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

81Katz

This is tricky, and each opinion will vary.

My take is this:

I think if you did some HEAVY DUTY cleaning, I am talking hours and hours, crazy stuff like washing walls or scrubbing floors by hand, NOT 5 minutes with a Swiffer Duster, while *I* would not log it, I think a person should keep in mind they did have a 'tad' extra movement than usual, certainly this movement being a bit more strenuous than say ... washing dishes.

Yard work, again tricky. I think if you mowed (by hand, not riding mower) for hours or did something like dig ditches (ok, joke) *I* personally would not log it, but a person again should keep in a mind certain yard work tasks are more difficult or intense than say ... doing laundry.

It's not exercise per se, but it is a little bit more movement than a typical day I guess.

I personally think EXERCISE and EXERCISE. Not walking around the grocery store, not folding clothes, not doing dishes, not hanging laundry, not walking to your mailbox, etc.

But, that's just me.
ANY movement, is good movement honestly, but some shouldn't be counted as your only form of exercise.

LaraeTX

I do count shopping, because I'm walking for at least an hour at a time. I usually log 90 minutes of grocery shopping every 2 weeks, and if I go to the outlet mall, heck yeah i log the walking, it's a lot. I don't do food prep unless it's for several hours, and not just for the family. As for cleaning...only if it's just heavy cleaning, and moving furniture around.

mrslosser

I don't normally. On Saturday's 1000 calorie burn challenge I did BUT I did work up a sweat by doing jumping jacks and lunges as well as other exercises while cleaning... I needed all the help I could get! LOL

mandypizzle

No I never count those things.

crimsoncat

I for sure count gardening as work. Every summer spend two hours every day in the hot sun digging, weeding, raking, hauling mulch etc. Between that and walking the dog I lose 5-10lbs and a pant size compared to winter around xmas time. Clearly, that is good exercise.

Also, I am very sweaty from working like crazy. That should give you a clue as to whether you count it or not.

yo_andi

No. Nor do I count my commute (on foot or by bike) or any other walking I do over the course of the day (which is a lot). I did all of these things while I gained weight too. Logging them as "exercise" now seems like I'm kidding myself.

Missjulesdid

I wear my Bodymedia fit so it all gets counted.. I notice that regular housework doesn't really give me a bigger number for the day but if I'm doing some really heavy duty cleaning or raking leaves, pulling weeds, that kind of stuff.. it can give me 400-600 more calories burned for the day.

Nerdybreisawesome

Normal house cleaning no, deep cleaning, yes. Shopping? If it's an all day thing like Christmas shopping and I spent 6 hours walking around different malls and stores, then yes.

holleyinky

Yes! It does count! Housecleaning and yardwork burns a surprising amount of calories.

wassergottin

Not really. I don't eat back my exercise calories either. I exercise to be healthy and have decent musculature with a healthy heart rate, not to eat more.

fruitloop2

I don't count house cleaning or shopping but I count yard work like raking and mowing the lawn.

Plentiful_Tentacles

No. I might as well count the calories I burn walking to the bathroom if I did. Like some others said, I only count deliberate exercise.

Polishprincess83

I do not log house work as an exercise. I do however, log mowing my lawn as an exercise. It's a push mower and I am perspiring, it's a workout. As for shopping it depends on how fast I shop that day.

toutmonpossible

No. I might as well count the calories I burn walking to the bathroom if I did.

:laugh: :flowerforyou:

pinkraynedropjacki

Why are people still assuming that exercise is only counted when you sweat? I sweat in my sleep.... I'm sure as hell not logging that as exercise. I just walked for 3 hours non-stop without breaking into a sweat while carrying all my groceries (I walked 11km carrying them) and yet I regard that as exercise..... I do that daily.

My heart rate was no higher than normal, I didn't sweat.

SO according to the people here...... if I do the same intensity doing that...... even though I did it before when I was fat.... it's not exercise & I should not log the 500+ calories I jut burnt?

ndj1979

no, just no

complexB

No.

ndj1979

Yes, exercise is exercise! No point neglecting it because if you are in a caloric deficit in the first place, the nutrients given to your body are already at their bare minimum, no point in further dropping the nutritional content as it can cause your body to jump into survival mode eg. Starvation mode.

this is just no...

if you are eating you cannot go into starvation mode...you have to eat NOTHING for 72 hours to go into starvation mode...and even then effects are minimal...

shorty458

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

I take water aerobics every Saturday morning, and since I'm in the water I am not sweating, but I know I'm definitely getting a workout, so it is exercise!

cschiff

I only count deliberate exercise as exercise. Anything that I do above and beyond that is active or physical I just consider a bonus.

^^ THIS. I like to be active. Time spent INTENTIONALLY exercising, I log. If i happen to decide to do more, great. The scale will probably reflect it. But this is about a LIFESTYLE change. Our lives should be naturally active, plus some extra time spent working towards our goals.....

I don't mean to be preachy, I just think that if we are all in this for the right reasons then counting "cleaning the house" (which we all should be doing anyway) seems silly. Just my opinion, though. I suppose everyone has a system that works for them.