Housework?

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Flabby_Fish
Flabby_Fish Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
Good morning all,

What I am wondering is housework, do any of you class it as a form of excersice?

I am a busy mum of 4 children ages 15, 7, 13 months & 3 months. As you can imagine I rarely get the chance to sit down during the day, earliest my bum gets to see a chair is normally around 9:30pm/10pm. I am constantly on the go clearing up after the kids, especially the babies. As well as the usual everyday housework.

What are your thoughts on housework, is it excersice or am I just trying to make myself feel better 'cos I rarely excersice along with my healthy eating.

Thanks for reading :)

Replies

  • Savlona
    Savlona Posts: 84 Member
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    Might be worth popping on a pedometer and/or heart rate monitor to see what is happening with your body. Running around after a family can be hard work if you're putting some oomph into it. If you're wearing your baby in a sling that's extra weight, and if you're feeding the baby yourself, that burns lots of calories.
    Don't forget about getting out for a walk to school or the park. Also consider using a cargo bike or trike to get around with the younger ones - they are great fun and the older children can ride alongside on their bikes.
  • lemonsnowdrop
    lemonsnowdrop Posts: 1,298 Member
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    Might be worth popping on a pedometer and/or heart rate monitor to see what is happening with your body. Running around after a family can be hard work if you're putting some oomph into it. If you're wearing your baby in a sling that's extra weight, and if you're feeding the baby yourself, that burns lots of calories.
    Don't forget about getting out for a walk to school or the park. Also consider using a cargo bike or trike to get around with the younger ones - they are great fun and the older children can ride alongside on their bikes.

    HRMs are only really suitable for steady state cardio. A day of housework will most likely result in an inaccurate reading.

    I would suggest changing your activity level to lightly active or active. Don't log it as exercise, since it's part of your daily routine, and housework is difficult to approximate calories burned. :)
  • Flabby_Fish
    Flabby_Fish Posts: 3
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    Thanks for the replies :)

    I suppose I better stop kidding myself on & dust off my Davina DVD.

    I weighed myself today & was really surprised to see that I've lost another 3lb. Dunno how especially as its been Easter, and I had family visiting for a few days, lets just say the alcohol was flowing lol.

    Anyway thanks a lot for your suggestions :)
  • abadvat
    abadvat Posts: 1,241 Member
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    Wouldn’t consider it as an exercise itself but would probably factor it as "active live style" or whichever way it is labeled when calculating your calories.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    HRMs are only really suitable for steady state cardio. A day of housework will most likely result in an inaccurate reading.

    I would suggest changing your activity level to lightly active or active. Don't log it as exercise, since it's part of your daily routine, and housework is difficult to approximate calories burned. :)

    Agreed. Also logging that many hours of exercise is likely to give you WAY too many earned calories. Only log things above and beyond your normal daily activities as exercise.
  • 12skipafew99100
    12skipafew99100 Posts: 1,669 Member
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    I would say if this is your everyday normal activity, I would not count it as exercise.
  • Hannah_Hopes
    Hannah_Hopes Posts: 273 Member
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    I'd say count it as your activity level when you set your goals instead of logging it as exercise :smile:
  • clover5
    clover5 Posts: 1,643 Member
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    Agree with Savlona - wear a pedometer. They are not very expensive. Also, there is a step count group in this website that restarts every month.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1238186-april-step-challenge?page=12#posts-19750609
  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
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    You could change your daily activity to lightly active or active if you haven't already.

    I don't know what your goals are but you don't *need* exercise to lose weight.
  • Cyclingbonnie
    Cyclingbonnie Posts: 413 Member
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    I always say to each their own. However, if I was making this decision I would set my lifestyle as sedentary and wear a pedometer. I think people generally walk to and from at about 2 miles an hour I know that is slow, but let's face it we don't power walk from the living room to the kitchen. So at the end of the day you will know how far you walked. If you walked 2 miles you would say you walked for an hour, if you walked 4 miles you would say you walked for 2 hours … etc. Some people count housework … I say not. If you give yourself too much credit you won't loose weight, because you will be eating more calories than you burn.

    Again this is my opinion and recommend that you do what works for you.
  • christa279
    christa279 Posts: 222 Member
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    I don't log housework as exercise. I set my activity level to lightly active and wear my FitBit One. A plain old pedometer would work too. I found that I burn a decent amount of calories without exercise, which enables me to up my calories more than I was without it.
  • jlynnm70
    jlynnm70 Posts: 460 Member
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    I don't log regular housework as exercise - HOWEVER, if I do something out of ordinary - (move the furniture to vaccuum behind it, climb the step ladder to clean ceiling fans, wash windows) stuff I don't do on a daily or even weekly basis - then I log it. I usually pull the couches away from the wall every other month and give the living room a deep clean. The day we cleaned out the basement - yep -extra, the garage - again extra.

    If you are constantly on the move, I'd change your activity level for the calorie setting, or wear a pedometer for a while to see how many steps you are taking in a day.

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