Does burning calories cleaning really count?

I log everything, and I have 3 kids and grandkids so I am always cleaning...lol...but seriously, I don't use the burning of calories as a reason to eat more. I just try to stay active, and keep my exercises up and go for it.

Blessings,

Diane

in my opinion - cleaning, shopping, cooking, etc are part of your regular daily activities...you did them before MFP and you will keep doing them...I wouldn't log them - if you got a burn from it then that is a bonus....

the only activity like that that I have logged is shovelling snow - this really gets your heart rate up and works alot of muscles...similiar once it gets nice out I will log gardening and mowing the lawn as well....

I log when I do heavy cleaning like spring cleaning

I agree I don't count cleaning, yard work or anything that is requires to keep a home, but if i was building a brick wall I would count that

I think that if your breaking a sweat you should count it. If your doing more than your norm definitely log that also.

I never log for normal stuff, cleaning, shopping, sex. It's all a part of life. I just log for when I set out to work my butt off for the purpose of burning calories and fat.

For me it depends on what I'm doing, Basic dusting? No. Vaccuming and moving furniture out of the way? Yes. I have 5 dogs living in my home and a 13 year old boy - "cleaning" for me involves more than general household maintenance... it means carpet cleaning, moving furniture, hand scrubbing floors, scouring walls.... I wear my HRM and gauge what it says vs. what I normally burn in a workout - if it's similar - then yes, I count it!!!

I would say it depends on how you setup your profile, like a couple others have stated.

If you are Sedentary, I would log cleaning. If I was Very Active, I would not log it.

Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. nurse, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

I don't usually log cleaning unless it's above and beyond my daily straightening, toy pick-up, dishes, etc. However, I posted this before, I usually DO log shopping because I don't shop every day. When I do, 99% of the time I end up bringing both my kids (almost 40 lbs each) and put them in a Target shopping cart with one of those double-seats added to the front, and I push it all over creation in the store, adding to it various items (large box of diapers/pull-ups, 2 gallons of milk, box of canned cat food, 20-40 lbs of dog food, etc, etc.) I walk pretty quickly to start with, so pushing all that stuff around the store for 90 minutes is definitely a workout if you ask me.

And, for those who doubt you can lose weight by logging cleaning and shopping as "exercise" on occasion, I submit this: I stopped "exercising" due to the flu and an achilles tendon injury on 1/26/11. I was doing EA Sports Active 3-4x per week, but my Dr. said to stop high-impact exercise. It took me about 2 weeks to recover from the flu, and when I started feeling better, rather than join a gym to get access to an elliptical or recumbant bike, we decided to buy a piece of equipment for our home. We just ordered it and should get it this week. Without any exercise other than my daily routine, walking, (I did run/walk a 5k in there,) and occasionally logging my shopping and heavy-duty cleaning, I weighed myself this morning, and I weigh 14.6 lbs less than I did on 1/26. I don't normally eat all my exercise calories, regardless of what type of exertion it is, but there were days when I ate back my cleaning and/or shopping calories, and I still managed to lose.

The thing is, you have to be honest with yourself because, in the end, you're only cheating yourself. If it felt like a workout, log it. If it didn't, don't.

JMO.

No No and NO. to me, its a way to sugar coat your numbers, dont eat them back . dont log them . NOPE

I agree with Tami! She is a fitness guru. She knows her stuff.

I think you are making the right choice. Unless you are reeaaallly sweating and doing heavy duty cleaning like scrubbing the floors on your hands and knees, I would consider it part of your normal daily activity. Even so, I would underestimate the calories burned by putting in less minutes than you actually spent. I kind of do that for all my activities, just to make sure I'm not overestimating my calories burned. I'd rather underestimate than over Just my 2 cents!