Let's make a pact: Cleaning house IS NOT AN EXERCISE

Azuleelan
Azuleelan Posts: 218
in Fitness and Exercise
So people are reaching 600 calorie "workouts" in part because they "cleaned the house"... wtf??? Should I add "Run to catch the bus" or "jump to reach the mustard"?? We are tryin to lose weight here, let's be honest! Who's in?
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Replies

  • LacieLamp
    LacieLamp Posts: 109 Member
    I disagree there are times when I bust my butt cleaning house so yes I do add it as part of my exercise log for the fact that I know I'm working up a sweat and it's out of my normal day routine. Now I'm not talking about everyday household chores I'm talking spring cleaning/ deep cleaning. I don't add them in for the fact I can eat more but I know that yes I am burning calories and on a 1200 calorie limit those are cLories that are going to need to be replaced.
  • angisnee
    angisnee Posts: 236 Member
    Not me! I don't do a lot of strenuous cleaning on a daily basis, and my activity level is set to sedentary. If I work up a good sweat, you bet I'm gonna log it! My HRM agrees I did indeed burn extra calories that day, so I'm going to enjoy eating back at least some of those well-deserved calories!

    If some choose not to, that's their choice. For me, after losing 40 pounds, I realized my daily calorie deficit was too big and hindering my weight loss. I need to eat extra on days I clean hard! :)
  • Azuleelan
    Azuleelan Posts: 218
    Argh! You guys make me want to eat a PB sandwich. I did vacuum today, after all...
  • LacieLamp
    LacieLamp Posts: 109 Member
    Then do it. You are an adult and we are all responsible for our own weight loss/gain. We all don't have to agree on what is considered exercise but I know when I'm burning calories and when I'm not.
  • Boladefuego326
    Boladefuego326 Posts: 143 Member
    nicely said :3
  • Tammysueless
    Tammysueless Posts: 166
    I totally agree with amcheney and lacielamp!!! If I work up a sweat I count it! If you are really cleaning you do alot of bending and arm work and twisting and squating and lifting, what about this dosen't sound like exercise? I mowed with a push mower for 40 minutes and was sweating and breathing more rapidly as well as my heartrate was elevated, yes I logged it in my exercise diary. Just because its called mowing doesn't mean that it's not exercise. If it elevates your heartrate for a lengh of time it's exercise!:smile:
  • bmontgomery87
    bmontgomery87 Posts: 1,260 Member
    agreed.

    if I don't sweat, i don't count it.
  • forever28
    forever28 Posts: 374 Member
    Even if I sweat....I don't consider cleaning house working out (in my opinion). I feel better about logging in quality exercise that I'm using my HRM to monitor. Anything extra like cleaning house (while sweating) is just a bonus. I took a 15-20 min leisurely stroll while pushing my daughter in her stroller and walking the dog & did not count that either. To each is their own, I guess. :smile:
  • ifrog3n1
    ifrog3n1 Posts: 29 Member
    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But as for me, i was VERY INACTIVE due pain. When i finally found a Dr. who would listen to me & work with me to manage my pain, i am able to move better AND clean house. This was something that i rarely did before. Does this mean that walking at a slow speed should not be considered exercise either? Well, my Dr. would disagree considering i've lost 39 pounds by being able to do housework again AND walking at a slow pace. (31 lbs. before i joined MFP) The best part is that by losing the weight, i'm able to do more. at a faster rate & for longer periods of time. And isn't that what exercise is all about?

    Just one plus size mama's opinion.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    agreed.

    if I don't sweat, i don't count it.

    do you account for the weather in this? :P
  • theresnoeggs
    theresnoeggs Posts: 188 Member
    I don't usually count it, because I do a pretty deep cleaning daily, including mopping sweeping and scrubbing, oh and trying to get my fat behind UP the ladder to my sons bunk bed to clear off his shelf of dirty dishes, and to make his bed that I can't reach otherwise.

    BUT I do count it, if it's a day I am literally on my hands and knees or tip toes scrubbing the tile grout lines of my floor and backsplash with a tooth brush. Only because my heart rate averages around the same as it does when I am doing a brisk walk.

    I also don't usually add playing with the kids, but I did yesterday for the first time. I was out there running up and down my hill playing soccer with them. You bet I added that, of course come mid june -ish, I won't be bc I'll be doing it more, but for yesterday-I included it!
  • Maztastic
    Maztastic Posts: 43
    I avoid this problem by not doing any cleaning :tongue:
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
    I avoid this problem by not doing any cleaning :tongue:

    Here here! :drinker:
  • fromaquasar
    fromaquasar Posts: 811 Member
    I avoid this problem by not doing any cleaning :tongue:

    Et moi!
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    It's all about striving for accuracy. I almost never ever clean, so if I burned 600 calories "cleaning", I would and should log it. Whereas, if I was a stay at home mom or something and looked after my kids and kept the house in order, etc, I would roll that into my activity level.

    Whoever can get the numbers as close to reality as possible wins in terms of record keeping.

