CONFUSED

Like a lot of people I have found MFP's counts to be off, and I just use a fit bit to record all the movement I do, and it makes it so you don't have to decide what, or how much exercise to add. It just doesn't calculate calories burned for weight lifting you might be doing.

And to the folks saying cleaning is not exercise, Hell yes it is! I clean my entire house lugging a vacuum up and down stairs, mopping, scrubbing, dusting, sweeping, taking garbage out, folding and putting away laundry, etc. I do all this non stop, without rest until I am done. That is exercise!

I agree with this......

A general day to day tidy should not be logged, but as pp said when you are cleaning an entire house nonstop and your heart rate becomes elevated, then to me it is exercise. Once a week I give my house a thorough cleaning and I am usually sweaty and exhausted by the time I am done, same feeling I get doing a level of 30 DS.........

Get a heart rate monitor so you can more accurately record calorie burns.
I recommend the Polar FT7.

Stop logging 10 minutes of housework. That's not exercise.

Oooh the negativity! The "ten" minutes was just a "for-instance" not actual time as I couldn't remember if it was an hour I did or not. But thank you for the response.

There was no negativity. It was fact.

But I clearly don't know what I'm talking about and you obviously didn't actually want any real answers so good luck to you in your weight loss goals.

Putting words in the OP's mouth ("clearly", "obviously you didn't") doesn't establish you as a credible or likeable person. Just because you are right does not also automatically mean that you can't be negative.

One - I didn't put words in her mouth. I never said "YOU SAID". If anything, I'm assuming what she wanted not putting words in her mouth. But since you both ASSUMED my tone was "negative", I suppose that makes us even?
Two - I don't care if you like me. I also don't care if you think I'm credible. I posted to be helpful. If someone doesn't want to take that advice, that's their problem. I have been successful in my weight loss goal so it's obviously not my problem.
Three - Please point out ANYWHERE in my OP that was negative. Just because it's not what someone wants to hear does not mean it is negative.

Good god. Between you and the OP, you make me not even WANT to post helpful advice. And yes, my advice would be helpful if she takes it.

I had a response to your points but it didn't post, and I don't really care to retype it. You seem like you're having a rough day, and I'm sorry that your choice to command OP to "stop" logging housework as exercise didn't go over as well as you'd hoped. That doesn't mean you shouldn't ever post advice, but perhaps consider not being harsh on someone who admits that they are still figuring out how the site works. Congratulations on your weight loss, but remember that not all of us are at the same level of knowledge on our journeys. And just because we aren't doesn't mean we are unwilling to become educated. Hence why OP posted. Have a lovely day.

What the hell is going on here? Is this gang up on people who post good advice day? You're the one being harsh.

^^^This

^Agreed

It's not good advice when it is just labeling house cleaning in general as not excercise when what the op is really doing is cleaning and packing a house to move. Just saying that moving is not a normal activity for most people and it sure the heck will tire you out and I would definitly log it that way.

Wow. I haven't read every comment, but it seems like some of the responses are a little harsh.

When I started MFP, I logged everything; every step, housework, dog walk, etc. Why? Because it was motivating to me. I liked seeing the numbers and it kept me logging. I don't do that now. I only log the 'extra' things, like when I go to the gym or work out specifically to work out, or deep clean the house.

If it gets you moving, gets you motivated, and gets you tracking, log it. Log every bit of it. And be proud! You did burn those calories. As you get more into working out, maybe wean yourself off some of the things you track. Just my opinion. Happy logging!

I don't see an issue with logging housework as exercise. I clean (by clean I mean dust, vacuum, sweep, mop, scrub toilets, wipe down windows, ect) my 3100 sq foot house once a week. My body is not "use" to it. If I spend 2 hours cleaning and I want to log it, I should be able to. Now I don't log my normal pick up toys at the end of the night or wiping down the counter tops after making dinner.

On another note. MFP's calculations are usually off...so try a HRM or go for less calories. I would rather under estimate than overestimate.

Well yes - true. I was still cleaning my house while I gained weight. HOWEVER, I was not logging my food intake or counting calories. Most agree that weight loss is 80% eating habits or more, and I have changed that part of the equation.

Being able to log house cleaning as exercise is a good incentive to raise my standards of house keeping. Since this is 20% or less of the weight loss equation, how am I possibly hurting anything?

That's weird...
Don't log "Housework"... if you were doing this routine BEFORE you wanted to get fit/healthy, then don't count those calories. that's just my opinion.

ok. Here's my problem:

before I joined MFP, i ran 2 miles three times a week. I was obese.

If i take this advice above, when I joined MFP, I would have been set up with 1200 cals plus exercise cals, but not log my runs because I was already doing them?? That doesn't make any sense.

ETA: you see my point right? 3 days a week I would have been eating 1200 cals, burning 200 running, and netting 1000. I assume we agree at 5'4 174 lb female should net more than 1000 cals a day (ok, three days a week).

It's rather aggravating that anyone considers housework or shopping to be "working out" worthy of calorie burn logging.

Keep it simple-- if you work up a true sweat, log it. If you don't, don't! And if your sweating is part of your daily job, and therefore part of the Activity Level Modifier that you choose when determining your BMR and TDEE, then don't count that as a separate burn. Easy peasy.

I clean an office twice a week for 1-2 hours. It makes me hot and sweaty and tired - BUT it isn't logged as part of my normal Activity Level because its just 2x a week, not an everyday job. So yes, I do add it as exercise under the cleaning guise. Do I record the entire time I'm doing it no - I normally just put 20-30 min, even if I do it for 2 hours. These are the days of the week my activity monitor registers the greatest spikes in my calorie burning so they are a workout.

No, I don't record my own house cleaning - that is sporadic and of such low intensity that its pointless to do so.

You cant tell people that they shouldn't be logging cleaning if you don't know what type it is.

You're right, and it wasn't clear from the original post that OP was preparing for a move, which isn't a daily activity. I learned that later in one of her responses. She used the example of ten minutes, and the responses came from that time frame and the ensuing (incorrect) assumptions. In your position and hers, I would log at least part of the cleaning as a burn for that particular day only. However, you could easily log that under any form of light cardio and it would be essentially the same. If it gets your heart rate up it doesn't really matter the activity, however, having so many varieties of daily activities in the exercise database may lead people to believe that they're burning far more calories than they are. As I said in another post, I just wish there was more explanation of when to log daily activities and how to make educated guesses in terms of eating back exercise calories. Because even choosing the "Sedentary" activity level, logging every single thing you do that takes more than minimal effort is probably overestimating the burn.