cardio and just move?
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
    There was this one girl on my news feed once that logged driving. I was like WTF? lol

    If she lives in one of those high congestion zones, I can see her point. Stop and go traffic with a manual transmission would do it! LOL


    Maybe she was a Nascar driver, they typically maintain a heart rate of 130 during the duration of the race, anywhere from 3-5 hours. I would log that for sure.
  • JessHealthKick
    JessHealthKick Posts: 800 Member
    if you always do it anyway don't add it.

    I ride my bicycle some days up to 45mins for where I need to go for university, and never count it these days
  • Lauramh31
    Lauramh31 Posts: 95 Member
    It depends. I set my lifestyle as sedentary, so I logged this weekend when I did yardwork (4 hours of weeding, using hedge sheers, etc that caused my mucsles to be sore) and heavy house cleaning (e.g. 2 hours on sunday doing serious cleaning during which I go up and down 3 flights of steps and I broke a sweat).

    I don't log for daily things like playing fetch w/ my dog (she exercises, not me), doing dishes, wiping off counters, doing laundry, folding laundry, dusting, prepping food, shopping, etc. becuase I don't get sweaty and my muscles aren't sore later so I figure it can't be much work.
  • nolanerinbryon
    nolanerinbryon Posts: 80 Member
    I always count cleaning - a person can really get their heart rate up... probably not with light cleaning (i.e. dusting) but with vaccuming, mopping etc, yes, I definitely count. I also count shopping.... and I typically count about 1/2 the time of actual shopping time to account for standing or not moving. I count yard work as I think that's more active than a lot of other things. I do not count food prep, doing dishes or anything where i'm standing still. I sit at a desk all day...so to me, any movement is calories burned.
  • Joreanasaurous
    Joreanasaurous Posts: 1,384 Member
    Nope. Unless my heartrate is up and I'm working it for at least 20 minutes I'm not going to log it. If I go to the mall or outlets I can shop for hours, but unless I am power walking through it I'm not going to log that either.
  • n_unocero
    n_unocero Posts: 445 Member
    I only count deliberate exercise as exercise. Anything that I do above and beyond that is active or physical I just consider a bonus.

    Agreed. Cleaning, yard work, shopping, etc. is just part of life.
  • ShandaLeaS
    ShandaLeaS Posts: 136 Member
    No I got fat while doing all of those things so I don't expect to get skinny doing them either
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    No I got fat while doing all of those things so I don't expect to get skinny doing them either
    Please don't stop eating just because you got fat doing that in the first place.
  • spfldpam
    spfldpam Posts: 738 Member
    I used to but since joining a gym I don't count shopping or cleaning and stuff like that. I do count yard work like mowing my lawn with a push mower. I have a fitbit one so I do manually put in the yard work and elltipical machine at the gym since I don't think the fit bit counts it very good. Fit Bit will deduct any cals burn that I manually put into MFP anyways. I don't usually ever eat my exercise cals burn anyways but I like to see an accurate record of exercise on my log so I do this. I also put stuff in my exercise notes on MFP too.
  • dym123
    dym123 Posts: 1,670 Member
    Housework, no. Shopping, no. Yard work/cutting grass/shoveling snow...depends on how long. If the chore doesn't take me very long, less than 30 minutes, then probably won't count it.
  • _kannnd
    _kannnd Posts: 247 Member
    I never do, but wonder if it would count or should count?

    For the past few weeks, I've been out in my yard raking leaves and doing some heavy yardwork, so yes, I log it when I do (not on MFP, but with my fitbit). Just cleaning my house, no. I do count my steps though if I'm out shopping with my fitbit.
  • canadianvampyregurl
    canadianvampyregurl Posts: 231 Member
    that is a good rule...i wouldnt count prepping for supper or something like that...vaccuming, dusting, ya i would :) im gonna go hop on the elliptical now :)
  • spfldpam
    spfldpam Posts: 738 Member
    I also log snow shoveling too!

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