calories burnt with household chores

Eidajan
Eidajan Posts: 36
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone know how many calories one would burn with the following: ironing clothes for 1-2 hours, vacuuming and cleaning a 4 car garage, heavy household cleaning that involves lifting and picking up things. I have not been counting them since I don't know how many calories one burns with these but I do feel tired after these activities. On another website, I found that ironing for 1 hour burns 150 calories. Is this true?

Replies

  • joonzgurl
    joonzgurl Posts: 1,611 Member
    Funny you should ask this as I just asked myself the same thing! I searched for it in excercise... there is a choice between light/moderate effort and heavy/vigourous effort. I did 2 hours general and about 30 minutes heavy cleaning today and it says over 500 calories burned!
  • HealthyishWithMaggieG
    HealthyishWithMaggieG Posts: 397 Member
    I use those options all the time. Whenever I'm about to start cleaning, I use a stopwatch to track how long I've worked. They also have options for things like carrying boxes, moving household item, etc. I just approximate what I'm doing and don't get too caught up in specifics. Underestimate to err on the side caution, too.
  • strawbarry98
    strawbarry98 Posts: 3
    I'm new here but I found the cleaning thing under exercise to be very helpful. I did dishes and washed, dryed, folded clothes today. I figured I worked for 2-3 hours but I put down 1 1/2 hours because I don't want to go over. It's a good topic though.
  • Eidajan
    Eidajan Posts: 36
    I would suspect that to be true. Vacuuming for instance is a good workout if you do 3 floors. So is snowblowing which involves pushing the snowblower - if your driveway is sloped, you probably burn more. The same for gardening - if you are weeding and going from squatting to standing positions repeatedly, I think that is fairly good workout too. I was just curious that none of these activities is not in the database. It's confusing to have to choose between light/moderate and heavy/vigorous effort. I looked at a website called calorie count and found a bunch of activities there but not sure how accurate it is. I guess my problem is there are only so many hours in the day. If I am to spend 2 hours on chores such as these, I do not often have another hour to spare for other exercise. Just don't want to be cheating either!:smile:
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
    Shouldn't regular house work be part of our profile, unless we do extreme cleaning or things that we don't do very often?

    I don't enter house work as exercise calories unless is gardening or heavy/special type of cleaning, and my profile is "moderate active," or something like that. I don't want to report everything that I do as an excuse to get more food calories, when in reality is part of my everyday activity profile.

    I don't think that this database has defined house work as a sedentary or moderate active profile.
  • denitraross
    denitraross Posts: 325 Member
    I agree..I leave house cleaning out of my count as well.....the only everyday things I think I would track would be shovelling, mowing lawn and gardening because these are pretty strenous activites...the others I figure should be part of your normal routine...and if you get an extra burn from they and don't track it...all the better :)
  • LilynEdensmom
    LilynEdensmom Posts: 612 Member
    I'm a horrible house keeper, I try to keep stuff picked up and stuff but well I only really clean about once maybe twice a week...and when I do its pretty heavy duty I mean I break a sweat and go at it lol...So i record it but to be on the safe side I usually roll down the time by anywhere from 10-40 minutes of what I actually worked and put it down as light house work, I would rather underestimate than over estimate.
  • kymberlin
    kymberlin Posts: 113 Member
    I agee. also just to busy some days, so usually once a week I do a super clean and I count it.
  • HealthyishWithMaggieG
    HealthyishWithMaggieG Posts: 397 Member
    Between a general dislike for cleaning house, dealing with mild depression for several years and leading a fairly sedentary life (prior to joining MFP), you can tell my house has been neglected. Don't get me wrong, it's not ready for its own episode of Hoarders or anything like that, but you can tell. So, when I saw cleaning on the list of exercises, I took that opportunity to call it exercise and work on getting things back in order around here. I still have quite a way to go, but every few minutes of light, moderate or heavy cleaning counts. Plus, the more I do, the better I feel. *bonus*
  • strawbarry98
    strawbarry98 Posts: 3
    Excellent Maggie...WTG!!!
  • elainegsd
    elainegsd Posts: 459 Member
    Shouldn't regular house work be part of our profile, unless we do extreme cleaning or things that we don't do very often?

    I don't enter house work as exercise calories unless is gardening or heavy/special type of cleaning, and my profile is "moderate active," or something like that. I don't want to report everything that I do as an excuse to get more food calories, when in reality is part of my everyday activity profile.

