What constitutes exercise to you?

jocraw66
jocraw66 Posts: 52
edited October 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
What do you count for exercise?

For me it must be something that actually is going to be getting my heart rate up or engaging my muscles. I've seen so many people who use general house cleaning, volunteer work, grocery shopping, etc as exercise and I suppose I just don't get it.
For years I cleaned my house, volunteered at my sons schools, bought groceries and such and I was still a fat housewife getting fatter. It wasn't until I got off my butt and actually started really sweating that I began to lose weight.

Almost daily I see posts where folks are complaining about not losing but when you look at their exercise activity it is the above mentioned things that they are counting for exercise. I'm like, "dude, that wasn't working for you before..."

Just curious on some of your thoughts.
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Replies

  • RachelSRoach1
    RachelSRoach1 Posts: 435 Member
    Exercise is anything that gets your heart rate up. I am annoyed when people claim to exercise and work so hard at the gym or taking a walk or whatever but they don't get exerted enough to sweat. They don't like it. lol... and this is why I have lost 47 lbs and they have lost 5 MAYBE.
  • KerriMx5
    KerriMx5 Posts: 458 Member
    The only time I count cleaning is when I wash the floors, and we have a lot, on my hands and knees. Or if I clean something out of the norm like walls or such. Something that actually can cause me to work up a sweat and I can feel my muscles working. I do a lot of things during the day that I "could" count. BUT those things I figure are just extra to my actual, planned workout. Although I did count chasing the two year old up and down the stadium bleachers the other day. It wasn't planned but it was a workout. In that case I did less time though then we were there.
  • daves160
    daves160 Posts: 600
    I totally agree with you. If it does not get the heart rate into the aerobic zone, then it really isn't exercise. Even weight lifting gets the heart going.
    All that regular cleaning stuff( not to include the really heavy work like scrubbing floors) is normal everyday activity and in my opinion is included in your BMR.
  • jennajava
    jennajava Posts: 2,176 Member
    What do you count for exercise?

    For me it must be something that actually is going to be getting my heart rate up or engaging my muscles. I've seen so many people who use general house cleaning, volunteer work, grocery shopping, etc as exercise and I suppose I just don't get it.
    For years I cleaned my house, volunteered at my sons schools, bought groceries and such and I was still a fat housewife getting fatter. It wasn't until I got off my butt and actually started really sweating that I began to lose weight.

    Almost daily I see posts where folks are complaining about not losing but when you look at their exercise activity it is the above mentioned things that they are counting for exercise. I'm like, "dude, that wasn't working for you before..."

    Just curious on some of your thoughts.

    My entire house is hardwood floors. When I mop it, my heart rate is up and I am sore the next day. I count that as exercise.
  • Jacquibennett
    Jacquibennett Posts: 95 Member
    Hi
    In don't log anything that is something I would have done in my daily routine as exercise. For instance I walk to work and back every day and I don't count this. But if of an evening I get off my butt and go my treadmill or exercise bike I do count this. Like you say it doesn't feel like exercise unless you get your heart rate going!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I have my settings to "lightly active" and log actual exercise (running, biking, dog walking because it's more hiking than walking, strength training) as well as household chores that are far above and beyond my normal routine. Normal housework? No. The kind of turbo-cleaning where you have to move furniture around? Yes. Shoveling snow and mowing the lawn? Yes, because it's (hopefully) something that's only done every few weeks.

    But to be fair, when I first started logging and had myself as sedentary, I did even log walking done while shopping.
  • rosied915
    rosied915 Posts: 799 Member
    Everyday chores are NOT exercise~ at least, to me, they're not.

    HOWEVER~

    I have counted things like a BIG day of gardening where I sweat profusely for calories burned~ but NOT the entire time~maybe HALF the time.
  • jennajava
    jennajava Posts: 2,176 Member
    Exercise is anything that gets your heart rate up. I am annoyed when people claim to exercise and work so hard at the gym or taking a walk or whatever but they don't get exerted enough to sweat. They don't like it. lol... and this is why I have lost 47 lbs and they have lost 5 MAYBE.

