Do you count cleaning as exercise?

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Replies

  • jacktin
    jacktin Posts: 24
    ANY time I break a good sweat, I count it as exercise FTW :D If I am cleaning my apartment top to bottom for 4 hours, including vacuuming, sweeping and mopping I sure am going to count that! My nutritionist also advised me to do the same. However, I am 5'4" 277lbs. I do actual exercise (step aerobics, Wii Fit, etc.) as well too and count them all accordingly.
  • metacognition
    metacognition Posts: 626 Member
    I personally only count my scheduled exercise, because it is more intense than everyday activity.

    I'd rather be cautious and burn too many calories, rather than too few. I have a fairly active job where I lift trays, restock, walk, and stand for long periods of time. I have been losing weight about a quarter pound above what my calories should allow and that's probably from my work.

    But I don't count it in my log. I might eat too many exercise calories back, then stop losing weight. I want to see that progress at the end of the week. People have a tendency to under count calories and over count exercise. I want a little wiggle room with my diet, and the extra activity helps.
  • walkdmc
    walkdmc Posts: 529 Member
    For anything more than your usual housework, I'd count it. I bet cleaning your son's room involved lots of squats, steps, maybe stairs, constant motion, right? That's more than running a vacuum or washing dishes. I would've done what you did, counted 1/2 the time spent as activity.
  • jj1973
    jj1973 Posts: 131 Member
    Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends more on if I think about it or not.

    But then again my evenings consist of my getting home from work, cooking supper and then jumping on the treadmill to watch TV (usually a sporting event). I step off of the treadmill during commercials to clean up the kitchen, wash a load of clothes etc....It's all part of my workout!
  • metaphoria
    metaphoria Posts: 1,432 Member
    If you already have it calculated into your activity level, then no, as you would be doubling them up. If you do not have them accounted for, and are eating 1200-1400 per day, then log em and eat em. As long as your total eaten in a day is above bmr and below tdee, you're in a healthy deficit. Invest in a heart rate monitor to get an accurate read, and calculate your bmr and tdee to see what an appropriate calorie goal would be for you. :)
  • zoukeira
    zoukeira Posts: 313 Member
    I think I logged cleaning once, I was playing with my new HRM. I might log it out of curiosity, I would never eat it back.
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
    nope shouldn't count it.
  • RobynMcGregor
    RobynMcGregor Posts: 44
    Definitely count it especially in the hot weather we are having! Wrestling with the vacuum and dodging the dog that is trying to kill it definitely uses up calories as does cleaning the windows, ceilings or floors.

    I also count the steps I do climbing up and down to my classroom and the staffroom and I did those while I put on weight as well, just no where near as quickly, but I am still going to count them as something I have done.
  • WinnerVictorious
    WinnerVictorious Posts: 4,733 Member
    I'd rather not log it and have it as extra floaty magical calories than count it and end up over-estimating. Unless I purposefully set out to do a workout, I don't add it.

    ^ this.

    a very practical way to look at it.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    I'm set to sedentary, so if I ever actually cleaned, then I'd possibly count it since the calories for sedentary assume that I'm sitting on my *kitten* all day. As such, I count walking. I don't really clean much though.
  • nekoface
    nekoface Posts: 149 Member
    I log heavier anomalous cleaning as exercise and not daily cleaning, like I log deliberate walking when I 'take a walk' and not everyday walking.
  • thedescentofhope
    thedescentofhope Posts: 118 Member
    I do log mine, but it's full on sweaty cleaning, and ill include washing the two dogs in that (it's more like wrestling with the bigger dog) but I always log half the time I actually did and only eat back half the calories of that. Better safe than sorry I say!
  • CaliforniaSweetheart
    CaliforniaSweetheart Posts: 989
    Nope
  • pollyineedtobeskinny
    pollyineedtobeskinny Posts: 362
    I count it as exercise if it is a proper clean out yeah, because you are burning calories, so why not log it?
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    People who dont normally do that stuff SHOULD.....cause it's what they dont NORMALLY do.

    Those who have a cleaner for example & then decide to do it themselves.


    But then if you clean like I do.... dancing along that whole time ....enough to get a cardio workout.... then YES.

