Logging Cleaning Calories?

NessaR2011
NessaR2011 Posts: 184 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've noticed a few people that log calories burned by cleaning, cooking, other random things around the house. As a stay at home mom, this is what I do all day but I don't log any of these actions. My MFP is set for me to lose 2lbs a week with light activity and it caps my calorie intake at 1310. My normal intake is roughly between 1205-1225. I guess my questions are 1. Should I be logging my day to day cleaning as exercise? 2. Should I be consuming more because..I clean?? I do log exercise when I do aerobics or jog because it's much higher than the "light activity" I'm set for but because my opportunities to get them in are limited, I can't change my activity level to compensate.

Replies

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    If you've successfully lost 63 lbs, I'd say you're doing something right. Why change anything?
  • NessaR2011
    NessaR2011 Posts: 184 Member
    Heh, I probably should have added that my weight hasn't gone down in about 2 weeks. Sorry. I was worried that maybe that was because I somehow screwed something up with my MFP settings when it asked me to change them?
  • popshoveit
    popshoveit Posts: 42
    I only log exercise that gets my heart rate up, such as walking, going to the gym, working out etc.
    If I punched in every little activity I did, I'm sure I would be "burning" loads of calories on paper, and getting the false idea that I can eat way more.
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
    I do occasionally log cleaning calories. BUT I only do this for cleaning that is unusually vigorous-- for example, my once-a-week vacuuming of the house. I also log mopping the floor or things like cleaning out the basement or scrubbing the mildew off the bathroom ceiling (a difficult and sweaty endeavor)! Basically if it is something that I do seldomly and that raises my heart rate significantly, and that makes me break a sweat, I log at least some of it (I think the calorie burn for moderate cleaning on this site is overestimated so I never log the full time for this sort of cleaning). I am definitely prone to cleaning with great vigor and going at it fast and hurrying every which way as I clean, which I thinks helps make it more countable!

    I do not, however, log everyday activities like cleaning the kitchen or standing up cooking or sweeping the floor or doing laundry. I have incorporated those into my activity level setting, which is at "lightly active" even though I have a desk job/am a student. I have successfully lost more than half the weight I want to lose by this system.

    :)
  • FindingAmy77
    FindingAmy77 Posts: 1,268 Member
    I would suggest only to log it if it was beyond your normal cleaning activities. you know like the week you flip the mattresses and change, wash, fold and put away the bedding... the days you really go at all the windows inside and out. those type of things are what I log. if I am sweating bullets then yes I am logging it. if I am not then no. if its deep cleaning all floors day then you can bet your butt I am. sounds like you are doing great. if you want to log it but not have it count towards raising your calories then you can log it as one calories burned. I do this on normal cleaning days
  • klkateri
    klkateri Posts: 432 Member
    I have my level set to sedentary as I'm usually on the computer all day. However, I count movement that gets my heart up. But when I clean my house I vacuum and sweep and mop each time ( I have a dog), I do laundry often and run up and down my basement stairs, I count shoveling, I count standing, moderate activity when I work ( I work in a fast paced deli). But I also work out 6 days a week and I'm getting a pretty steady lose by doing this. I think it depends on what works for you really.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Cleaning is not exercise. You likely cleaned your house, cooked, stood around or whatever while you were gaining weight... If your daily activity is more than sedentary then up your activity level, but adding in every single little movement you make just to eat more isn't likely going to have the results you want on the scale.

    Congrats on the 63 lbs loss - that's fantastic!!
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    Unless it is something completely out of the ordinary, include these activities in e.g. changign your lifestyle to lighlty active. Now, if you have one day of a marathon cooking session, preparing 10 dishes for a party, or decide to scrub clean the entire house in a single afternoon, then you can log these as exercise :)
  • pseudomuffin
    pseudomuffin Posts: 1,058 Member
    I only log exercise that gets my heart rate up, such as walking, going to the gym, working out etc.
    If I punched in every little activity I did, I'm sure I would be "burning" loads of calories on paper, and getting the false idea that I can eat way more.

    This
  • MissBabyJane
    MissBabyJane Posts: 538 Member
    I only log my workouts.
  • amblight
    amblight Posts: 350 Member
    I only log exercise that gets my heart rate up, such as walking, going to the gym, working out etc.
    If I punched in every little activity I did, I'm sure I would be "burning" loads of calories on paper, and getting the false idea that I can eat way more.

    Exactly! That's what I do too - and even with things that get my pulse up, I'm extremely conservative with the time and intesity I log it as.
  • NessaR2011
    NessaR2011 Posts: 184 Member
    If your daily activity is more than sedentary then up your activity level, but adding in every single little movement you make just to eat more isn't likely going to have the results you want on the scale.

    I've never added those kinds of things so I could eat more but I get now why other people are doing it. Maybe I should relay this message to them. The only time I've added "cleaning calories" is when I completely cleaned up our basement which included picking up and moving multiple totes full of various things. Got a good sweat in that day!

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