Do you count cleaning as exercise?

2

Replies

  • exmsde
    exmsde Posts: 85 Member
    These days I usually just 'accept' whatever my Fitbit One registers for normal activities. But then I'd rather under-count than over-count calories burned.

    To the specific question, I'll point out that Weight Watchers definitely counts housework as exercise. But then their clientele have traditionally been the definition of couch potato and any way to get people to increase their activity level is a good thing. If you are already quite active (e.g., specific workouts) then calling out normal daily activities becomes less interesting.
  • juliewatkin
    juliewatkin Posts: 764 Member
    Would you log it if you included yelling at your kids and pets for the added aggravation they cause?

    I'm interested in the replies on lifestyle settings. Based on the descriptions, I put mine as lightly active but that must be grossly inaccurate based on where they put my caloric needs. I think they had me at 1600 calories/day. I upped it to 2,000. Maybe some people have a metabolic rate set to vibrate all the time. Either that or yelling at the kids really burns through calories:smile:

    I don't log housework because I have a weird ocd relationship with my vacuum and have it running all the time.
  • sophayz
    sophayz Posts: 592 Member
    i count everything that is more then my everyday routine and eat back 70% of the calories
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    I do light cleaning throughout the week...keep up on dishes, sweeping, straightening up after kids. However, at least one day on the weekend I clean the house from top to bottom. I always forget to wear my HRM, but I plan to do so this weekend. I run up and down my stairs often on these days between laundry, cleaning the toy room, and various other things so it would be interesting to see what happens.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    no....

    cleaning, walking, crapping, cooking, etc are all just part of a normal day and should already be built in to what you are doing ..or so I say ...
  • ElizabethObviously
    ElizabethObviously Posts: 380 Member
    I count cleaning as exercise if it is something I don't normally do. Washing dishes....no.....reorganizing the closet and hauling boxes around...yes....

    BUT I usually count it at a half time amount. If I cleaned for 1 hour, I feel less guilty about logging cleaning if I log it as 30 minutes instead.

    I think the real point is you are moving around when you clean, regardless if you log it or not. Your body does not register cleaning any differently. It can only tell you were moving around.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    No I don't and I think 232 cals is very generous.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Do you count breathing as exercise too?

    You shouldn't count breathing because, unlike cleaning, it's included in your BMR and therefore part of every activity setting.
  • RawMomma10
    RawMomma10 Posts: 89 Member
    Every day cleaning, no, but when I scrub the whole house down, yes because It's not something that is done daily.


    This!! :)
  • AprilMae1975
    AprilMae1975 Posts: 726
    I do if I break a sweat and clean for more than an hour. My house is mostly tile so sweeping and mopping is a total body workout lol!
  • InForBacon
    InForBacon Posts: 1,508 Member
    No, but I do count this...

    tumblr_mfv73foj8M1r4y76lo1_500.gif
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Do you count breathing as exercise too?

    You shouldn't count breathing because, unlike cleaning, it's included in your BMR and therefore part of every activity setting.
    but cleaning is not? so if you cleaned before and cleaned now that would not be included as something you always did?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    I do if I break a sweat and clean for more than an hour. My house is mostly tile so sweeping and mopping is a total body workout lol!

    ummm deadlifts are a total body work out..and in my humble opinion mopping is not...
  • FightingFox
    FightingFox Posts: 44
    Do you count breathing as exercise too?
    Snarky rude comments like this are not needed, helpful, or funny.
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    I do if I break a sweat and clean for more than an hour. My house is mostly tile so sweeping and mopping is a total body workout lol!

    ummm deadlifts are a total body work out..and in my humble opinion mopping is not...

    I think the issue is what defines a cleaning work out. I sweep every day, but I don't count this. However, on the weekends when I am on my hands and knees scrubbing floors, I do break a sweat. When I am running up and down the stairs most of the day, again I do break a sweat. It may not be as labor intesive than running or lifing weights, but it does take extra energy to do deep cleaning. However, I do think MFP allows for more calories burned in deep cleaning than I would actually burn. To you, mopping may not be a total body workout, but depending on how you are mopping, how hard you have to scrub, etc., it could in fact be a pretty good workout.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    well, I will take my deadlifts over a mop any day of the week, but that is just me..
  • zeek21
    zeek21 Posts: 18
    unless you dont usually clean, dont log it. or if by chance you cleaned extra...like someone elses home. ran a car wash...something of that sort.

    i never count cleaning my home/doing my dishes. thatd be like logging sex as working out.
    silliness!

    I agree but there was actually a thread the other day where a girl wanted to know how to log sex. Just ridiculous!!
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    well, I will take my deadlifts over a mop any day of the week, but that is just me..

    Exactly, that is you. You look as though you are very fit. You've probably been at this a while and you more than likely find something like using a mop an easy task. For some, it may not be so easy. Keep in mind that there are people on here who are going for hardly any physical activity to physical activity daily. What you may see as normal may not be so to someone else and though your heart rate may not go up enough for it to matter, to someone who is out of shape, it could.

