Cleaning As An Exercise.

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24

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  • sgriddler
    sgriddler Posts: 22 Member
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    Would i count it ? Nope.
    Do i care if some one else does ? Nope.
    It amazes me how many people on here are so bothered , annoyed , irked, or any other such thing by the littlest things that other people do, or dont do..
  • JoyousRen
    JoyousRen Posts: 3,823 Member
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    I don't count it unless it's an unsually heavy cleaning. I also don't count the 100 jumping jacks I did for a challenge. My question is why does it matter other people count? They aren't making you count it so how does this impact you?
  • muffindowd
    muffindowd Posts: 55
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    I totally disagree!! I have myself set to sedentary since I work a desk job, so I feel that if I spend four hours cleaning my entire house on a Saturday OR if I just vacuum and tidy up generally for a half hour on a weekday that I can certainly count it. It's not my only exercise by ANY means, and I don't necessarily eat the calories back...but why not count it if you are not sitting on your butt??
  • Panda_Jack
    Panda_Jack Posts: 829 Member
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    Where's that dead horse GIF when you need it...
  • shack1157
    shack1157 Posts: 97 Member
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    Well folks, I have done some cleaning at our house and I will say this! Just because there are people who workout on a regular bases and feel if they are not on a piece of equipment they are not getting a workout. When I am done cleaning I have worked up a good sweat. I know for a fact I have burned calories! Just because you are the kind of folks that do not clean and I mean a deep clean on your house don't put others down who do! Besides calories burned are claories burned! You can do both clean and still fill in with exercise! Down 90 lbs and will give some credit to helping the wife clean! So keep cleaning!
  • Chunkabutt83
    Chunkabutt83 Posts: 461
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    i strongly disagree with this, i count it as exercise because im a stay at home mom and some days thats all the exercise i can get in, it isnt like im taking the garbage out and saying i spent 5 minutes exercising...
  • Xaspar
    Xaspar Posts: 726 Member
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    I have my activity level set to sedentary. That means anything MORE than sitting on my koester at work or sitting on the couch watching the telly is NOT already factored into my daily activity. If I choose to record additional calories burned because I was on my feet mopping the kitchen floor or washing dishes by hand and drying and putting them away, etc. I don't have the least little qualm about acknowledging that.

    Now, that being said, I generally do NOT log cleaning calories, just count them as bonus burned calories and am sure that actual totals would be negligible in the overall scheme of things, but even if I did, it is MY issue. Nobody is logging cleaning on YOUR activity level so why does it even need to concern you enough to get worked up about it?
  • kapeluza
    kapeluza Posts: 3,434 Member
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    I don't agree either. I work at a desk 5 days a week. When I clean on the weekends, it's not just dusting or doing my weekday chores, like dish washing, making bed, etc. It's hauling laundry up and down, moping, taking trash out, bending over and scrubbing tubs/toilets etc. While my heart rate may not be 150bpm, I'm certainly breaking a huge sweat and on the move constantly for a period of 3-4 hours easily.

    I may not log my cleaning routines into my exercise log but I for sure put out quite in effort in getting all that done. And you can't say it's not exercise for someone who is maybe 300lbs overweight. Just the fact that they are on the move around the house and not sedentary is an improvement! No need to bash people for it.
  • JoyousRen
    JoyousRen Posts: 3,823 Member
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    Where's that dead horse GIF when you need it...
    Check the eating back you exercise calores, HGC, or TOM threads.
  • kapeluza
    kapeluza Posts: 3,434 Member
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    Where's that dead horse GIF when you need it...
    Check the eating back you exercise calores, HGC, or TOM threads.


    right here

    20080202231407!Beating-a-dead-horse.gif
  • TheDeviation
    TheDeviation Posts: 149
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    I just clocked 12.2 calories dusting off my desk at work. You tellin' me that's not exercise? WTF!
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
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    I wear a BodyBugg and even doing dishes counts... of course, I'm not normally the one doing the dishes and vacuuming and chasing after the munchkin, so I'm not set at lightly active. I know my average daily calorie burn (thanks to the BB) and use that to manually calculate my deficit for MFP; if I do dishes and laundry to help out the hubs, or go antiquing (like this weekend) I can see exactly how many extra calories I burned and darned tootin' I count them.
    Accuracy is important in logging. But all of the numbers we use are estimates. And sometimes we just have to go with the best number we can get. However, I think one of the important things to remember is that UNDER logging your exercise is just as bad as overlogging it. You should attempt to be just as accurate in your calorie burns as you are with your calorie intake. Not logging something may be "cheating" just as much logging it, depending on the individual circumstances. ~LadyHawk
  • meggers123
    meggers123 Posts: 711 Member
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    I also disagree.

    If you set your daily activity to moderate, then it's probably just daily activity.

    BUT, if you set your daily activity to the lowest (like I do), then count anything that isn't sitting on your butt as "exercise."

