Does anyone else count house work as exercise?

135

Replies

  • WickedBean
    WickedBean Posts: 244 Member
    so I get that house cleaning = moving = burning calories. But in terms of weight loss etc I have a question....

    Did you not clean your house before you started cutting calories?

    Im assuming so, so how can that make a difference?

    The difference is in tracking your intake. I would go to the gym, walk, bike, do weights with machines, swim, and all of those other things everyone obviously considers "real" exercise but still never lost scale weight for years.

    I actually gained weight while swimming - and not leisure swimming... lane swim.. at a good pace.. I wasn't tracking anything I would get hungry and be like "Oh I swam today I will eat this." and boom... eating all the food made me fat and I was active.

    OP - if you think that cleaning is exercise add it. I only add deep cleaning (which I do like once a month because I am a procrastinator) but if you are going to stay on track better tracking EVERYTHING do it. And FYI.... some people DIDN'T clean their house before they started this. I have a friend (not on here) that just got to the point where they can clean their house with their weight loss - until recently they paid someone to come in and do it for them... they also work from home and stayed in bed all the time. So for some yes daily cleaning is exercise.. Just sayin.
  • cpaman87
    cpaman87 Posts: 193 Member
    No. It doesn't seem to get my heart rate up so I don't want to count it.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    if you log cleaning, yard work, moving, cooking, and other domestic activities as exercise, you're just kidding yourself.

    i did not do two triathlons and three mud runs, and dead lift 310lbs from logging cleaning.


    tumblr_m4k14qrOO41qdthrw.gif
  • gurganuss
    gurganuss Posts: 78 Member
    On saturday morning, I clean my house from top to bottom and yes you better believe I count that because it takes me usually an hour if not more and I sweat my butt off.
  • sa11yjane
    sa11yjane Posts: 491 Member
    If it was hard work then yes I do include it although I would try very hard not to 'eat' those calories back
  • zaithyr
    zaithyr Posts: 482 Member
    If I'm doing more than normal, yes. Depends on how I have my calories set up too. If I have it set to sedentary (which right now I have it set just a little higher) then I'm more likely to strap on my hrm and track it. Only if it's more than just piddly stuff though
  • rfsatar
    rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
    Cos I wear a fitbit, any running up and down the stairs with ironing etc all counts towards my step total so yeah - fitbit adjusts with MFP and I get the calorie benefit
  • ggcat
    ggcat Posts: 313 Member
    No. Never. Everyday activity should be included in your daily activity level. I actually enjoy "working out." Anything extra is considered a bonus.

    When you choose your activity level- this would be already accounted for. Exercise is getting your heart rate up for extended periods of time. Unless your jogging around and cleaning- Then NO.
  • 2hobbit1
    2hobbit1 Posts: 820 Member
    The day to day laundry, dishwashing, dusting, sweeping, cooking etc no. But if its move the furniture, beat the rugs, haul bags of mulch, move pavers, shovel 2 feet of snow - then yes I do. Grocery shopping - no - hauling 15 bags of groceries, 40 lbs of cat litter and 30 pounds of chow up three floors - you bet! It may use different muscles than the treadmill but if you shaking by the time your done it most certainly counts!!
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    if you log cleaning, yard work, moving, cooking, and other domestic activities as exercise, you're just kidding yourself.

    i did not do two triathlons and three mud runs, and dead lift 310lbs from logging cleaning.


    tumblr_m4k14qrOO41qdthrw.gif

    Overachiever. :grumble:
  • logicman69
    logicman69 Posts: 1,034 Member
    I don't... anything I consider part of my normal routine I don't log. Anything extra I do to work up a sweat (mowing the lawn for my parents for example) I log.
  • NanaDino4
    NanaDino4 Posts: 63
    Yes i count it because for the most part we don't do housework every day ( and yea there are some who say they do..yea right) but anyways...count it because you are up and moving and burning calories.
  • ashharris424
    ashharris424 Posts: 68 Member
    If it's something that was already part of your routine before you started trying to get in shape, I wouldn't log it. The way I look at it is if you were "maintaining" at that level of activity already then it doesn't really count as exercise, it's routine. You were already burning that amount of calories and not losing, so why would it make a difference now that you are "aware" of your daily caloric intake? Now, if you're going above and beyond what you would normally do, then yes, log some additional time in for that.
  • yo_andi
    yo_andi Posts: 2,178 Member
    Sure, I clean. I do other activities. Heck, I even walk 4 miles a day to and from work when it doesn't rain (most days a week). I have sex. Good, raucous dirty fast paced sex too. I cook, I scrub floors, flip mattresses etc. I don't log any of it. Why? Because it's part of my lifestyle.