    Good for you! That's a huge loss!
  • drvvork
    drvvork Posts: 1,162
    Yes, anything that gets your heart rate going... moving in ways that you are normally not accoustomed counts, such as housecleaning and gardening count for that same reasoning.
  • mwilke
    mwilke Posts: 378 Member
    I do log leisurely walking once in a while, usually when I am with my husband. But I mostly just log the brisk walks that make me break a sweat and get my heart going. I haven't worked up to jogging/running yet but will log that when I get there. I log in the wii games and the kinect games (some of those actually are kicking my bum right now). But never log cleaning or anything like that, even though my setting is at sedentary.
  • debussyschild
    debussyschild Posts: 804 Member
    Personally, I rarely count house cleaning as exercise, but sometimes (especially when doing heavy duty yard work), I'll put my heart rate monitor on and see how many calories I expend. Usually I expend quite a bit if I'm mowing the lawn, raking leaves, gardening, or on my hands and knees scrubbing my kitchen or bathroom, lol. I do A LOT of cleaning and household chores on a daily basis and since I do them every day, I just include that in my BRM. I don't think those are good substitutes for high intensity workouts such as an aerobics class, running, weight lifting, etc. But it's good to add those non-exercise activities that you complete, especially if you completed them on a day when you normally rest.

    I think one of the biggest problems is that folks tend to overestimate calories burned doing household chores. I've used my HRM and then compared my calories burned with what the site's pre-programmed activities tell me IT thinks I burned... There's usually a huge disparity between what my HRM tells me and what the website tells me, my HRM being much more on the conservative side. Hence, if I'm planning on adding my time/calories spent performing household chores of any kind, I plan to use my HRM to accurately record what calories I burn. There's nothing worse, in my opinion, than logging an overestimated calorie expenditure in your diary and then eating those allegedly burned calories back...

    Anyways, for some folks that might be what they're comfortable with for now, but I agree that real weight loss and fitness is not going to come from walking your dog every day or doing dishes. I do believe, however, that for those who are trying to stay active and are not quite at the gym bunny (pardon the expression!) level of enthusiasm for fitness, doing SOMETHING is way better than doing nothing at all.
  • PhilipHall
    PhilipHall Posts: 37 Member
    I only log the exercise that I do that require me to prepare and stretch beforehand. I agree with you about the cleaning and shopping post. You can tell if someone is really serious about losing weight or being healthy by their exercise post. I don't doubt that people burn calories doing those things but I would think that those calories fall into what you naturally burn everyday.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    exercise is any physical activity that is outside the realm of normal daily activity. That doesn't mean it has to be part of your routine per say, but it has to be something that you don't normally do physically. Of course actual "exercise" counts as exercise, but so would something like mowing the lawn (unless you're a landscaper), stacking logs, even walking the mall (if you don't do that 2 or 3 times a week).

    This doesn't mean that all exercise is the same, it just means that you're doing something to increase your body's mechanical output and energy needs. If the body doesn't expect it, it won't account for it ahead of time, and THAT is exercise. There is (of course) a threshold for which your body won't really account for things, I.E. even if you exercise hard every day, that's still exercise, as while the body will increase it's performance levels to account for that exercise, it won't expect you to work at 85% HRMax every day, even if that's what you do. It will however, become more efficient at getting there and working in that range.

