Should You Really Log Housework?

NO WAY! :mad: this does anoy me! :mad: :mad: :mad:
the only exersice i log is when i phisically get off my @ss and do some exersice! :drinker:

I like this one.

NO WAY! :mad: this does anoy me! :mad: :mad: :mad:
the only exersice i log is when i phisically get off my @ss and do some exersice! :drinker:

I like this one.

Each to his own surely? We're each on a personal journey here and should do what we feel is best for us. If your activity level is set as sedentary, then anything on top of that is extra, surely? And exercise doesn't have to be something you do in the gym. More important is constant movement, and nobody should be discouraged from that.
Don't get mad at other people's methods, encourage them to be active.
If you run for an hour, good for you. You've raised your heartbeat, worked up a sweat and achieved something personally. If you scrub floors, clean windows and hoover the stairs for an hour, you've raised your heartbeat, worked up a sweat and got a nice clean house. I think both are to be commended, and both burn up cals.
I do a mixture of both - my normal day is desk-bound, so a day of spring-cleaning needs extra fuel, just like a day when I run. Nobody who is working towards a healthier way of life deserves your anger! Big them up!

NO WAY! :mad: this does anoy me! :mad: :mad: :mad:
the only exersice i log is when i phisically get off my @ss and do some exersice! :drinker:

I like this one.

Each to his own surely? We're each on a personal journey here and should do what we feel is best for us. If your activity level is set as sedentary, then anything on top of that is extra, surely? And exercise doesn't have to be something you do in the gym. More important is constant movement, and nobody should be discouraged from that.
Don't get mad at other people's methods, encourage them to be active.
If you run for an hour, good for you. You've raised your heartbeat, worked up a sweat and achieved something personally. If you scrub floors, clean windows and hoover the stairs for an hour, you've raised your heartbeat, worked up a sweat and got a nice clean house. I think both are to be commended, and both burn up cals.
I do a mixture of both - my normal day is desk-bound, so a day of spring-cleaning needs extra fuel, just like a day when I run. Nobody who is working towards a healthier way of life deserves your anger! Big them up!

As long as they aren't overestimating the burn(and then eating back an over estimated amount of exercise calories back), it's fine really.

NO WAY! :mad: this does anoy me! :mad: :mad: :mad:
the only exersice i log is when i phisically get off my @ss and do some exersice! :drinker:

I agree! Especially when someone "cleaned house" for 2 hours day in and day out.. I wondered,, I mean,, average time it take to clean house is less than a hour daily, but not 2 hours! No Way!

My opinion,, shall we log it,, NO!

Must be nice! I spend HOURS on my house each day. 3 little boys, a slob of a hunk, two fluffy cats, two dogs... Just the dirt tracked in from letting the dogs out 7 times a day?! The fur is NEVER ending, the 'messies!' as our little one calls spills, there are on most days 5 loads of laundry between towels, wet beds, pajamas, uniforms, spilled on, things the dogs got dirty. Each has to be carried up and down the stairs, often with a 23 lb load of toddler on my hip or in the basket atop the laundry.

I use full sized vacuums and carpet cleaners on my stairs and by the time I'm done with them I have certainly worked to a sweat and heavy breathing. My activity level is set to sedentary and sometimes, yes, I log it.


I lost 7 pounds in 2 months with no other form of exercise. That's really not bad. There are days when 12 hours go by before I sit down. In the last 5 weeks I've lost 6 pounds working my butt off biking as much as I can while still keeping up the house, for comparison. Maybe that will lead to 10 pounds in 2 months? Not a whole lot of additional loss considering how often I bike!

I don't log it often, but I log it when I find myself wiping my dripping forehead and saying, "Whew, time for some water."


I don't think it's cheating myself. I think acknowledging that getting off my duff and cleaning the kitchen is good for my house, mind and body is a positive thing.


I guess my answer is: try it and see. If you clean hard and log it for every day for two weeks and lose 3 pounds? Maybe it's a great motivator for you!

I see a lot of people logging housework as exercise. I'm not exactly sure why but I'd feel very odd logging this. I have worn my HRM during my housework time the last 2-3 days and on average I'd burn about 100cals for an hour of housework. That's pretty significant for me (considering it would take be about 30-40 mins to burn 100cals doing any other exercise). Should I log it or not? I'm thinking not but just looking for opinions.

Some log this stuff to justify eating more...Makes you feel good about eating more...Cheating..NO Cheating......

I don't because I see it as normal daily activity. I am pretty sure the calculator factors in your BMR + your activity level. Even a sedentary person has some activity in their daily life (including housework and walking to and from shops etc.) I only count exercise if I break a sweat and I get my heart rate up or I'm doing lifting. Even just having a busy day where I walk around a lot I wouldn't count. That's just me though, everybody is different.

In days past I can see myself saying how ridiculous to log housework, however having been diagnosed with MS your whole life changes and doing anything strenuous for me is a real milestone. Having an oH who cycles 30+ miles and gains numerous calories can bring you down. I love the fact that I can log movement of any kind. It makes life more bearable to know that even if I can no longer run or cycle there are things I do which use energy and i enjoy logging. This MFP is not only for athletes we can all make a contribution to our own health but for some of us housework is as much of a milestone as a marathon..:yawn:

I got fat doing housework, didn't I? It's not suddenly going to make me skinny just because I'm logging it. It's part of your normal routine. The only way you should log this kind of thing, in my opinion, is if you set your daily burn as zero and also log exercises such as breathing and digesting.

I only log it if I am doing some serious cleaning, like cleaning the house from the ceiling to the floors and everything in between and often times I will even shorten the time entered. Say I did some hard cleaning for 60 minutes, I would shorten that in my log to 30 minutes. I sit down at my work all day long so I get no exercise, and I do not deep clean my house everyday either, I wipe down a few things but I do not get down deep and dirty doing my housework on a regular basis. If you break a sweat cleaning your house then it's definitely safe to say you've burned some calories. At the end of the day, it's your decisions, you know what your body has and has not done, if you feel like it was a workout then you should count it. I spend countless hours chasing after a toddler everyday and I know for a fact that I burn tons of calories doing that, but since it is something I do everyday and would do whether or not I was trying to lose weight, I don't count it. It's your choice and your choice alone, I personally don't think that anyone should judge what you log in your diary becuase they do not know what you are capable of and to what extent you have done anything.

If you turn up the music and dance doing your housework, maybe even adding weights to ankles and wrists. If I work up a lot of sweat , I count it. Think " miss Doubtfire" lol.