feb clean your house challenge!

I read a post on here recently about logging house cleaning as daily exercise. Just like every forum, many different opinions on the subject. This subject has been on the back of my mind and some of the posts did bother me a bit. When i started on here, i had a goal in mind to lose weight. And like many others, were never really sure where to start. I am not working. So i had to start with what i had at home. I am lucky to have a supportive fiance. I have an elliptical here. So, i started to use my elliptical. I would do 15-20 minutes in my bra and a pair of shorts and the fan on full blast. Believe me, not a pretty site lol! Anyways, when i did all i could feel i could do, i would stop and start cleaning. i would go do dishes, throw in laundry, pick up the house. Then i would get back on the machine and do another 15-20 minutes. And so on..

Point of this story is. House cleaning is exercise! Not everyone is a house wife. Some people work 10-12 hour shifts. On there feet all day. Lifting, walking, etc. Over the summer, before my fiance had cancer, i worked in a very very hot machine shop. 2nd shift, 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. The temps got over 100 degrees easy! So, your going to tell me that house cleaning is not exercise to a person who just worked all day in those conditions? The last thing you want to do when you get home is move! Maybe in front of an air conditioner!

I also clean houses on the side for extra money. I have done this for years. I see many women, like the women i work for, who just have the extra money and would rather pay someone. One lady in particular is very over weight. She does not work and has a husband that is a truck driver that makes a decent wage. She could easily do the work herself. Save the money. But, she will pay me to do the work. I like the extra money. But she needs people like us to motivate her. She could probably lose some weight if she would just simply clean her own house!

I also have friends on here that are older, disabled, etc. Many of them are not going to want to rock out to insanity or Jillian im afraid lol. If people like us would motivate them to just run a vacuum a few times a week, that is more physical activity then they usually do. Even if its not a huge calorie burn, its STILL activity. And the more activity you do, it motivates you to do more.

I want to start a challenge! I see many monthly challenges and thought this was a good idea! I want you to set a goal of how many hours a week you will devote to just cleaning your house! Set a weekly goal and report back your progress! You can choose whether or not to log it. Up to you. Include shoveling, lawn mowing, anything! Do some projects around your house that you would not normally do. Such as cleaning cobwebs, organizing closets, clean and sweep out your garage? Heck, even bring out a paint brush and paint a room. Feel free to post your projects and brag about them! I just want to see you get off your butt and just move. That is a great start to any weight loss goal. Im not at all saying that healthy eating is not important. But changes will only come a little at a time. It took time to learn bad habits. It will take time to change them as well!

*My personal goal is to log 20 minutes per day of housework! i have one house to clean this week, for another 4 hours. I also will log snow shoveling as we get snow.

Lets move it people! Feel free to add me too for motivation!