    SIDE note: this is why I don't really like walking as a long term form of exercise. It's ok as a stepping stone for most people (certain segments of the population are exempt from this), but as a method of exercise, walking is high stress on the joints for a very high diminishment of return of energy expended. I.E. after a few weeks of walking, even fast walking, your body becomes accustomed to it and efficient at it, expending less energy for the time invested, better to "graduate" to higher exercise and cardio levels to keep your increases moving upward.
  • staceyseeger
    staceyseeger Posts: 778 Member
    I only count exercise when i have to put on sport-specific attire...running/cycling clothes. Otherwise, everything else is just extra credit to me. :wink: :wink: :wink:
  • manenina
    manenina Posts: 71
    All those activities count as some form of exercise, the problem is how much you eat! Also it's not like that is super great exercise. For example, before starting my diet I actually tried to walk more places, instead of driving there. Of course that wasn't really "working" for me. Now that I'm actually watching what I eat, burning 200 cal just by walking somewhere is a good help and I'll take all the help I can get! Nevertheless, I do understand your point. You burn around 1200 cal everyday just by being alive. When you get into a diet, most diets estimate that you move as a normal person! You can't just start counting every calorie you burn just by getting up and walking to the bathroom because them you would have to assume that, by the end of the day, you have to eat less than what you consumed by exercising.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    On Friday, our house flooded. I spent 5 hours bailing water out of the kitchen, brushing it, mopping it, getting down on my knees and scrubbing all the mud off by hand. Twice. Yes. I think that counts as exercise. So yes, I logged it as 2 hours of housework. It wasn't, it was actually 5 for the kitchen plus another two or three doing the normal things.

    Don't judge what other people log unless you know every single little detail of their life.
  • RAFValentina
    RAFValentina Posts: 1,231 Member
    To me, exercise is when you take an activity up with the intention of getting some physical benefit from it, calorie burn, training aims, muscle toning etc. So when I'm doing the cleaning and giving it some welly, like washing my car over electing to take it through a drive through wash. I'd count that as some exercise... but it wouldn't be part of my workout. If that makes sense. Just bonus! As I set my levels to sedentary on here, I count it in when I feel like "Hmmm, that got me a bit warmer and was a bit of work!" Even if it may seem like an ordinary day to day task. However, I work out hard too at the gym and out running so yeah, I do proper "Phys" too! :)
  • jocraw66
    jocraw66 Posts: 52
    I only count exercise when i have to put on sport-specific attire...running/cycling clothes. Otherwise, everything else is just extra credit to me. :wink: :wink: :wink:

    I'd be totally in the zone if I were you. I live in yoga pants. LOL

    thanks for the input everyone. I'm not going to count housecleaning or shopping. Never have. I have hardwood floors in my home too. I have a large house and cleaning them is a lot of work. That said I won't count cleaning them as exercise calories simply because I take breaks and I am not working like I do when I am actually working out. To each their own I suppose. I just know I've never gotten results with regard to weight loss from cleaning my house and over the years I've been known as a, "clean freak, or cleaning Nazi"

    I do though think I'd count snow shoveling if I lived where that needed to be done. Sadly, GA isn't going to earn me any snow shoveling calories.
  • KimmieBrie
    KimmieBrie Posts: 825 Member
    Exercise is anything that gets my heart rate up or works to tone my muscles. Just because my heartrate isn't in the "cardio" zone that running at the gym gets me to (like over 160 - profusely dripping sweat) doesn't mean it isn't exercise. When I take the 8 flights up to my office - I say it's exercise even though I'm not soaked in sweat at the top. Raking and shoveling to me is exercise. Lifting my little dumb bells at home is exercise even though some people lift their children that weigh more about 100 times more than I lift dumb bells in a day.