    I don't think that this database has defined house work as a sedentary or moderate active profile.

    Not all of us do housework every day. I got to the gym each morning and then spend about 10 hours a day at a desk, and when I get home I don't have much energy or time for housework. When I do get around to it, generally on weekends, I do count it because it is a extended, vigorous effort at that point. If my day job was maintaining a home, I would have selected a non-sedentary lifestyle and not added in anything extra foe the housework.
  • EmmieSu
    EmmieSu Posts: 136
    I use the light moderate housework, for my exercise, but I usually count it as less. I do clean for a couple ladies, and I always count it as the 3-4 hrs, that I am working for them. If I am doing my own housework, I'll get sidetracked by a kid or a phone call, when I'm working for someone else, I stay busy the full 3-4 hr I am there. I'm like Maggie too, Since, I know it burns more calories, I am working to put my house back in order. Now, to get my family on board to leave it that way. I don't use it to 'eat" the extra calories burned. If I lose more that week its great, if not, I know I'm doing more to change my life. I say count your housework as exercise, we might as well, be proud of what we accomplish for our health and homes!
  • bhonniered
    bhonniered Posts: 228
    Shouldn't regular house work be part of our profile, unless we do extreme cleaning or things that we don't do very often?

    I don't enter house work as exercise calories unless is gardening or heavy/special type of cleaning, and my profile is "moderate active," or something like that. I don't want to report everything that I do as an excuse to get more food calories, when in reality is part of my everyday activity profile.

    I don't think that this database has defined house work as a sedentary or moderate active profile.

    Not all of us do housework every day. I got to the gym each morning and then spend about 10 hours a day at a desk, and when I get home I don't have much energy or time for housework. When I do get around to it, generally on weekends, I do count it because it is a extended, vigorous effort at that point. If my day job was maintaining a home, I would have selected a non-sedentary lifestyle and not added in anything extra foe the housework.

    That sounds like my schedule too. When I finally stop to do housework it usually is for an extended period of time so I count it also.
  • jo_marnes
    jo_marnes Posts: 1,601 Member
    My profile is set at lightly active - I'm a Mum of 3 and I am always on the go after them and always cleaning up! However, I do not put this on my exercise log - it doesn't count to me. However, I am also a cleaner at the moment, so if I clean someone's house non stop for 3 hours (bathrooms, vacuuming, mopping, dusting etc) then I put that down as moderate cleaning. But I often won't put the whole 3 hours down, as I really don't feel I have burnt all those calories. I really don't think you can include washing, ironing and dishes - you're hardly moving!! I only put vigourous down if I have REALLY worked - i.e. after I cleaned a smoke damaged house and had to sugar soap walls and ceilings for 5 hours.
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
    I enter the cleaning only when I am doing out of the ordinary stuff. Shampooing carpet (by hand) on the stairs, Washing walls and celing prior to painting, scrubbing floors (steam machine on wood and tile), moving the furniture to do the above, and scrubbing hard water residue off the shower/tub. I usually only log half or less of the time though. I will also use the cooking prep time when I do a marathon of cooking or baking (like yesterday). Again though I only log part of the time. I have also used the automotive repair entry! LOL I had to change a flat tire just after I started MFP and was more out of shape than I am now, I was soaked with sweat by the time I was done.
  • morawjo
    morawjo Posts: 74 Member
    Great response elainegsd! I completely agree with you.

    I'm sorry...but how can lugging a vacuum cleaner up and down 3 flights of stairs, Swiffering the hardwood floors, making the bed, doing laundry (2 floors down from my bedroom), cleaning the kitty litter, and dusting for several hours at a time...all in the while...sweating my brains out...not be considered exercise?!?!? I include it in my exercise... I think there is a big difference between doing all of that...and sitting on the couch, snacking and watching TV.
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
    Go here for the list;

    http://caloriecount.about.com/activities-home-activities-ac5

    House cleaning burns 204cals per hour for a 150lb person (the basic setting unless you sign in to caloriecount.com). Calories burned doing intimate activities is also listed as 3 separate settings depending on how vigorous you are FYI, lol ;)

    I logged cleaning my basement a while back in MFP in 4 hours I burned like 620 calories or something. It was a fast day so I didn’t eat them all but so I can't say if you should be eating ALL your cleaning calories back.
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