Doing house work

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Rines1594
Rines1594 Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
How many calories do I run when I'm cleaning the house

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  • Rines1594
    Rines1594 Posts: 5 Member
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    How many calories do I burn cleaning the house?
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    TBH, things like cleaning should be included in your daily activity, not exercise.

    The amount of calories you'd burn would vary too greatly anyway to really calculate.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    I assume you managed to gain weight while still cleaning your house? In that case it's status quo, rather than exercise. "Sedentary" will include basic home keeping.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    With all the house workout I do, I set my activity level to lightly active and I still lose. I wear a step tracker and on the days I get to 15000 steps while doing house work, ill give myself a little booster of 250 more calories.
  • CassidyScaglione
    CassidyScaglione Posts: 673 Member
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    it depends... I wouldn't log something dumb like vacuuming, but i log cleaning the shower, and bathing the dog, because i usually sweat like a pig while doing them, and generally wind up with sore arms, legs, etc the next day... Pet groomers must be the fittest people on the planet.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    not enough to count ......
  • NextPage
    NextPage Posts: 609 Member
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    I don't think anyone should ever log cleaning or other activities that the even with an activity level set at "sedentary' MFP would assume is part of your daily routine along with showering, cooking, etc.
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
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    CollieFit wrote: »
    I assume you managed to gain weight while still cleaning your house? In that case it's status quo, rather than exercise. "Sedentary" will include basic home keeping.

    Exactly.
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
    edited February 2016
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    My suggestion is to get a fitbit to track your walking and/or heart rate, and set MFP to sedentary. Having a blanket "I assume you cleaned the house before this" attitude is not necessarily the right thing. When I CLEAN the house its a heavy deep cleaning, we have 5 large dogs and for me CLEANING the house is not a simple dust and vacuum, with a light mop, its a considerable amount of work and I'm looking at 4-5 hours if I'm scrubbing grout. And it NOT a daily activity and its NOT a "basic" activity.

    While I may not eat back house cleaning calories, I do find it motivating to see what I burned.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
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    That's part of your daily activities. Every human must clean their homes. You'd be double dipping if you counted that.
    I own and operate a cleaning service. I certainly can't log 12 hrs of vigorous cleaning as my workout. Its already included in my activity level.
    You will notice things like driving, cleaning, and so on in the data bank. The people that log those are usually the ones that create threads a few months later asking why they aren't losing weight. ( because they ate back the 800 extra cals per day they got for cleaning, driving, walking to the mailbox )
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,029 Member
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    Unless I'm doing a major housecleaning effort that involves moving furniture, lots of walking, lifting and carrying for several hours in a day ... I don't count housecleaning as an exercise activity. If I burn a few more calories running a vacuum around the place, they're bonus calories.

    I have done a major housecleaning effort once in the last year, and it involved unpacking after a move. So I was on my feet walking, lifting, carrying, moving for about 4 hours that evening. If I recall correctly, I counted it as 1 hour of housecleaning.
  • 2snakeswoman
    2snakeswoman Posts: 655 Member
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    Every human must clean their homes - ha! Ever see the show "hoarders"? I count house cleaning if I break a sweat while doing it. I wouldn't count something like loading the dishwasher.
  • HorsesRuleMyLife
    HorsesRuleMyLife Posts: 16 Member
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    I clean my flat once a week so I guess I could class it as a workout as it's a deep clean.

    So people don't think im a scruff and like to live in mess. I work 7 days a week + have 3 horses to look after so on my shortest working day I have time to clean.
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
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    The only domestic chore I log is shoveling snow and only if there's a lot.
  • eaglesmaiden3
    eaglesmaiden3 Posts: 2 Member
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    successgal1 wrote: »
    My suggestion is to get a fitbit to track your walking and/or heart rate, and set MFP to sedentary. Having a blanket "I assume you cleaned the house before this" attitude is not necessarily the right thing. When I CLEAN the house its a heavy deep cleaning, we have 5 large dogs and for me CLEANING the house is not a simple dust and vacuum, with a light mop, its a considerable amount of work and I'm looking at 4-5 hours if I'm scrubbing grout. And it NOT a daily activity and its NOT a "basic" activity.

    While I may not eat back house cleaning calories, I do find it motivating to see what I burned.

    I'm the same way. I log my cleaning only because on those days that I don't get a chance to do a real workout, that shows me that I am still moving my muscles. That keeps my motivation higher. I know my basic 60 minutes of cleaning daily isn't going to shed any pounds, but it reminds me that any movement is better than none. Most days I get a little bit of exercise in at least, but I also have 6 kids, 4 cats, and a dog to care for on my own. Some days my exercise routine consists of walking up and down the hall repeatedly.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Not enough to bother calculating it.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
    edited February 2016
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    anewstart1 wrote: »
    How many calories do I burn cleaning the house?

    Not enough information. Depends on your weight, what you are doing and how long. If you weigh 500 lbs you will burn more calories sweeping for 15 minutes than someone who weighs 120 lbs.
    Cleaning your house should be accounted for in your activity level already though even if you chose sedentary so don't worry about figuring it out and logging it.

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