Don't forget to add up your daily chores as exercise!

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  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    I don't include them because I cleaned the house before I started mfp, so it was alreay a part of my daily routine (even though I have my settings on sedentary). I know people who do log them, and that logging is quite valid. It's a case by case basis.
  • d2footballJRC
    d2footballJRC Posts: 2,684 Member
    I don't count them. Unless you are wearing a HRM you are just going to over go your calorie amounts burnt. Just let them be a bit of buffer. I hate it when people count cleaning as their daily exercise. I mean no offense to anyone but as a 350+ lb man I never felt the way I do working out at the gym when I am cleaning. I hate to see that as someones sole work out for the day. I don't log it in MFP as I don't consider it something I want to have count on my daily goal.
  • theprices
    theprices Posts: 97 Member
    did you clean when you were overweight? i'm not sure if i would count this unless i was seriously power-cleaning...because if you did it when you were overweight and it didn't help the cause then why would you count it now?

    That's the way I look at it. Fat or thin, I have always vacuumed, dusted, done the dishes, cleaned the toilet, and scrubbed with the same intensity. I only count out of the ordinary events, like snow shoveling, hours of raking up leaves...things that I don't do in a normal week. Otherwise, where do you draw the line?

    Same for me. If I don't SET OUT to exercise, then I do not log it. I don't log daily activites like strolling in the park or doing laundry or playing with my kids...those just fall within my daily life!
  • 1a1a
    1a1a Posts: 761 Member
    So the way I see it is, the pertinent question here is how much (or how little) activity warrants a setting of sedentary?! I set my account to sedentary, it gave me an extra 90 calories for that. If I walk around for 2 hours I'm going to burn more than that and, for some kinds of house work, walking around is definitely a component. Therefore, isn't there a possibility that I will have, in that 2 hour period already burned more than the estimated 90 given by mfp? Surely now I am in a grey area regarding calories burned, I can Not log that as exercise but actually, I am getting quite hungry and am much more likely to crack in a bad way. Speaking from experience, 1290 calories a day was a struggle (and I am mightily impressed by those that manage to eat that little).

    For those of you who ask why daily chores are not factored into one's mfp account settings, perhaps the undertaking of chores is a sporadic thing (if it isn't, then the OP could consider changing the settings). I set my account to sedentary assuming the worst of each day, some days end up being more active than others.

    I'd like a definitive answer to this dilemma too (for me it is the question of whether or not to log my casual employment as exercise) but as there probably isn't one, for myself and the OP I say, we should try logging our extra activities, and eating back the exercise calories (with health food, not junk) and keep a careful eye on the scale. If it hasn't moved or has moved upwards in a months time, I will know to reconsider as will the OP.

    PS Count cleaning, or don't but definitely do some formal exercise as well, you'll feel good for it.
  • Gigi_licious
    Gigi_licious Posts: 1,185 Member
    I couldn't find wiping or picking nose in the database. What should I put it under?
  • 1a1a
    1a1a Posts: 761 Member
    Calisthenics (light)

    bah ha :-(

    actually, better get a heart rate monitor :-P
  • javamonster
    javamonster Posts: 272 Member
    If it works for you, and you're losing on that program, continue to do what you're doing. :wink: If you're back here in a month posting "Why am I not losing weight?" you might want to re-think it.

    I do 3-4 hours of barn work a day - feeding and turning out horses, mucking stalls, etc. etc....and I don't log a minute of that, because I've been doing it for twenty years and my body's used to it. I was putting on weight even doing that - I had to add other exercise to actually get back to where I should be! :flowerforyou:
  • summertime_girl
    summertime_girl Posts: 3,945 Member
    I never count daily chores as exercise, unless it goes above and beyond what I'd been doing. I'd need to break a serious sweat to ever include it.

    Yup. I was fat when doing laundry, washing dishes, vacuuming floors. Counting exercise is never going to make a difference.
  • paxetamore
    paxetamore Posts: 399 Member
    I would only count them if you chose "sedentary" as you lifestyle. i'm a recovering facebook-aholic and would sit on the couch most of the day, so i chose sedentary when filling out my profile. so i do enter cleaning and chores since normally, i wouldn't do them before.

    and for me, if i get to log something, it is motivation for me to get stuff done.

    good luck and do what works for you! :)

    I agree with this.

    ^this. me too. i don't like to clean, and i am only doing it for me. any extra motivation is needed. housework is not part of my normal routine, nor do i think of it as included in my mfp activity level of existence :wink:
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    I know that many of you 'old hands' will already be doing this, but I am only on day 2, and it dawned on me that i should be totting up the cleaning and other chores as part of my exercise routine. I have swept through the kitchen/diner, mopped the floor and washed the car which added up to a whopping 250+ cals used. I would have completely ignored this before, but now am looking for opportunities to clean things just to use up calories! Who knows, I should soon be fit and lean with the cleanest place in town. I can't lose (except weight and flab of course)! :laugh:

    No. This is regular work (usually). That is part of your lifestyle that you enter into the formula as MFP prompts you. Don't count things like laundry and walking across a parking lot as exercise; that is daily life.
  • stanvoodoo
    stanvoodoo Posts: 1,023 Member
    I never count any chores as exercise even if it is only once a week or once a month. The only execption I make is the Holiday Baking day as nothing else is done that day, 8 - 10 hours of baking and I take about 2hours as Food Prep. If I did it more than once a year, I would not count.

    Chores are just bonus calories burned.

    According to my nutritionist, only excerise is excerise.

    If you are going to count them, make sure you don't eat them back or you will mostly likely be overeating.

    Just because it is working now doesn't mean it's good for you and something that will last long term.

    Best of Luck.
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