    I'll take the deadlifts and the mopping, but I'm a clean freak :smile:
  • TheHealthyMeInside
    TheHealthyMeInside Posts: 6
    I personally don't log anything that is something I have to do on a daily basis. Cleaning, walking the mall, walking the dog, etc..
    I only log intentional workouts, only because I find it keeps me on my toes. If I see I burned 300 cals walking the dog then I'm like, oh, I don't have to go to the gym today. Then I lose out on the 300+ cals I could've burned there. But, that's just me.
  • Morgaath
    Morgaath Posts: 679 Member
    i never count cleaning my home/doing my dishes. thatd be like logging sex as working out.
    silliness!

    I agree but there was actually a thread the other day where a girl wanted to know how to log sex. Just ridiculous!!

    If you are really enthusiastic about it, it is on pare with doing about the same amount of time of jogging.
    Most people aren't that enthusiastic, so it is more like walking around a flat track.
    And then there is the other extreme...yeah, they get up to running levels.
    I don't think any of them manage to finish a 5k.
  • juliewatkin
    juliewatkin Posts: 764 Member
    i never count cleaning my home/doing my dishes. thatd be like logging sex as working out.
    silliness!

    I agree but there was actually a thread the other day where a girl wanted to know how to log sex. Just ridiculous!!

    If you are really enthusiastic about it, it is on pare with doing about the same amount of time of jogging.
    Most people aren't that enthusiastic, so it is more like walking around a flat track.
    And then there is the other extreme...yeah, they get up to running levels.
    I don't think any of them manage to finish a 5k.

    Star fishing doesn't burn much. Particularly extreme star fishing after a deadlift work out.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    I just spent the last hour cleaning and according to MFP, I burned 232 calories. It kind of feels like cheating to log it, since it's not really exercise. But, I already worked out for 75 minutes today, so it's not like I replaced a real workout with cleaning... Should I log it? Do you?
    I do not. Some people do.

    My advice is if you log it and eat it and are losing weight, then you should log it if it makes you happy. If you're not losing weight, that's something to re-evaluate.
  • Nikoruo
    Nikoruo Posts: 771 Member
    I wont log cleaning or cooking or anything mundane like that. I guess the only way i'd log cleaning is if i'm doing sweat producing, muscles sore the next day kind of cleaning.
  • cwaters120
    cwaters120 Posts: 354 Member
    Every day cleaning, no, but when I scrub the whole house down, yes because It's not something that is done daily.

    Same. Unless its a DEEP cleaning and takes TIME, I dont' log it.
  • crazybookworm
    crazybookworm Posts: 779 Member
    My motto is "If your moving, your losing" However, I do not log cleaning, because it is part of my daily routine. There are days where I am on my hands and needs scrubbing tile floors, vacuuming the stairs, doing the laundry, mopping floors, etc. Then there are other days that I am just tidying. So yes, you can definitely get a good burn cleaning. But I did this kind of cleaning when I was overweight and it didn't contribute to weight loss, so that's why I don't log it as exercise.
  • rachaelbarton
    rachaelbarton Posts: 57 Member
    It depends what you have your activity level at. If you have it at sedentary, then I would take every opportunity to gain calories from cleaning! To me, it's about being honest with yourself about the day's activities. I have my account set at lightly active because I am on my feet in sales most of the day. But if I work a really long day, I take the liberty of adding a couple of hours of walking to my journal. Girlfriend needs food. I used to add cleaning but eventually realized for an individual claiming to be lightly active, the amount of cleaning I was doing was just commonplace-not cardio.
  • shierrarobin
    shierrarobin Posts: 181
    I think it depends on how long you clean and what kind of cleaning you do. If you spend 30 minutes standing on front of the sink washing dishes, then another 10 sweeping the floor then I wouldn't really count that as 40 minutes of exercise since you didn't move much. If, however, you spent an hour and a half picking things up off the floor, getting down and scrubbing things, and doing other things that require a lot of moving then I would count it.
  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
    I only log my workouts, but that is what works for me. If someone cleans for a living all day and have their MFP set to sedentary - then I totally see that.
  • action_figure
    action_figure Posts: 511 Member
    I just spent the last hour cleaning and according to MFP, I burned 232 calories. It kind of feels like cheating to log it, since it's not really exercise. But, I already worked out for 75 minutes today, so it's not like I replaced a real workout with cleaning... Should I log it? Do you?

    I don't log "normal" cleaning: dishes, laundry, vacuuming, animal care, mowing the lawn, etc. However, when I do a BIG job, like mucking out the chicken coops seasonally, moving all the pastured poultry pens with hand trucks, building new pens, putting up fence, shampooing carpets, chopping and hauling fallen trees or branches, and other periodic "heavy" jobs like that, I will wear my HRM and log it. A couple months ago, I helped a friend tear down his deck using a sledgehammer for a few hours and I burned over 1,200 calories!
  • amsky
    amsky Posts: 916 Member
    i would not dream of counting cleaning or sex ....

    I have seen people log walking in a store or mall or standing on line....really?

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