    Don't listen to those who say not to log it..... if you felt you got a workout.... then log it. Stuff what others say....they were not doing it.
  • CarlaChalk78
    CarlaChalk78 Posts: 60
    I do :) Set at sedentary and hours of deep cleaning like that is still enough to sweat and raise the heart rate...I log half the time because MFP overestimates and eat them back too :)
  • lilly_star
    lilly_star Posts: 10
    I don't count it as exercise it's just a bonus if I burn extra calories. But each to their own. If you thought you got a workout then add it it's your journey :)
  • kirstyfairhead
    kirstyfairhead Posts: 220 Member
    Yes, of course!! Just do the math. If these are calories that you would not normally burn on a regular day then count them. If you eat a chocolate bar you would count the extra calories so if you burn some calories you should count those too.
    As long as you are working up a sweat rather than just doing a bit of dusting then go for it.

    Then be extra good and try not to eat them back!!!
  • mscrumbyy
    mscrumbyy Posts: 116
    Only when I do a proper full clean of the whole house about once a fortnight. All the other stuff is just constant maintenance living with three guys haha.
  • Qskim
    Qskim Posts: 1,145 Member
    At morbidly obese I used to occasionally put it down because it encouraged me to become more active but I didn't eat it back. It definitely made me see the worth of getting off my butt and be more active in an incidental way..up to the level of a "normal" non obese persons day. Now I don't because I consider that just part of my base activity. If it motivates you to be active in ways that you have never been before then do it.
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
    If your calorie levels are set for sitting down all day kind of sedentary, then log cleaning as exercise.

    if your calorie levels are set for lightly active, then don't.

    it's maths, that's all.
  • losinglbslovinglife
    losinglbslovinglife Posts: 76 Member
    if its heavy stuff, IE, turning my bedroom upside down & having a full clear out, yup. if it's lighter stuff, no.

    when I have a full clean out of my bedroom, it takes up to 3-4 hours & usually dripping with sweat >.<
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    Just because you sweat/heart rate was elevated doesn't mean that you are burning a ton of calories.. there are other factors that could have accounted for that.

    Personally, i say no.. as I believe cleaning is a part of a daily routine in someway shape or form.
  • LizRobot
    LizRobot Posts: 19
    Thanks everyone for your thoughts. The only reason I decided to put this in my exercise log was because it was really hard work, and I was sweating pretty good. I would never go wash dishes for 10 minutes and then go enter it. This was an unusually big project that definitely doesn't happen on a daily basis. Anyway, thanks - - except to the person who said they would feel ridiculous if they entered cleaning as exercise, thus implying that I should feel ridiculous. Which I don't, but good try!
  • YoungDoc2B
    YoungDoc2B Posts: 1,593 Member
    No. The calorie burn from cleaning isn't significant enough to even count for anything,IMO.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    No. The calorie burn from cleaning isn't significant enough to even count for anything,IMO.

    Well then you have never seen me clean. I can burn 300 calories cleaning .... how do I know? HRM while doing it... my heart rate can get up to 160bpm easy doing that. Guess the burn isn't enough.
  • pollyineedtobeskinny
    pollyineedtobeskinny Posts: 362
    I don't exaclty count as an EXERCISE but it burns calories so I would log it, I do log it even... When your doing a proper clean, sweating, elbow grease, all that, it's definitely worth logging... You put a lot of effort into cleaning just like you do into exercise, so why wouldn't you log? You'd be burning more calories than you are if you're just sat on your bum.:smile:
  • tashatashae
    tashatashae Posts: 311 Member
    Yes. When I didnt have.a workout plan. It made me feel.better my plugging in everyday task now that I go to the gym no I dnt.
  • tadpole242
    tadpole242 Posts: 507 Member
    Thanks everyone for your thoughts. The only reason I decided to put this in my exercise log was because it was really hard work, and I was sweating pretty good. I would never go wash dishes for 10 minutes and then go enter it. This was an unusually big project that definitely doesn't happen on a daily basis. Anyway, thanks - - except to the person who said they would feel ridiculous if they entered cleaning as exercise, thus implying that I should feel ridiculous. Which I don't, but good try!

    It’s really really simple, your grandmother didn’t go to the gym, she didn’t do zumba, and she didn’t buy weights or a tread mill, or feel the need to sweat like a pig to burn calories. She probably ate twice what you do, and was skinny and hard as nails. She cleaned and washed and looked after a house all day every day.
    So if you clean house like your granny did, then log it. Anyone who feels that cleaning is not real exercise need to try doing it properly.
  • aaleigha1
    aaleigha1 Posts: 408 Member
    cleaning I do daily or weekly I dont add
    however today I have been decluttering lifting things from high shelves sorting folding putting stuff back and removing other stuff - this I have counted - as its not part of my 'normal' routine

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