Counting cleaning as exercise

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mandimahoney5
mandimahoney5 Posts: 93
in Fitness and Exercise
I am a crazy cleaner, I will spend 2 hours a day cleaning while baby is sleeping. I do feel hot and like I am about to sweat by the time I sit down.

I found cleaning is in the exercises.

Any one actually use this??? My husband questioned me about it when I told home he helped me clean and rearrand a room that he should input 2 hours in his MFP for cleaning. He could not be leave it was considered a exercise
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Replies

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    Cleaning? Count it!
    power-clean-techniques.jpg
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
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    If you do it everyday it is probably better to count it as part of your daily activity and make yourself lightly active or moderately active in your settings depending on what else you do. If you do it only sometimes then yes 2 hrs of cleaning could be logged but MFP is generous with calories burned so I would underestimate it a bit.
  • ValGogo
    ValGogo Posts: 2,168 Member
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    Funny, just yesterday I got home and started to mop the kitchen floor. It was crazy humid (New York) and it was hot in the apt. Now, I don't have a mop (didn't buy one yet and the swiffer is just not strong enough) so I used a big rag and the broom handle. Also lots of cat hair so I had to squat to wipe up the hair in long sweeping movements with my arms and core.

    Suffice it to say I was dripping with sweat and breating heavily when I finished about 20-30 minutes later. I logged the cleaning on my MFP.

    I think some cleaning is exercise, hell yeah!
  • itsmemeg
    itsmemeg Posts: 3 Member
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    I count it. I'm not the most successful at weight loss, however. But I will clean for a couple hours and definitely sweat, and even sometimes be sore the next day. So I say it should count.
  • Pirate_chick
    Pirate_chick Posts: 1,216 Member
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    I don't, but a lot of people do.
  • ValGogo
    ValGogo Posts: 2,168 Member
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    Cleaning? Count it!
    power-clean-techniques.jpg

    Off topic, but what is the next move after the squat....does he stand up? Seriously....does he? I'm saving this picture.
  • LuckyMunky
    LuckyMunky Posts: 200 Member
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    I would argue that it depends on your activity settings. I've put mine as lightly active, and if I work up a sweat while cleaning, I count it as exercise. If it's light (just dusting, doing dishes, etc.) I don't count it. Moving furniture and doing a heavy duty scrub? Yes, that will definitely burn some serious calories over time! I tend to only log half the time I've actually spent cleaning, as it's been known that MFP can overestimate the calories burnt for many activities.
  • spade117
    spade117 Posts: 2,466 Member
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    I will spend 2 hours a day cleaning


    Sounds like you have a dirty house.
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member
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    I don't ever log anything like that as exercise because to me it *isn't*. It's physically demanding, perhaps, but it's just life. It's not something that I have to find extra motivation for, and schedule in on top of the rest of my day. If I get a few extra calories burned, great. It's a bit of an unplanned bonus. I feel like if I logged things like cleaning as exercise could really set me up to become complacent with exercise. Like, "Oh, I don't need to work out today. I cleaned the house yesterday."

    That's just how I see it for myself. Do what works best for you.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    If you do it everyday it is probably better to count it as part of your daily activity and make yourself lightly active or moderately active in your settings depending on what else you do. If you do it only sometimes then yes 2 hrs of cleaning could be logged but MFP is generous with calories burned so I would underestimate it a bit.

    ^This would be my answer too. Either set your activity level a little higher or get something like a fitbit or bodybugg to track your daily activity.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    Cleaning? Count it!
    power-clean-techniques.jpg

    Off topic, but what is the next move after the squat....does he stand up? Seriously....does he? I'm saving this picture.

    Drive hard up to the heavens in a front squat of glory.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    If you cleaned while you were over weight no...don't count it...it's a part of life.

    I was on my hands and knees scrubbing grout for 2 hours as well on Saturday you wont find it in my log.

    Exercise is purposeful movement for health...cleaning is not that...esp your own house and if you do it everyday for 2 hours....can't be that dirty.
  • TXRanchGirl
    TXRanchGirl Posts: 303
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    I used to count EVERY little thing I did..now I dont.
    I jut log my actual exercise videos.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    No.
  • azymth99
    azymth99 Posts: 122 Member
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    You can count it, but I think you're working against yourself, especially if you eat according to the calorie adjustments in MFP. Including it in daily activity is probably more accurate.
  • tibby531
    tibby531 Posts: 717 Member
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    I count it when I do my weekly whole-house cleaning (2-4 hours). but not the daily "oh, I did dished for ten minutes" stuff.
  • mandimahoney5
    mandimahoney5 Posts: 93
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    I am actually looking in to one of these. The flex is what I want. I was waiting until I got a smart phone again ( when the iPhone 6 is out in September so I can set it to sunk through the phone. baby decided my I phone 4 needed to take a swim in juice and ruined it)
    I'd say if you're going to go down that road you'd be best off getting a FitBit and just counting the steps you take cleaning so you have a better idea of what your activity really is during that time period. Otherwise don't count it.
  • mandimahoney5
    mandimahoney5 Posts: 93
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    My settings are for Sedentary ( sitting ) calories per day recommended 1300 per day.
    I am a stay at home mom so didn't know what to use. But thought that was best, I spend my days chasing a 2 y old around, watching cartoons, cleaning and 5 days a week 1-1.5 hours at the gym.
    I would argue that it depends on your activity settings. I've put mine as lightly active, and if I work up a sweat while cleaning, I count it as exercise. If it's light (just dusting, doing dishes, etc.) I don't count it. Moving furniture and doing a heavy duty scrub? Yes, that will definitely burn some serious calories over time! I tend to only log half the time I've actually spent cleaning, as it's been known that MFP can overestimate the calories burnt for many activities.
  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
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    Fitbit, from experience, does not accurately count my steps when I'm in the house. Fitbit is not going to accurately measure housework activities either. When you're inside the shower enclosure scrubbing hard water spots off your shower door and enclosure, inch by inch, for an hour, fitbit isn't going to measure that.

    If you are set to sedentary, count your exercise as activity. Otherwise, set yourself to lightly active and only count it if you go beyond your two hours'of usual daily cleaning.

    When I'm on vacation, I set to sedentary and housework activities that go beyond me just straightening up or tossing in a load of laundry etc (little to no effort stuff) gets counted. When I'm at work, I set to lightly active because work keeps me on my feet and walking around all the time, and it's the same thing, I'll count the extended cleaning sessions.

    But, because cleaning can not be 'balanced', meaning you might favor your right or left side, it's best to also incorporate other activities, too. Moderate to heavy effort cleaning still counts though.

    Just like the men of yesteryear, people don't want to consider 'women's work' as real work, and as it ever was, it is.

    Oh, and sweat does not equal workout. Sweat just means you're hot. Just because something made you sweaty, or didn't, does not diminish or add to the effort you put into that activity. Sweat does not burn extra calories.

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