cleaning house with kids

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justinkeeton0013
justinkeeton0013 Posts: 19 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
MFP lets you count cleaning the house as exercise but how do I maintain enough calorie burn and still have the kids do chores when my place is smaller? ie taking trash out etc...? Anyone else have this problem?

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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    This is not something I'd ever log. It's a lifestyle activity, not purposeful exercise.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    Do not log cleaning, heck, or pretty much anything that wasn't an intentional workout.

    MyFitnessPal already assumes you do some physical activity throughout the day like cleaning, walking around, taking out the trash, etc.

    If you add it in as exercise calories you will over-eat those calories.
  • justinkeeton0013
    justinkeeton0013 Posts: 19 Member
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    i thought mfp assumed i did nothing... but youre saying that if I spend two hours on my feet dusting switching arms that does not count as a workout? or pulling out all the furniture and moving it back to vacuum counts as no activity?
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    justinkeeton0013 wrote: »
    i thought mfp assumed i did nothing... but youre saying that if I spend two hours on my feet dusting switching arms that does not count as a workout? or pulling out all the furniture and moving it back to vacuum counts as no activity?

    It depends on whether this is part of your regular activity level. If you start counting activities that you do as part of your regular life as burning calories, you risk screwing up your numbers and unwittingly eating more calories than you need. I personally only count purposeful exercise and rare strenuous home-related physical activity (deep cleaning the house, shoveling snow, early season gardening prep-work where I'm doing a lot of digging or hauling, etc) as exercise. The regular day-to-day stuff I include as just part of my regular activity.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,639 Member
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    justinkeeton0013 wrote: »
    i thought mfp assumed i did nothing... but youre saying that if I spend two hours on my feet dusting switching arms that does not count as a workout? or pulling out all the furniture and moving it back to vacuum counts as no activity?
    Ask yourself this: were you doing these things already, but got overweight? If so, then it's regular day to day activity and part of your N.E.A.T. (non exercise activity thermogenisis). Unless you're activity level is set at sedentary, I wouldn't count it.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
    edited November 2015
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    My understanding has always been that logged activity is that which raises the heart rate.

    But as for your question, there's no way I would stop the kids from doing chores they're able to do. Do a workout video or something while they take out the garbage.
  • Fit4LifeAR
    Fit4LifeAR Posts: 233 Member
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    Personally I wouldn't log any cleaning as exercise. Yes, it is exercise in a sense, but I count it as normal, everyday life. Unless I am purposely working out, I don't count it in my calorie count.

    I will say on days when I clean for hours, I allow myself a little more to eat, and usually go over my allotted calories, but I figure it evens out.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    justinkeeton0013 wrote: »
    i thought mfp assumed i did nothing... but youre saying that if I spend two hours on my feet dusting switching arms that does not count as a workout? or pulling out all the furniture and moving it back to vacuum counts as no activity?

    Nope, not true.

    MyFitnessPal asks for your activity level when you set it up, right?

    It takes your BMR (amount of calories it takes to keep you alive) and then multiplies it by you're selected activity level.

    As niner said above, if it's an activity you were doing before as part of a regular activity, and you were overweight, it's part of your normal activity and falls within the activity level you selected.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    seriously wouldn't log cleaning.
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
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    I don't log cleaning either, but I do give my kids daily chores. It counts towards my sanity. ;)

  • tpcannon
    tpcannon Posts: 2 Member
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    I guess it depends on how you show your lifestyle when you sign up. If you show sedentary as your norm, then you can log household tasks to increase your burned calories. I found this list of household tasks and calories they burn in 15 minute increments...
    Calorie Lab: http://calorielab.com/burned/?mo=se&gr=05&ti=home+activities&q&wt=150&un=lb&kg=68[/url]
  • powercycle
    powercycle Posts: 22 Member
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    The only cleaning or maintenance task I've ever bother to log is snow shoveling.
  • Sassie_Lassie
    Sassie_Lassie Posts: 140 Member
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    The only time I've ever logged cleaning is when I did a BIG clean which takes 5-6 hours.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,064 Member
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    justinkeeton0013 wrote: »
    i thought mfp assumed i did nothing... but youre saying that if I spend two hours on my feet dusting switching arms that does not count as a workout? or pulling out all the furniture and moving it back to vacuum counts as no activity?

    No, MFP assumes that you are normally active. In other words, it assumes that you get the groceries, clean the house, make the meals, do the laundry, walk back and forth from the photocopier at work, stand at meetings, walk out to the corner cafe for a coffee, etc. etc. etc.



    The only time I have ever logged housework was a day when I spent 4 or 5 hours one evening on my feet carrying boxes, unpacking boxes, walking back and forth and back and forth, cleaning, etc. ... and I only counted 1 or 2 hours worth of that.

    Regular housecleaning I don't count.



  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,064 Member
    edited May 2016
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    justinkeeton0013 wrote: »
    MFP lets you count cleaning the house as exercise but how do I maintain enough calorie burn and still have the kids do chores when my place is smaller? ie taking trash out etc...? Anyone else have this problem?

    If you walk briskly up and down and up and down the stairs 5 times, you can count that as about 30 calories burned. Does that help. :grin:
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
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    Sedentary activity level includes some walking around and doing things...It's not like it assumes you are bedridden.

    If you are moving around all day, always walking and cleaning and not sitting down at all until supper, then your lifestyle isn't sedentary, it's moderately active, though I would also say you spend too much time cleaning if that's the case. But say you were a housecleaner for a job, or a warehouse puller, if that's your regular daily activity level before exercise then you don't have a sedentary lifestyle.



  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
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    It's not worth it to log these things.

    Say you estimate 100 calories for your dusting. Then you don't weigh out your 100 cals of whatever to eat them back. Now you're cutting in to your deficit.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    justinkeeton0013 wrote: »
    i thought mfp assumed i did nothing... but youre saying that if I spend two hours on my feet dusting switching arms that does not count as a workout? or pulling out all the furniture and moving it back to vacuum counts as no activity?

    It assumes you aren't bed-ridden.

    As for what's exercise and what isn't... there's no right answer. it all comes down to some trial and error as you figure out how to balance your estimating (estimating cals in and estimating cals out). If you're not seeing the results you expect to see based on your calorie deficit or surplus, then there is something off with your estimating and you need to make a change.
  • charleycartee
    charleycartee Posts: 49 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    justinkeeton0013 wrote: »
    i thought mfp assumed i did nothing... but youre saying that if I spend two hours on my feet dusting switching arms that does not count as a workout? or pulling out all the furniture and moving it back to vacuum counts as no activity?

    No, MFP assumes that you are normally active. In other words, it assumes that you get the groceries, clean the house, make the meals, do the laundry, walk back and forth from the photocopier at work, stand at meetings, walk out to the corner cafe for a coffee, etc. etc. etc.



    The only time I have ever logged housework was a day when I spent 4 or 5 hours one evening on my feet carrying boxes, unpacking boxes, walking back and forth and back and forth, cleaning, etc. ... and I only counted 1 or 2 hours worth of that.

    Regular housecleaning I don't count.


    re: No, MFP assumes that you are normally active

    I'm pretty sure it assumes you're whatever physical activity level you put in when you set it up.

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