    I find I get a more accurate calorie count by recording all calories in/out. Of course, I wouldn't use it as my only weekly exercise though.

    I'll also log my job (teacher) as walking (slow pace) if I'm wearing my pedometer that day. so? sue me.
  • lisabstrong
    lisabstrong Posts: 165 Member
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    I have a house cleaner so it's not part of my everyday routine...regardless I don't count it as calorie burning...
  • ziggy67
    ziggy67 Posts: 351
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    I'm sorry but I totally disagree....cleaning is movement and movement in whatever form burns calories. Ok it is not going to burn calories as fast as the shreds and zumba's but it will still burn calories...and any movement in whatever form is better than no movement at all.
  • Bilbobradshaw
    Bilbobradshaw Posts: 79 Member
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    I agree and disagree. In my job, I'm often lugging around heavy jugs of milk, giant coffee urns, and garbage bags filled with coffee grinds--I consider this "cleaning" when I clock my calories, because there is no real way of accounting for "carrying heavy barista ****". However, I work a 6-8 hour shift, and usually only clock myself for 30-60 minutes of "light cleaning".

    For me, it's a way to acknowledge that I did physical activity that was outside of my normal daily activities without having to go through an figure out exactly how many calories I burned while doing it.
    So, mental laziness, essentially.
    I'm very lazy with my math.

    However, if your house is large enough, doing regular house maintenance can be really physically demanding. Though I live in a small apartment now, I grew up in a large three story house on a farm, and I know doing something simple like laundry or vacuuming actually did require a bit of physical effort. It's sort of like how some people consider walking a form of exercise if they do it for long enough.
  • feliciapeters
    feliciapeters Posts: 525
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    I get SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STEAMED on anything related to this topic

    Sorry - Cant Agree
    Do I count the NORMALcleaning I do daily/weekly? - No (ie, washing the dinner dishes, straingtening up etc)

    BUT if (like this past weekend)

    I pull EVERYTHING out of my Son's bedroom, move all the furniture, empty his closet, wash every inch of it incuding the walls, then put it back together again YES I DO COUNT THAT

    Do I count mopping my kitchen floor? NO
    Do I count moving all the furniture inlcuding my 100lb kitchen table,getting down on my hands and knees with a scrub brush, stripping off the wax, drying & rewaxing the kitchen floor? - (as i didn this weekend) -YES

    Do I count normal dusting & running the vacumn in the livingroom - NO
    Do I count Moving all the furniture out of the livingroom, scrubbing all the baseboards, getting on a ladder, going up & down 30 times (& moving it around) & steaming cleaning the carpet - YES

    I DONT however, count the entire time ( i use about 1/2) AND I dont count it at all if I skipped the gym that day.

    If I clean my *kitten* off for 5 or 6 hours and go to the gym, am I going to add it to exercise so I have a slice of pizza or a cup of coffee & my favorite biscotti when Im done? HELL YES. I think I friggin deserve it after all that hard work. Not to mention, I probably drink 10-12 8oz glasses of water while I do it.

    COME TO MY HOUSE AND DO IT FOR ME THEN TELL ME THATS NOT EXERCISE

    As far as I'm concerned, ANYTHING you always did WHILE YOU WERE GAINING WEIGHT (including running around as a waitress or a nurse or walking to get a bus or train SHOULDNT be considered exercise. I mean, you were allready doing it & you still became overweight.

    HOWEVER, once you start adding "more" in ANY shape or form,THATS the part that I feel you should count. SO if you always walked 1/2 mile to catch a bus, no, dont count it. BUT if you have decided to walk to a bus stop that 1/4 mile farther away, by all means, count the extra 1/4.

    If you always moved the furniture to vacumn, dont count it, but But if you decide to move all the living room furniture out of the room before you vacumn, then yes, count it.

    And besides it's really no ones business but MINE what I chose to count and what I dont. If it works for me, what does ANYONE else care
  • prettytoxic
    prettytoxic Posts: 122 Member
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    So hang on, I'm supposed to work 10 hours a day and then come home and clean too?!
    I don't have time to clean EVERY day. I have a job and my boyfriend has a job. We're both too tired after work to be able to clean.

    Sunday is cleaning day for me
    [although because of the current riots I'm not able to work but still my point stands]
  • ilookthetype
    ilookthetype Posts: 3,021 Member
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    And here I was thinking they were being "G" rated about some hanky panky.
  • KayteeBear
    KayteeBear Posts: 1,040 Member
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    I agree to a point just like everybody else. Regular, every day cleaning...no. But if I'm spending at least an hour cleaning, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, laundry, washing dishes...then I would count it. Otherwise I don't.

    Honestly I only count "true' workouts personally. Like workout videos and swimming and walking (if it's meant only for a workout) I don't count things like walking to the grocery store but that's just my personal preference.

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