Do you count cleaning as exercise?

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Replies

  • AddyMaeMomma
    AddyMaeMomma Posts: 84 Member
    When I am scrubbing floors and breaking a sweat, you can bet I count it!
  • ApexLeader
    ApexLeader Posts: 580 Member
    i only count my concerted exercises as exercise. i don't count walking the dog, or going up and down the stairs, or walking around the kitchen while i'm cooking as exercise. habits like that will only lead me to overestimating my calories burned.
  • heypurdy
    heypurdy Posts: 196 Member
    Only if you're cleaning the gym equipment, after using it...

    Pretty much.
  • crazybookworm
    crazybookworm Posts: 779 Member
    If I'm mopping, scrubbing, lugging a vacuum up and down stairs than heck yes, that counts as exercise!
  • chelazar88
    chelazar88 Posts: 106 Member
    I have my level at sedentary due to my office job. If I go home and wash the dishes and make a quick dinner I dont log. But if its laundry folding and putting away, up and down the basement stairs, moving furniture, vaccuming, scrubbing bathrooms, picking up toys, a good deep clean then yes I log it. I do underestimate as well by like 30 mins just to be on the safe side. Also this is straight none stop work
  • ralphie_hutch
    ralphie_hutch Posts: 19
    My level is sedentary as I work in an office too, but I do have a saturday job - cleaning 6 holiday cottages over 3 hours. I def log that!!
  • cmfruin2012
    cmfruin2012 Posts: 157 Member
    Reading through the responses has been very interesting -- and there seems to be a pattern of those who log it and those who don't - a correlation with respect to present fitness level and amount of weight to lose (haven't looked at it scientifically -- but just glancing through -- there is definitely a pattern).

    Anyway...when I do my deep, whole house cleaning every two weeks -- and it takes a couple hours of bending, wiping, moving to the point of sweating and heat rate elevated, then yes, I count it. And as one person also suggested, I only log half the time I actually spent (because I think MFP is a little too generous on the calories burned calculation).

    If cleaning doesn't make you break a sweat and doesn't feel like a true physical exertion (which is probably true for fitter folks), then probably shouldn't be counted. But if you are someone who is at a place (such as I am) of being very out of shape and just starting to get active, lives a very sedentary lifestyle -- and this kind of activity is clearly, physically working your body -- then why not log it. Just because you log it, doesn't mean you have to use it as an excuse to eat something unhealthy either.