    You're only fooling yourself.
  • Doesntplaynice82
    Doesntplaynice82 Posts: 119 Member
    I did not read through all the posts but I just wanted to say that I have seen people on my friends list log housework and it says something like "light cleaning, chores" duration 1 hours calories burned 678.....um...I don't think so. I would really get a heart rate monitor to see if that is true because I can barely burn that running on a treadmill for an hour!
  • AlyssaJoJo
    AlyssaJoJo Posts: 449 Member
    When it's just daily little cleaning I don't. But when I do the big cleaning once a week then I do. If I'm sweaty I don't see why it shouldn't count!
  • evdenapoli
    evdenapoli Posts: 164 Member
    I really recently started..If it is vigorous enough..why not right? ..it's more accurate
  • evdenapoli
    evdenapoli Posts: 164 Member
    That is a great point...I also use a heart rate monitor...
  • Effpcos
    Effpcos Posts: 350 Member
    I don't log any exercise other than things I've done specifically, eg elliptical, walking, or things I don't normally do, eg stacking firewood, digging garden.
    When I first signed up to MFP I put my lifestyle as "lightly active", I think that covers the things I do day to day as a housewife and mother of 5, so I won't add them in.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    I don't. If it is a major scrub of the whole house, maybe. When I was gaining 50 pounds I still cleaned my house and it didn't stop me from gaining...
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I have a BMF. It tells me how many calories I burn a day. When I work (sit for 8 hours) I burn about 2200 calories a day. When I'm home with the kids cleaning for half the day I burn 2900 calories a day.
  • ScarletFyre
    ScarletFyre Posts: 754 Member
    I dont necesarily count it as cheating...I just don't bother...mainly because i usually dont think to look to see what time i started, so i dont know how long i have dont it for, and can't be bothered trying to figure out intensity etc. :happy:
  • tami101
    tami101 Posts: 617 Member
    When I first joined MFP I logged the houework because I wasn't able to do a lot of cardio and I wanted the extra calories. It motivated me to clean more often and I got to eat a little more. Double win!!!! Now that I have been here a while and make healthier food choices and can easily burn 600 to 800 calories in a workout, I no longer need to log the housework. Some people might think that I was cheating when I logged it, but I lost weight while logging and eating those exercise calories so it worked for me. =)
  • rustybago
    rustybago Posts: 15
    I just logged housework for the first time today so your post caught my eye. I logged it because what I did today was well above and beyond my normal level of activity. I literally dashed between chores and worked up a sweat, like you do when your in-laws call you from around the corner and want to stop over and the house is trashed because the kids just bathed the dog in the tub using jello... (this happens). I condensed 2 hours of cleaning into one hour and broke a good sweat doing it.

    That said, I'm new here so maybe this is the tone of the forums, but it seems a bit unfair and frankly, a bit unkind, to assume that people who log housework are "cheating" or that they haven't cleaned their houses before they started mfp. It's hard to tell from someone's log what their particular situation, activity level, or motivation may be.

    Do what's right for you.
  • zenchild
    zenchild Posts: 680 Member
    No. Not only is it everyday activity, but it's not cardio. It's physical movement, which is always a good thing...and you'll burn calories, but it's not part of cardiovascular conditioning, so therefore, I do not count it as exercise. I've seen people who put things like "food preparation" down for their daily "exercise." I kid you not.

    You obviously have never seen me cook or clean. Most of the time, I don't log it. When I do, it's because I earned it. There are plenty of weekends when I'll spend a whole day cooking and cleaning. I will make an entire week's worth of dinners and my house will be spotless. I will have 3 or more full pots of soup (cornish hen noodle, turkey chili, black bean soup and sometimes lentils), the floors will all be swept and mopped, blinds and baseboards clean, dogs clean, bathrooms clean, laundry done, dishes done, counters wiped down, refrigerator clean, etc. And if I'm feeling frisky, a batch of cookies done. I get sweaty and my heart rate goes up and I promise I'm burning a lot more calories than an average day spent at my desk. I may not count the entire 8 hours but I'm going to be honest with myself. A sports bra is not required to burn calories.
  • charlieatl
    charlieatl Posts: 5 Member
    I have a FitBit and was really surprised when I decided to measure mowing my lawn as an "activity". I don't have a huge yard, about 6,000 square feet, generally flat, but I was really surprised at the result:

    2.62 miles walked, 604 calories burned, 1 hour and 5 minutes of activity: mowing, edging and blowing the clippings off of the driveway.

    Who knew? Like others though, I have a tough time with the total calories burned; normally it is about 100 per hour when walking and the FitBit is tripling that.
  • zaithyr
    zaithyr Posts: 482 Member
    I find it interesting how so many people are quick to bash any kind of activity that doesn't fit into their pretty little definition of "exercise". What might be absolutely no effort for you may be a monstrous effort for someone else. The whole point is to move more, eat a little less, right? When you're just starting out, picking up on your daily activities and putting more effort into them is an achievement. Not everyone starts out running 3 miles on a treadmill or has time to hit a gym every day. Instead of criticizing people for logging their cleaning, high five them for the effort to be active (which will in turn encourage them to reach further and do more). I still lost weight by eating back my exercise calories even when I was logging regular cleaning (because I was still eating healthier and way less than I used to).

    ETA: And I still do log my grocery trips. I burn twice as many calories doing my weekly grocery haul than I do going for a jog!
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    If it didnt keep you from gaining weight, it wont help you lose weight.
  • kluvit
    kluvit Posts: 435 Member
    I only count major projects such as cleaning out the closet, reorganizing, packing/moving boxes, etc. beyond regular household chores.
  • EnchantedEvening
    EnchantedEvening Posts: 671 Member
    "Sedentary" just means little to no exercise. Sedentary people who sit on their butt at work and in front of the TV most of the time still do things like vacuuming, dusting, washing dishes, and so on. I can't believe MFP has an entry for "folding towels". Seriously? When I fold towels, I sit on the edge of the couch and watch TV or listen to music. When did "folding towels" become a significant calorie burn?

    Sure, there are some people who can barely get off the couch because they are so out of shape. For those people, okay. Vacuuming your entire house is probably a huge effort and worthy of logging it. But come on... you can't tell me every person who logs "vacuuming" is in that position. The same people I see logging light housework also log time on the treadmill and elliptical.

    I only count cleaning if I'm doing something strenuous, like spring cleaning where we're hauling boxes up and down stairs, moving furniture from room to room, carrying loads to and from the car, climbing ladders to dust the moldings, and so on. Other than that, even if cleaning does burn a few calories, I still don't log it. I just figure those are bonus calories, like parking far away from the store or taking the stairs to the third floor instead of using the elevator.

Categories