Does house cleaning count as exercise?

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  • MissSaturday
    MissSaturday Posts: 784 Member
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    I don't count cleaning exercise but if you are a cleaner or you spend a day cleaning and you clean hours and hours then YES but wear a HRM because the calories here on MFP are not really accurate! :)
  • tanashai
    tanashai Posts: 207 Member
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    I do if it's a big clean involving moving full boxes, furniture, scrubbing, tons of sweeping and carrying garbage around. Dishes, laundry and light sweeping, not so much. I think it all depends on your perceptions of exercise though :)
  • TNTPete
    TNTPete Posts: 701 Member
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    I think it just depends.. when we just say mop then no, but if we do our crazy around the house Sunday cleaning.. then yes.. as I keep it up for a period of time with the intention of making it count. So, ... all depends on you. And as far as sex. I believe you can find a cardio count for that if you were wanting :wink:
  • jenniferwoodweeg
    jenniferwoodweeg Posts: 45 Member
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    No, I son't count it. Funny, I saw "grooming/showering" as an activity under exercise before! Dang, I would be really searching if I chose that. For me it's an excuse to eat more calories and I may as well increase my cal allowance if I am feeling that deprived!(Which I did;)
  • Gwen_B
    Gwen_B Posts: 1,018 Member
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    I only count exercise as exercise!!! You raise your activity level but it's not really exercise!! If your trying to loose weight you actually need to put in the work!! I have seen cooking, cleaning, driving (Really?) fishing etc. NONE of these will help you loose weight!!
  • Gwen_B
    Gwen_B Posts: 1,018 Member
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    I personally will never count cleaning as an exercise. I could not imagine getting "fit" off of cleaning my house.

    Absolutely!!
  • Gwen_B
    Gwen_B Posts: 1,018 Member
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    I don't count it, for me it's just a part of my daily activities and I was doing those activities when I was heavier and it didn't help me to lose weight. I only count intentional exercise personally.

    Exactly!!
  • Gwen_B
    Gwen_B Posts: 1,018 Member
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    No, I son't count it. Funny, I saw "grooming/showering" as an activity under exercise before! Dang, I would be really searching if I chose that. For me it's an excuse to eat more calories and I may as well increase my cal allowance if I am feeling that deprived!(Which I did;)

    Right!!
  • Nicolee_2014
    Nicolee_2014 Posts: 1,572 Member
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    No. Unless it's something that you don't do all the time...Like scrubbing the floor with a brush, washing the windows inside & out, gardening, mowing lawn etc. You wouldn't add 'preparing food' would you? It's all part of your daily goings about so unless you have your activity level on the lowest level....Forget it.
  • EGirl7
    EGirl7 Posts: 39 Member
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    Geez, talk about a contentious topic! ;-)

    Anyone heard about "incidental exercise"? That's pretty much what that is.

    At the end of the day, you want to count it...count it. I certainly do and having lost nearly 25 kilos including it (of course, with all the other exercise I also do...), I'm not letting anybody tell me I haven't worked for it!

    Anything that gets me moving is worthwhile. You aren't going to lose weight solely by doing your cleaning, but if you're off your butt and moving...doing ANYTHING will help in the long term. Sitting on your butt won't...that's a given. If you're off it and doing anything that gets your heart pumping - even a little - that's beneficial.
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    It's activity. Not exercise. Big difference.
  • Alicia_P_28
    Alicia_P_28 Posts: 76 Member
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    I have only counted it a few times...when we were cleaning and putting up the kids pool I counted half of the time I spent as vigorous cleaning (only half because I thought the numbers were WAY inflated) and another time when I helped clean out the rabbit cages and digging through stuff in storage I also counted half (and I probably actually burnt all of them that time)...but I'd say if it's anything other than what you *normally* do as cleaning you could count it, otherwise I would think normal cleaning is added into your activity level.
  • JustPeachy044
    JustPeachy044 Posts: 770 Member
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    Does it burn calories? Yes. Do I log it? No. That's just a small bonus calorie burn in my opinion. I think if you want to count it, fine. But as other posters said, I wouldn't advise relying on it as your "exercise".
  • CarlieeBear
    CarlieeBear Posts: 325 Member
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    It depends on what your activity level is set to. Mine is at sedentary, so I count any significant cleaning I do.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    Sup' to you personally I was cooking like crazy today in a hot kitchen sweated buckets and now I smell like well it ain't roses
  • babycakes1970
    babycakes1970 Posts: 111 Member
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    I do not count general cleaning like vacuuming and laundry but I do consider mowing the lawn a workout. Gardening can also be a workout.
  • EGirl7
    EGirl7 Posts: 39 Member
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    Is exercising NOT an activity? ;-)
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    No, just no. Were you cleaning house when you were overweight and/or gaining weight?
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    Is exercising NOT an activity? ;-)
    logic fail.. try harder.

    exercise is an activity. not all activity is exercise..
  • MiKiTzLi
    MiKiTzLi Posts: 8 Member
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    I totally agree.

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