Question: Housecleaning

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foodluver27
foodluver27 Posts: 129
in Fitness and Exercise
So this may sound like a stupid question but has anyone counted housecleaning as exercise? I was cleaning for a good hour and a half or so and I was scrubbing and vacuuming and whatnot and I am sure I was burning some calories but I didn't know if I should put that in my exercise category..I am about to go mow the grass and I definitely going to count that as exercise...I break a sweat doing that :)

Replies

  • crzyone
    crzyone Posts: 872 Member
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    I only count housecleaning if it's something vigorous and out-of-the-ordinary that I do. For instance, the day I moved furniture to clean underneath and packed boxes and moved them, I counted it. I don't count the daily kind of dish washing or vacuuming or scrubbing bathtub that I do on a regular basis. But, that's just me......
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,022 Member
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    Yeah, lots of people count household chores as exercise. If you didn't include it when you were selecting your lifestyle/activity level during the account setup process, it's okay to include this in your calories burned. If you clean every day and you included that in your activity level, then don't add it.
  • ering
    ering Posts: 183 Member
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    It depends on what your daily activity level is set at. If you are usually sedentary then yes count it. If you put your activity level higher, then I wouldn't unless it was like scrubbing the floors crazy cleaning.
  • mistigoodwin
    mistigoodwin Posts: 411 Member
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    Same here, I only count it if it's a lot of cleaning, like shampooing carpets, moving furniture that kind of thing. The daily stuff your already used to, so I wouldn't count that, but if you spend all day doing it, I would totally count it!! I also count yard work, I don't do it on a daily/weekly basis and sometimes it's a lot of work. :)
  • MzMiller1215
    MzMiller1215 Posts: 633 Member
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    I did that when I first started logging because I wanted everything to count :laugh: but, in reality, unless your heart rate increases significantly for a prolonged time, I wouldn't count that burn.
  • 2youngatheart
    2youngatheart Posts: 338 Member
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    I count house cleaning, because, I have my profile set to ...no exercise. So, I log it when i do something like house cleaning or carpet cleaning...cooking, etc where I am doing something for a longer lenght of time.
  • deniseg31
    deniseg31 Posts: 667 Member
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    I don't log that kind of stuff in - but the only day I logged it was the day that we cleaned out our garage and it took us close to 6 hrs. and even then I only logged in 2 hours becuase without a HRM the numbers on here are outrageous.
  • foodluver27
    foodluver27 Posts: 129
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    Thanks guys! All of your responses are very helpful!
  • therealkittymao
    therealkittymao Posts: 194 Member
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    I count big cleaning sessions, too, like moving the furniture and washing the walls kind of cleaning. I found a setting for it on MFP, I think if you search for "cleaning" under cardiovascular it comes up.
  • pleasehealthme
    pleasehealthme Posts: 43
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    Yes! I've seen housecleaning listed as exercising many times. I think you could mark this especially if it isn't part of your normal daily routine, but something you do maybe once a week. I'm positive there is a caloric reduction amount for all different types of cleaning on the diary. Haha.
  • clubbybear
    clubbybear Posts: 30 Member
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    I've never counted house cleaning, but I do count mowing the grass as long as it takes me at least 30 minutes.
  • rosannabarbaroflores
    rosannabarbaroflores Posts: 128 Member
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    I agree that it really depends on what your activity level is set to. Technically, lounging on a couch burns calories. But the sedentary activity level already accounts for that type of calorie burn. If you're set to sedentary, then the MFP caloric intake calculation isn't assuming an moderate or light activity, so the accounting on your end is warranted. If however you are assuming a high activity level, then it is presuming movement throughout the day, and differentiating between cleaning or walking around isn't necessary.
  • Pisc2749
    Pisc2749 Posts: 61 Member
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    I don't count it - however last week I wore my HRM to see how many calories I burn. I typically do a heavy cleaning once a week, bathrooms, floors, dusting, etc. It takes me about 2 hours, the HRM showed about 600 calories burned, I really didn't think it would be that high.
  • lbetancourt
    lbetancourt Posts: 522 Member
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    uhmm.. no. personally, if i counted house cleaning as exercise that would be me making up an excuse not to really exercise.

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