Do you really burn all those calories cleaning?

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debmartin06
debmartin06 Posts: 8 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I spent 3 hours cleaning out the garage today and entered it into MFP as light/moderate cleaning. It told me I burned around 500 calories. This seemed really high to me. Do you really burn so many calories just by cleaning?
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Replies

  • ekmanning50
    ekmanning50 Posts: 21 Member
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    I just spent all day digging, moving flower beds and pulling weeds. I entered in 6 hours general gardening and it gave me over 1000 calories. I just adjusted my time to about 2 hours and counted around 500. I think the estimates are high.
  • debmartin06
    debmartin06 Posts: 8 Member
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    I think so too. I do not normally log cleaning, but it was above my normal activity level. I think my activity is set as sedentary because of my desk job.
  • tanashai
    tanashai Posts: 207 Member
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    I dunno... if you're doing a lot of sweeping, carrying, moving, lifting, loading, vacuuming, dusting, reaching, garbage runs and shoving furniture around for a few hours, I imagine the calories can add up! But I'm ever the optimist, ha ha
  • lolablitz
    lolablitz Posts: 38 Member
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    Yeah it seems high, but those numbers are so nice!
  • heweiland
    heweiland Posts: 42
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    I spend a lot of time in the garden sitting and pulling weeds, when I do log it, if I have been out there 2 hours, I will only log 30 minutes. I figure better to error on the side of lower calories burned.
  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
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    Yeah, I wonder, too. I spent 3 hours "moving household items", "moderate cleaning", etc.. and MFP gave me more calories than when I ran a HALF MARATHON. Go figure.
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
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    I spend a lot of time in the garden sitting and pulling weeds, when I do log it, if I have been out there 2 hours, I will only log 30 minutes. I figure better to error on the side of lower calories burned.

    That's a good idea, I spent several hours in the garden today and I know I worked, but I didn't know what to do with it.
  • genofreek
    genofreek Posts: 75
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    MFP is really encouraging, but I always assume it's off by at least 100 calories when I enter my exercises. The numbers for practically everything just seem so high sometimes.
  • Ninguneado73
    Ninguneado73 Posts: 832
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    MFP numbers tend to be high imo
  • rhondajoco
    rhondajoco Posts: 16 Member
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    I think they are high also. I only included cleaning minutes if I am doing heavy duty cleaning, like today, I scrubbed walls, cupbourds and floors by hand in preparation for painting my kitchen. I don't think regular vacuuming, dishes laundry etc. burns that many calories. If it did, I probably wouldn't have needed to be here in the first place :smile:
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    MFP numbers tend to be high imo
    This, plus they include your BMR.
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    All calorie counters include BMR. which will be 100-180 calories an hour give or take. (and about 50 an hour while asleep) So 4 hours of doing XXXX activity will have burned 400-720 just from existing. so you have to subtract that from any total given to you.
  • paotoa
    paotoa Posts: 6 Member
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    Hi,

    I am actually having a lot of problems with this. I work as a gardener and generally do 7 hours straight with very quick breaks for water and snacks. I have no idea how many calories I burn and do require more food on work days. I have been giving myself 400-500 extra calories and it feels right at the end of the day (not hungry or full). I like MFP because its so exacting and I would like to know how much I am burning. I've been looking into getting one of the wrist/arm bands that monitor your calories burned. Has anyone tried this? I've been swaying back and forth trying to justify the cost and the eye rolls from friends and family ;)
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
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    All calorie counters include BMR. which will be 100-180 calories an hour give or take. (and about 50 an hour while asleep) So 4 hours of doing XXXX activity will have burned 400-720 just from existing. so you have to subtract that from any total given to you.

    Is it the same with an HRM?
  • gracielynn1011
    gracielynn1011 Posts: 726 Member
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    I generally don't eat back my exercise calories, but I do log it to keep track. On something like that, I only log half the time. I feel like the estimated burn is high.
  • phurst00
    phurst00 Posts: 100 Member
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    If your heart rate isn't increasing while you're cleaning, then I doubt you're burning off too many extra calories (ie beyond what your body naturally burns throughout the day).

    I usually only log cleaning if I've done a lot of vacuuming and sweeping, and I adjust what MFP tells me down by a lot.
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    All calorie counters include BMR. which will be 100-180 calories an hour give or take. (and about 50 an hour while asleep) So 4 hours of doing XXXX activity will have burned 400-720 just from existing. so you have to subtract that from any total given to you.

    Is it the same with an HRM?
    most of the time yes.
  • shannongoneau
    shannongoneau Posts: 246 Member
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    Theres a way you can figure out how many calories you burned. I think you take your body weight times it by 0.98 (or 0.96 I don't quite remember) and times that number by the minutes you did the activity. Not sure how accurate that is. I think its just a ball park figure.
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    Theres a way you can figure out how many calories you burned. I think you take your body weight times it by 0.98 (or 0.96 I don't quite remember) and times that number by the minutes you did the activity. Not sure how accurate that is. I think its just a ball park figure.
    I don't think math on this one is correct. .98 is .02 away from being 1. Meaning you are claiming I burn 200cal/min when doing activity. the upper limit of human excretion is around 16cal/min for extended cardio. Most people will hit 12-14cal/min as their upper limit before they top out.
  • paintlisapurple
    paintlisapurple Posts: 982 Member
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    Probably better to use a heart rate monitor for those things I guess. I don't have one yet, but I'm planning on it. It will be really nice to see better estimates geared toward me and not some standard.

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