Cleaning...Light or Heavy??

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  • alska
    alska Posts: 295 Member
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    I answered but I guess mine wasn't good enough ... you'd rather answer to drama ..... :\
    I understand all that but I did not ask if everyone logs it...all I asked was the difference between them.
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,834 Member
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    I don't understand this site...

    I asked a simple question which I thought would have a simple answer. Hmm I guess not, as everyone decides to add their opinion on if i should log it or not - which I did not ask for.

    whoa...well alright then.

    I would think heavy cleaning would be something along the lines of a big job - like cleaning out the garage or moving furniture.

    And I would not dare tell you not to log it in if it was something you've been doing every weekend for a long time. Nope. Not saying a word. Keeping my mouth shut.
  • merisaOct3
    merisaOct3 Posts: 197 Member
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    I answered but I guess mine wasn't good enough ... you'd rather answer to drama ..... :\
    I understand all that but I did not ask if everyone logs it...all I asked was the difference between them.
    +1
  • Cliffslosinit
    Cliffslosinit Posts: 5,044 Member
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    I understand all that but I did not ask if everyone logs it...all I asked was the difference between them.

    For me....Starting the laundry and washing dishes, cleaning the toilet are just simple easy things.(light) The (heavy) would be for me moving the furniture around, flipping the mattress, extracting the carpet, using a scrub brush to clean edges on tile and hard flooring, etc.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    I wear my heart rate monitor when I clean ... that way I know how many calories I burned.

    n I created a new exercising calling it "Cleaning with HRM"...

    I agree with whoever said if you are moving around n not sweating then I would say light n if you are sweating then I would say heavy.

    HRMs are designed to track steady state cardio. Whatever number your HRM spits out when you wear it cleaning is bound to be inaccurate since it's not made to track activities like cleaning.
  • KayleighIsGoingFatToFit
    KayleighIsGoingFatToFit Posts: 203 Member
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    I answered but I guess mine wasn't good enough ... you'd rather answer to drama ..... :\
    I understand all that but I did not ask if everyone logs it...all I asked was the difference between them.

    I didn't mean everyone on here sorry. It's just the rude just to get a kick out of being rude comments
  • George_Baileys_Ghost
    George_Baileys_Ghost Posts: 1,524 Member
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    OP to answer your question, from a calorie-burning, weight-loss-affecting perspective there is little to no difference between the two. One could come up with a vague definition of either, but unless you're doing something that makes you break a serious sweat, over a sustained period of time, the difference to your calorie burn and intake is so small that it's not going to make much of a difference.

    This is why so many are advising you not to log it. If you decide to do so, and adhere strictly to the principle of eating back your exercise calories, you run the risk of decreasing your deficit, and preventing yourself from losing weight at the rate you've chosen. If it makes you feel better to do so though, vaya con Dios.
  • bohemian124
    bohemian124 Posts: 153 Member
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    I wear my heart rate monitor when I clean ... that way I know how many calories I burned.


    I agree with whoever said if you are moving around n not sweating then I would say light n if you are sweating then I would say heavy.

    Agree with this helpful suggestion. When I do a good heavy cleaning, it takes me about 2 hours and I work up a sweat - I also live in Phoenix, so I work up a sweat easily this time of year! I've been wearing my heart rate monitor while I clean lately. I think last time I cleaned (which included moving furniture, vacuuming, and steam cleaning floors, toilets, mirrors, and sinks), I burned about 300 calories. Not a huge burn, but enough to make me feel better about the 2 glasses of wine I had that night!
  • Fedup23
    Fedup23 Posts: 80 Member
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    My walk to the bathroom was heavy walking, my walk back was light walking.
  • KayleighIsGoingFatToFit
    KayleighIsGoingFatToFit Posts: 203 Member
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    Kind of sounds like you might be hoping you earned some extra calories.

    Nope...I was just asking a simple question
  • daw0518
    daw0518 Posts: 459 Member
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    I got a Fitbit to help me make these types of distinctions. Obviously it's not an exact science and it can overestimate as well, but I always feel better about something actually on my body tracking my movement. On a typical day of 'light cleaning' including loading the dishwasher & tidying up my apartment, it doesn't make much of a difference to my Fitbit, but when I spend a day doing 'heavy cleaning' where I move furniture, vacuum, dust, etc., I usually earn a few calories by the end because it knows that's not normal for me. If it matters that much to you, invest in a device that will help you track your daily body movements. It might be easier, and I'll bet the estimates are a little closer than whatever MFP gives you for cleaning.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    I wear my heart rate monitor when I clean ... that way I know how many calories I burned.