    Just my two cents....
  • ijavagypsy
    ijavagypsy Posts: 109 Member
    It certainly does count. You're metabolizing at a higher rate than if you were eating bonbons on the couch while watching TV, right? It's activity, so maybe there should be categories of metabolic activity. Some consider exercise as an activity that has to be done specifically for your physical and emotional well-being. Maybe your husband should clean while you "exercise" bwahahaha!
    :drinker:
  • cmphelan77
    cmphelan77 Posts: 23
    I absolutely do!! In 2 hours yesterday I spent 30 minutes on a treadmill 30 minutes shooting hoops with my daughter (HRM 400 cal burned) then went home and cleaned the kitchen left my HRM on and in the next hour I burned 300 cal. 704 cal in 2 hours 1 working out, 1 cleaning. I am pretty sure that counts. Calories burned are calories burned. Cleaning is interval training at its finest. Scrub hard then wipe, Vaccum fast/stairs then hallway. Wipe windows before the windex drips. It is what you make of it!!
  • HollyHobbitToes
    HollyHobbitToes Posts: 131 Member
    I do under certain curcumstances...like your project....if it is something not in my daily clean-up routine I will if I feel I put a lot of effort into it...if you break a sweat, definitely count it, even just a fraction....and if I am doing regular clean-up and put extra effort into it, as in, dancing while I do dishes, which I've done a lot lol As long as I put in a good effort I will count it....
  • Brianna716
    Brianna716 Posts: 303 Member
    Non-daily cleaning I do log, especially cleaning and washing my car. I only log 1/2 the time I've actually cleaned though.
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,749 Member
    When I do a full house clean it takes me 5 - 6 hours and this includes dusting, vacuuming and mopping all the floors. I typically break a sweat and since it's completely out of the norm cleaning-wise I do log the calories burned.
  • spfldpam
    spfldpam Posts: 738 Member
    I was counting it when I did heavy duty cleaning but now that I have a fitbit I don't. I only manually put in what my fitbit won't register like stationary bike and elliptical at the gym. For weight machines I don't count it either but I do log it under strength training in MFP but no calories are given to me and that is ok by me.
    I guess it depends on how active a person is. If not a very active person at all and it gets you moving and your heart beat going I guess I would count it.
    I don't usually eat back any of my exercise calories anyways but I like to track how many I have burned daily is why I have the fit bit and it motivates me to move more daily!
  • redladywitch
    redladywitch Posts: 799 Member
    Yes, I count cleaning as exercise. Remember that this site is for you. Do what is best for you and don't allow others to change your course.
  • krissy_krossy
    krissy_krossy Posts: 307 Member
    I don't. Unless it's out of the ordinary super-cleaning (like you described, but I'd probably log for half the time) then it seems silly. It seems to me that if it's so out of the ordinary to do day-to-day cleaning that someone feels the need to log it, then it's probably quite a workout because the house is probably pretty dirty.
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    nope
  • JessicaRobin67
    JessicaRobin67 Posts: 275 Member
    No, I don't.
  • Gwen_B
    Gwen_B Posts: 1,018 Member
    NEVER, I count exercise as exercise!! Only!!!
  • WendyBlendy
    WendyBlendy Posts: 124 Member
    I always count it.
  • minivegrunner
    minivegrunner Posts: 45
    I don't count my every day cleaning, but if i take on a huge project that I wouldn't normally do on a day to day basis... I've counted it before :)
  • JacquiKerzman
    JacquiKerzman Posts: 25
    I dont personally count it. My burn time is my burn time, it is my daily goal to move, whatever I am dong which a lot of time is cleaning and mowing and moving :-) That is just part of what we are supposed to be.
  • FATJAKE5
    FATJAKE5 Posts: 162
    Invite him to what we used to call a GI party. Make him wash and wax all the floors, vacuum all the carpets, dust all the furniture, spit-shine all the toilets, tubs showers and sinks in your house and then see what he has to say about it. LOL! While he is doing all of that remind him that the washer and dryer have to be running @ the same time and you expect 3 gourmet meals per day on the table @ the appropriate times. LOL! If he lives through that, let him know that your car needs to be washed, vacuumed and waxed. My wife runs the air conditioner in the winter time when she is doing house work. Which reminds me, this is Saturday morning. When she gets up, me and the dogs all disappear.
  • FATJAKE5
    FATJAKE5 Posts: 162
    All of that said. I do not log much at all. What I care about is losing this 80 pond belly pack I carry around 24/7. Unless you are eating back every possible calorie, it doesn't make any difference. I only eat 1200 calories per day on the average because I need to lose about 30% of my starting weight as soon as possible. Just keep your eye on the prize,............nuthin' else matters.
  • jennfranklin
    jennfranklin Posts: 434 Member
    I do not log cleaning, but for a clean like that I might, because it is not typical everyday cleaning!
  • Elicur
    Elicur Posts: 78 Member
    I don't count cleaning as exercise, nor carrying a child. It's daily activity that I was doing when I was super fat too. LOL
  • krhn
    krhn Posts: 781 Member
    I do as I log most things in anyway... If you don't and do a fairly physical clean up, you could in theory not take enough nutrients throughout the day.
    Also if I'm in a caloric deficit already, accidentally jumping 100kcal isn't going to detrimental to the weight loss programme as long as its at or below your maintenance calories!
  • Rockstar_JILL
    Rockstar_JILL Posts: 514 Member
    I only count cleaning if it is a true workout, so to speak...scrubbing floors, washing walls, and moving things over and above the normal daily stuff would raise your heart rate enough to sweat, therefore I would only count it then. And then I would underestimate the time. If it doesn't raise your heart rate, then I don't think it should be counted as exercise.
  • wswilliams67
    wswilliams67 Posts: 938 Member
    Problem with 'cleaning' is it's not really a steady HR raiser. Does it really get your HR up to 75% of max? Maybe for a coupe of minutes, but not 20-30.

    While you could definitely count the calories into the TDEE I don't know if you could consider it 'exercise'.

    Personally I don't count them, but I have a monitor that records ALL caloric burn no matter what I'm doing so I don't worry about burning calories anymore. I do track my workouts though just to see what my progress is.
  • girlfromOklahoma
    girlfromOklahoma Posts: 129 Member
    I don't count it b/c I used to clean like crazy before I started this new lifestyle and I was still overweight. However, if I spent 4 hours doing a massive project like you've described I might count it, just since it did take a lot of sweat and energy that you might have otherwise put into a workout.
  • dakitten2
    dakitten2 Posts: 888 Member
    For ME, I only count stuff I didn't do before changing my lifestyle. I did routine cleaning every day and major cleaning one day per week. That was my schedule before I started and still my schedule now. So I don't count it. But that doesn't mean what I do, works for everyone. It's my journey and I'm doing it my way.

    We always get a variance of answers when this question pops up. I say do what feels right for you.

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