To Count or Not to Count - That is the Question

j724mecham
j724mecham Posts: 102 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've noticed with MFP that a lot of my cardio I log is from housecleaning. I am starting to wonder if 1) I should actually count it and 2) how many calories it actually burns. Here's a bit of information:

I work at a desk 8-5 so I do have my activity level as sedentary. However, I do clean my house practically daily for at least 90 minutes. During this time, I almost always build a sweat so it's not like my body is fairly used to it because it feels like a lot of cardio. In addition, I have a basement where the laundry is and the other half of my cleaning so I am going up and down stairs frequently. Also during this time, I am generally watching my 2 year old daughter which makes me run around a lot. During the 90-180 minutes I spend cleaning, I am doing pretty active movements like vacuuming, wiping baseboard, mopping, wiping counters, carrying laundry up and down the stairs, etc...

Just wondering what everybody's thoughts are. I am torn. I just don't want to log it if it seems unnecessary to do so and so I know if I need to add a bunch more exercise in. Other than housecleaning, I do walk my dog (more like she walks me) for about 20 minutes 4 times a week and do some weight lifting.

Thanks!

Replies

  • sweetNsassy2584
    sweetNsassy2584 Posts: 515 Member
    I personally don't log house cleaning or gardening ect. I look at it as an extra calorie burn though..
  • CherylP67
    CherylP67 Posts: 772 Member
    I'm going to send you a message about what I do.
  • legnarevocrednu
    legnarevocrednu Posts: 467 Member
    Honestly, I probably wouldn't. I only count PURPOSEFUL exercise, not things I do on a normal, every day basis. But to each their own. That being said, maybe you shouldn't list yourself as sendentary if your daily activity is above that.
  • JulieAnn72
    JulieAnn72 Posts: 795 Member
    I'd log the walking the dog stuff, but not the housecleaning. Although I honestly can't imagine what cleaning I could do for 90 minutes a day that would cause me to work up a sweat! I guess if you're mopping all your floors for an hour every day, that might make sense. But laundry (even with walking up and down stairs) or making beds or dusting, I wouldn't log, personally.
  • Ivey05131980
    Ivey05131980 Posts: 1,118 Member
    I log it. It makes me feel better and I cleaned for like 3 hours the other night and, per my Polar, burned like 500 cals!
  • foxylady522
    foxylady522 Posts: 80
    I have also struggled to decide if I should add it or not. I also struggle with outdoor lawncare too. I am thinking that I may use my HRM sometime soon to see what the actual calorie burn is on housework. I think I would tend to error on the side of not counting it without knowing since when I log cardio exercise MFP always seems to estimate above what my HRM is telling me I burned.
  • ManjKA
    ManjKA Posts: 35
    i wouldn't log it as MFP calculates the normal amount of calories you would burn throughout the day, so my thinking is that's it's already been taken in to account. unless i'm mistaken, if you look under "goals", on the right hand side it tells you how many calories you burn a day, and it takes in to account your personal measurements!
  • j724mecham
    j724mecham Posts: 102 Member
    Thanks everyone for the input. When I do clean the house, I am essentially cleaning the top and bottom floor within about 2 hours which makes my body feel the same as after a brisk walk. I have heart problems, had spinal surgery so my low back is fused and 4 hip replacements which has drastically limited my exercise capability such as running. Hence why moving around my house cleaning the whole thing in 2 hours gets me into a sweat. I am not sure if MFP takes into account housecleaning because sedentary and such is just your normal (sit, normal walking, etc...). I think it does burn calories but most likely not nearly as many as it says (more like 200 instead of 500).
  • davemunger
    davemunger Posts: 1,139 Member
    I'd say if you count your lifestyle as sedentary then it makes sense to count housecleaning. You might want to wear an HRM or a fitbit to see if you are actually burning extra calories while you do it; that might give you a better sense of what your extra burn from housework is.
  • scrapjen
    scrapjen Posts: 387 Member
    I'm sure my hubby wishes I cleaned 90 minutes a day ... *Ü* I love my Fitbit, as it records not only my dedicated exercise, but all those other little steps I take. I like to look at the graph and see if my cleaning (on those rare occasions I do it) gets registered as "lightly active" or "fairly active" ... It is really motivating. The Fitbit alone wasn't working for me (I was very active ... but obviously eating way too much too) and I was putting on weight. As I've joined MFP and started tracking my food, I've now seen results. The two sites really work together well. My food intake recorded here transfers to Fitbit, and finally my intake vrs burn graph can be effective. I generally don't even log my actual workouts, I just let Fitbit do its thing, and send my activity info (all of it, the exercise and whatever other things I do that I wouldn't log separately on my own) over to MFP
  • j724mecham
    j724mecham Posts: 102 Member
    Scrapjen, I had never heard of Fitbit. Looks amazing. I think I do need to start wearing something to monitor my calories on a normal day without cleaning and then with. Maybe it just feels like it needs to be counted since I do spend 9 hours a day just sitting at work.
  • PriceK01
    PriceK01 Posts: 834 Member
    Honestly, I probably wouldn't. I only count PURPOSEFUL exercise, not things I do on a normal, every day basis. But to each their own. That being said, maybe you shouldn't list yourself as sendentary if your daily activity is above that.

    ^This

    Go ahead and change your activity level so that it reflects what you're actually doing on a day to day basis, then log only your actual workouts.
  • CherylP67
    CherylP67 Posts: 772 Member
    I have also struggled to decide if I should add it or not. I also struggle with outdoor lawncare too. I am thinking that I may use my HRM sometime soon to see what the actual calorie burn is on housework. I think I would tend to error on the side of not counting it without knowing since when I log cardio exercise MFP always seems to estimate above what my HRM is telling me I burned.

    I wore my Polar while cutting the grass the other day. I burned 383 calories in 30 minutes! My yard is hilly and lumpy. My average HR and max HR were similar to what they are when I do 30DS.
  • j724mecham
    j724mecham Posts: 102 Member
    Cheryl, I never ever ever garden so to me it was something new for my body. Plus it wasn't just sitting around planting flowers. My husband and I were yanking out some nasty rooted bushes. LOTS of sweat. I got an awesome idea suggested that I keep my activity level as sedentary but then add an exercise for the difference in TDEE-20% for sedentary and lightly active (which is 245 calories) and then add that exercise when I houseclean and garden and eat those calories back.

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