    By the way, this was awesome: "I avoid this problem by not doing any cleaning "
  • jellybaby84
    jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
    haha, house cleaning as exericse? Never seen that before. No, I wouldn't log it, it's a daily activity (NOT that I do it daily, I def don't but it is an everyday, ordinary sort of task). If you're a big cleaner it just means yous have a reasonably active lifestyle no? I don't see a problem with recording it if somebody wants to but surely if you start letting yourself eat calories burned in ordinary activities you're going to run into trouble.
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
    agreed.

    if I don't sweat, i don't count it.
    if i can hold a conversation without huffing and puffing im not logging it.
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
    I avoid this problem by not doing any cleaning :tongue:
    haha i wish i could do that.
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
    Getting dirty should be an option to log as negative cardio...that way, if they get dirty while cleaning, it negates each other and therefore it never counted.
  • Kjarlune
    Kjarlune Posts: 178
    I avoid this problem by not doing any cleaning :tongue:


    bump....I have kids..
  • Kjarlune
    Kjarlune Posts: 178
    Okay that was my funny....in truth though...If it is something you do not do very often like myself. I have a housekeeper....and then I spend a day cleaning my butt off and working up a sweat I count it. There are times when my heart rate is far higher while I am cleaning under my bed then on a treadmill......If it burns extra calories is it not considered a calorie burn?
  • meggiemaye
    meggiemaye Posts: 117
    I avoid this problem by not doing any cleaning :tongue:

    Amen!
  • Laurieannfanelli
    Laurieannfanelli Posts: 36 Member
    I post house cleaning as excersise I don't add it as that many cal just at 200 burned. But some days I shampoo carpets and wash windows. I have a 4000 sq ft house its a lot. And I am very OCD so its a lot of work every day!
  • Still_Sossy
    Still_Sossy Posts: 868 Member
    Then do it. You are an adult and we are all responsible for our own weight loss/gain. We all don't have to agree on what is considered exercise but I know when I'm burning calories and when I'm not.




    Bawhahahahaaaaaaa! I freakin love this woman!!!! High five for telling it like it is!
  • meggiemaye
    meggiemaye Posts: 117
    Then do it. You are an adult and we are all responsible for our own weight loss/gain. We all don't have to agree on what is considered exercise but I know when I'm burning calories and when I'm not.


    I agree that we shouldn't be hyperanalyzing the actions of others here...it's not negatively affecting you for other people to do that; ultimately everyone is accountable only to themselves. I'm sure you meant well and I think that maybe this topic could have been brought up in a less offensive way. On MFP we don't coddle people, but we do try and be supportive at all times. Lots of people have very high levels of pain where activity is involved, and to them maybe it's exciting to log a small victory. It's not for us to judge what they qualify as a workout.
  • lil_missfit
    lil_missfit Posts: 565 Member
    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But as for me, i was VERY INACTIVE due pain. When i finally found a Dr. who would listen to me & work with me to manage my pain, i am able to move better AND clean house. This was something that i rarely did before. Does this mean that walking at a slow speed should not be considered exercise either? Well, my Dr. would disagree considering i've lost 39 pounds by being able to do housework again AND walking at a slow pace. (31 lbs. before i joined MFP) The best part is that by losing the weight, i'm able to do more. at a faster rate & for longer periods of time. And isn't that what exercise is all about?

    Just one plus size mama's opinion.

    Awesome!!! I totally agree with you on this. A friend of mine has lost a huge amount of weight (over 50lbs was over 300lbs) just by moving more around her house, walking around her neighborhood (not fast) and eating a whole LOT less (which she couldn't/didn't do before) she is just NOW doing what I guess some consider as REAL exercise because her health has of course improved.

    I am not going to add them anymore unless my HRM says my HR is up high enough to burn calories worth talking about- it's just because I don't want to:)) I agree with you---to each is own and everyone is entitled to do what they want:))
  • riley711
    riley711 Posts: 298 Member
    I have a sedentary lifestyle, and I don't clean often, so when I do, I am definitely burning calories, so yes, I'm definitely going to count them. If others don't agree, they don't have to count them. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and can make their own choices.
  • jmhigg1020
    jmhigg1020 Posts: 51 Member
    So people are reaching 600 calorie "workouts" in part because they "cleaned the house"... wtf??? Should I add "Run to catch the bus" or "jump to reach the mustard"?? We are tryin to lose weight here, let's be honest! Who's in?

    May I ask exactly where your mustard is that you must jump for it? That sounds like a bigger problem to me than figuring out your calorie burn. It's a great condiment! LOL!! :)
  • grumpyswife123
    grumpyswife123 Posts: 42
    So people are reaching 600 calorie "workouts" in part because they "cleaned the house"... wtf??? Should I add "Run to catch the bus" or "jump to reach the mustard"?? We are tryin to lose weight here, let's be honest! Who's in?

    I don't record daily housekeeping, BUT if It takes me 4 hours to do laundry, clean out closets, vaccumm, dust, mop, etc, you bet I'm gonna record it
  • LovelySnugs
    LovelySnugs Posts: 389
    i wash poopy diapers at least 4 times a week. i wash dishes twice a day. vacuum almost every day also. these are not things that i, personally, count. the rule of thumb that i was given was this: 'if it gets your heart rate up, works up a sweat, and it's NOT something you did regularly while you were getting fat, log it. but it has to meet all of those'.

    so, by this logic, shifting, unpacking, and rearranging my bedroom closet and storage closet counted for me under cleaning for cardio. i could even have counted it under strength training, since i was mostly lifting and moving boxes to make more of them fit into the same space.

    i certainly don't want to be judged by someone like the original poster, just because this fool doesn't know what i mean when i log "cleaning" as exercise.

    ETA: it should be noted that on the closet cleaning occasion, i only logged half the time it actually took, and i marked it as "light" effort instead of "vigorous". still doesn't make me a bad person.
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