    Not everybody's routine is the same and not everybody's idea of "excercise" will match yours. I say whatever works for you.
  • Beezil
    Beezil Posts: 1,677 Member
    If you are sedentary for the most part (like me) you are supposed to log any activity out of the norm. I don't clean for more than 15-20 minutes a day typically, so when I do it for extended periods of time or go for a walk with my sister, I log it. It burns very few calories anyway, but every little bit helps. :) And I have a regular exercise routine anyway, so it's not like I really need to log that stuff, but it makes me feel better.
  • Juliebean_1027
    Juliebean_1027 Posts: 713 Member
    I counted "light cleaning" yesterday just because I was doing it for about 6-7 hours. I cleaned my entire house from top to bottom, including scrubbing all of the floors on my hands and knees, plus walking up and down the 2 flights of stairs to a) do the laundry and then b) put it away upstairs. Typically, I don't log something like that, but yesterday it was a more intense effort on my part. I was sweating, my heart rate was up, and I was constantly moving. I cleaned for about 7 hours, but only logged 3 hours of it as exercise, and even then I adjusted my calories burned to only 300 because I wasn't wearing my HRM while I was doing it. I'm sure I burned more than that, but since I had already been to the gym that morning, it was just an extra workout for me. To each his own.
  • RAFValentina
    RAFValentina Posts: 1,231 Member
    Oh, and I only have about 5lb left to lose and only had just over 14 to lose to start with anyway! So no, I won't lose as much as you otherwise it will Kill me. Literally!
  • StressedChaos
    StressedChaos Posts: 86 Member
    I log housework whenever I do something more then my normal routine. Such as when I do my son's room and have to move the bunk beds and clean out from under them and the dressers. I can work up a good sweat cleaning his room.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    On Friday, our house flooded. I spent 5 hours bailing water out of the kitchen, brushing it, mopping it, getting down on my knees and scrubbing all the mud off by hand. Twice. Yes. I think that counts as exercise. So yes, I logged it as 2 hours of housework. It wasn't, it was actually 5 for the kitchen plus another two or three doing the normal things.

    Don't judge what other people log unless you know every single little detail of their life.

    This, too. My sister is getting a new roof, done by family & friends, and I logged two hours of "yard work" when I spent 4 hours cleaning up shingles. Bending, crawling, kneeling, lifting, carrying... It's not like I was planting daffodil bulbs. :wink:
  • jocraw66
    jocraw66 Posts: 52
    Totally not judging... Everyone has a right to their own opinions and like I said earlier, "whatever works" There are some, many in fact who never see results and that is because they are doing nothing outside of their normal routine. If the things you are doing now aren't working for you then you need to reevaluate. Period.

    Next, I'd say cleaning up after a house flooded or helping to put up a new roof is out of the normal realm of cleaning... Dusting an entertainment center or vacuuming a living room... Not so much.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    Totally not judging... Everyone has a right to their own opinions and like I said earlier, "whatever works" There are some, many in fact who never see results and that is because they are doing nothing outside of their normal routine. If the things you are doing now aren't working for you then you need to reevaluate. Period.

    Next, I'd say cleaning up after a house flooded or helping to put up a new roof is out of the normal realm of cleaning... Dusting an entertainment center or vacuuming a living room... Not so much.

    But how do you know when people log cleaning what they are doing? That was my point. Or shopping, they might log an hour or two when they were in fact walking non stop for 8 hours. That's what I do. You just can't tell.
  • jocraw66
    jocraw66 Posts: 52
    But how do you know when people log cleaning what they are doing? That was my point. Or shopping, they might log an hour or two when they were in fact walking non stop for 8 hours. That's what I do. You just can't tell.
    [/quote]

    Because when they log is shows up as things like general cleaning 45 minutes. Log it differently if it is different.

    I think we are going to just disagree on this. One thing I do know is that when I weighed nearly 300 pounds I didn't lose any weight because I cleaned my house, went shopping or any of the other things that I mentioned in my original post. I personally think that many (myself included) want to somehow make excuses for the reasons they aren't losing weight. There, I said it. Hate me if you want but I'VE BEEN THERE so I'm not just blowing smoke up someones rear end.

    Truth is, if you want to lose weight and keep it off normal chores just aren't going to cut it. Period.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    I agree that if you log the stuff you do normally you aren't going to lose weight. Where we disagree is that I don't think people are doing that. I would suggest people are only logging things like gardening and housework or even walking when what they are doing is exceptional, and even then, if they are anything like me, they log less than half of what they actually do.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    I also think that if people are logging whatever they are and still losing then it's pointless to criticise.
  • jocraw66
    jocraw66 Posts: 52
    Um, I said originally they weren't losing. I'm also not criticizing. Just stating my own personal opinion.

    I'm glad that whatever it is you are doing works for you. I only wish that my normal routine had worked for me. I could have saved thousands of bucks on a gym membership as well as laid in bed on cold mornings rather than get up for my run.
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