    I agree with whoever said if you are moving around n not sweating then I would say light n if you are sweating then I would say heavy.

    Agree with this helpful suggestion. When I do a good heavy cleaning, it takes me about 2 hours and I work up a sweat - I also live in Phoenix, so I work up a sweat easily this time of year! I've been wearing my heart rate monitor while I clean lately. I think last time I cleaned (which included moving furniture, vacuuming, and steam cleaning floors, toilets, mirrors, and sinks), I burned about 300 calories. Not a huge burn, but enough to make me feel better about the 2 glasses of wine I had that night!

    Again, HRMs are not designed to estimate calories burned unless you are doing steady state cardio. Wearing them while cleaning is rather pointless.
  • srslybritt
    srslybritt Posts: 1,618 Member
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    This thread is interesting. I have always been a walker, walking several miles per day. Since starting MFP two weeks ago, I log that walking as exercise. Apparently, since I was walking before starting MFP, I should not be logging this?

    I don't understand the logic of this.

    Did you set your activity level to reflect that you walked that regularly? Another poster here said she's set herself as "sedentary" but logs anything longer than 15 minutes.

    That just seems like a lot more work to me than it needs to be, but if that's your method, then that's your method. I just think it would be easier and slightly less tedious to just set yourself as lightly or moderately active and have the cushion already built in.
  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
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    Eh, but cleaning doesn't matter. If you did it when you gained your weight and still do it while trying to lose weight. I wouldn't log it.

    Unless you are a cleaner by trait. If so increase your activity level. Cleaning is not exercise.

    With that said to me light cleaning is picking stuff up around the house, doing dishes, wiping stuff down.

    Heavy would be vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing down tubs, floors...stuff that requires more work.
    +1

    I don't count cleaning...unless it's something unusual "scrub down the siding with bleach" type stuff. Sweeping/dishes etc. never find their way to my log.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    I had no idea there was an option to ignore people. Thank you.
    No problem! Someone told me, too. :)

    When I got told about it, someone said, "If you use it, you miss good advice!" You won't. You'll just miss childish name-calling, the constant mocking, some bragging and a lot of general rudeness and nastiness.

    Someone else will post good advice in a way worth reading. :)
  • ladyrhodes2
    ladyrhodes2 Posts: 13 Member
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    I usually just let my fitbit calculate how many I burned in steps while cleaning Fitbit and go with that. :flowerforyou:
  • perfekta
    perfekta Posts: 331 Member
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    I don't understand this site...

    I asked a simple question which I thought would have a simple answer. Hmm I guess not, as everyone decides to add their opinion on if i should log it or not - which I did not ask for.

    pretty much, they cease to exist if they don't put their two cents in
  • christashay
    christashay Posts: 54 Member
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    ^^This!! You'll end up with a gross miscalculation of expended calories, which you'll try to eat back and end up screwing yourself. Activities of Daily living are generally NOT exercise- you do them everyday! Exercise is pushing your heart rate up for an extended time to burn calories and create a deficit to lose weight. If you want to be successful don't short change yourself- do real work!
    Perhaps no one can answer your question on what is light cleaning vs. heavy cleaning because no one logs it.... because you shouldn't.

    Who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn't log? Surely its my choice if I want to or not.
    [/quote]

    I think you're taking this a bit too personally. Look around at tickers and post counts here. Do you think we're telling you this to be mean? No. We're telling you this because logging bogus exercise calories is lying to yourself and it won't help you in the long run.
    [/quote]
  • FemWeight
    FemWeight Posts: 96
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    Eh, but cleaning doesn't matter. If you did it when you gained your weight and still do it while trying to lose weight. I wouldn't log it.

    Unless you are a cleaner by trait. If so increase your activity level. Cleaning is not exercise.

    Well it matters to me...hence why I asked.
    I do a big clean every week and I am still moving. Just because it's not the traditional 'exercise' doesn't mean I shouldn't log it, if I am cleaning for 3 hours - thats 3 hours of moving.

    Amen!
  • KayleighIsGoingFatToFit
    KayleighIsGoingFatToFit Posts: 203 Member
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    I had no idea there was an option to ignore people. Thank you.
    No problem! Someone told me, too. :)

    When I got told about it, someone said, "If you use it, you miss good advice!" You won't. You'll just miss childish name-calling, the constant mocking, some bragging and a lot of general rudeness and nastiness.

    Someone else will post good advice in a way worth reading. :)

    Well that's something I could do without :)
    I may have to start "ignoring" a few people :smile:
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