Counting housework as exercise calories?

rayrayfitz
rayrayfitz Posts: 80 Member
edited November 13 in Health and Weight Loss
Ive been on MFP for over a year. Hit a bit of a plateau, so I shook things up a bit. I exercise every day. Gym/swim and I walk At least 3 miles. Recently I bought a Polar HRM.

I now have my diary set to sedentary which gives me 1080 cals, and I eat around half my exercise calories back.

My weight loss is slow even though I set it to 2lb a week, and log and weighed everything correctly, I average 0.5lb a week, but I have PCOS and just figured that's how it's going to be.

Today I'm not doing any exercise, which is unusual for me. I am going to spend a few hours scrubbing my house from top to bottom, so I will be fairly active not sedentary. Shall I strap on the Polar whilst doing the housework and count it as exercise or not? I never add housework and I do it daily, but as I'm doing no other exercise and having a good scrub I'm confused to whether I should add it or not.

Thanks

Replies

  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    Are you wanting to count the housework so you have more calories, or just out of interest? When I first started I had a day where I reorganised my office, which was a LOT of moving stuff around for several hours, and I counted some of that, but I wouldn't normally count housework. Could be interesting to see what your HRM says though!!

    On the PCOS thing, have you tried dropping your carb intake? That's the only thing that works for me. Mine aren't super low, but I aim not to go over 100 generally.
  • rayrayfitz
    rayrayfitz Posts: 80 Member
    As I have it set to sedentary MFP gives me 1080 cals. So if I'm active all day and leave it on sedentary I will only eat 1080 cals, which I'm worried is too little if I'm active all day?

    I usually exercise for at least 2 hours a day. I only ever count 'proper exercise' in my cals. I never count daily chores. But I'm need to have a 'spring clean' today, so I imagine it will be quite a work out.

    As for carbs i'm rubbish. I love and need my carbs, Im hungry all the time if I don't but I figure that's why my weight loss is so slow, as I'm quite carb heavy.

    X
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    Okay if you know it's going to be a hardcore workout, count it :)

    Totally hear you on the carbs. Interestingly I've found now that I'm doing moderate carbs, if I increase those and therefore drop fat I am absolutely ravenous. There is no way you'd have convinced me it would be that way two months ago.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    You can count it if you want but I wouldn't use the HRM for calories burned. HRM is good for steady state cardio work (running, elliptical, maybe Zumba or a high intensity aerobics class) - not for things like cardio kickboxing or weight lifting, or cleaning (no matter how intense) and you'll get a wildly incorrect number. Best you can do is guess on something like cleaning (Or, I guess, wear a pedometer, although that's going to short change you since in a lot of wiping/scrubbing cleaning activities your FEET don't move)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Wanna do my house? I'll pay you in calories :grinning:
  • healthybodyhealthylife
    healthybodyhealthylife Posts: 189 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Wanna do my house? I'll pay you in calories :grinning:


    Big lol
  • honeybee_kisses
    honeybee_kisses Posts: 172 Member
    As you have it set to sedentary I would log it and eat back maybe half the calories. Normal everyday housework I wouldn't bother with but if you're doing something extra than usual, scrubbing your house top to bottom then I would think that's ok
  • ArkMom35
    ArkMom35 Posts: 225 Member
    I don't log the day-to-day stuff, but when I go above and beyond the dailies, I log it, I can always feel my heart rate go up when I do that so I figure it's worth some calories.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    no.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    MFP doesn't go below 1200 for calorie allotment...and no house cleaning is not exercise.
  • marissafit06
    marissafit06 Posts: 1,996 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    MFP doesn't go below 1200 for calorie allotment...and no house cleaning is not exercise.

    there is a glitch so apparently MFP is doling out allotments that are sub 1200 now. Some have reported as low as the 6/7 hundreds.
  • Raynne413
    Raynne413 Posts: 1,527 Member
    marissafit06 wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    MFP doesn't go below 1200 for calorie allotment...and no house cleaning is not exercise.

    there is a glitch so apparently MFP is doling out allotments that are sub 1200 now. Some have reported as low as the 6/7 hundreds.

    I would cry!
  • PugsMagoo
    PugsMagoo Posts: 15 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Wanna do my house? I'll pay you in calories :grinning:

    Me too!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Housecleaning is already included in your activity level.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    The sedentary level means, on average, for the working day. I have my dairy set to sedentary and I don't count thinks like heavy cleaning, playing with the dogs, or other things of that sort because I'm not getting my heart rate up and keeping it up to burn more than an extra 25 calories, really.
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,467 Member
    I'd redo your profile through MFP - as others have said, it shouldn't go below 1200. It seems to be a glitch.

    As for adding housecleaning - it's up to you! I wouldn't add normal cleaning (it's part of your NEAT - non-exercise calories - which should be taken into account in your activity level). But if you're really going for a big spring clean, getting hot and breathless, then I don't see why you couldn't add some calories for that, especially as your goal is so low. (Hot and/or breathless isn't very scientific, but it's how I like to judge whether I'm burning any extra calories, as a rough guide!).

    I've heard that the Polar monitors tend to overestimate calorie burn, so you might want to be aware of that.
  • NextPage
    NextPage Posts: 609 Member
    Activities of daily living like housework are already included in "sedentary". Unless you had a maid that did all this work when you were gaining weight and this is a major life change, then definitely do not log it. I also don't think a major top to bottom clean is extraordinary - I think it is the norm for full-time working women.
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