Logging daily activities?

I really think it depends on how you set your activity level or how much you do those things.
For example: if you carry your child around the zoo that day for 2 1/2 hours I think that would be something "log worthy," especially if your lifestyle is set at sedentary on MFP.
Or, if you lug 10 loads of laundry up and down 3 flights of stairs once a week I think that would totally count as cardio!
To each their own, IMO. I waitress 5 days a week and have a desk job 4 days a week and I don't log my waitressing but I'm the "mildly active," or whatever it's called. If I work a particularly difficult shift or do lots of extra cleaning at work I will log it.

If the activity is something I do during the normal course of my day, like doing dishes or sweeping, then no, I don't log it. But if I do a marathon cleaning session, like vacuuming every square inch of my house (basement, ground floor, upstairs, furniture, etc), then I will log it since it's not something I do every day.

For me... the only thing I would log for things you mentioned, would be my housework required a full-body, rigorous workout - like Spring Cleaning. That requires moving furniture, carrying furniture, rearranging furniture, hearty scrubbing of floors and walls, etc...

Regular housework - nope... because that is generally a normal part of the day.

We just moved into a new apartment this past weekend (March 30th-March 31st) going from a two floor condex to an entire second floor apartment (both six room dwellings). Thats carrying heavy boxes, hauling furniture, lugging rolled-up carpet... loading the vehicles. Then doing it all over again but unloading and carrying up two flights of stairs. Then moving everything around within the new home. You betcha Im counting that because it doesnt happen everyday (THANK GAWD!) and even today, I am still feeling my core muscles are still affected by the move.

I dont think people are 'seeing' the true reality of what is considered day-to-day (the norm) versus the actual act of feeling muscles ache/sweating profusely due to a Spring-cleaning project or moving.

I do think though, the best factor to see if anything is truly affecting you caloric wise is to be wearing an HRM to review heart rate and caloric burn. I definitely wouldnt rely on common household cleaning and MFP values..

That's a good point...I don't log exercise unless its a sustained, heart pumping burn. Isn't that why they calculate calories by how active you are? I chose sedentary because im not active. Now if I was on my feet all day busy being mom and cleaning than I would have chose active. Hence the reason for the calorie limits.

personally i don't log anything unless it's excercise,but my exercise level is quite high.
i classed myself as lightly active because i am stood up for most of the day in my job. i walk the dog once a day but don't log it.
it is very much each to there own though,if it works and your losing weight,i say log whatever,just keep moving and making good food choices.

I clean daily obv (I have two kids under seven, a hubs who thinks he's 7 and a black lab. Really, I have no choice lol) and I cant see the point in logging those cals. My activity level is set to "lightly active" as I spend most days running about being a mam so I only log cals burned cleaning when Im doing the more vigorous stuff, like scrubbing the yard or floors etc. Even then though, I log it as "light" cleaning as for my weight, MFP massively over estimates cals x

I would say to those people to not count that as exercise no matter what they set their activity level at. The reason being is even if you are doing heavy lifting you are not necessarily getting any cardio. You need to have your heart rate up to at least 110- 115 bpm minimum to consider it a cardio burn, or you really aren't burning that much more calories than just a slow leisurly walk.

Aerobic and anaerobic activity is what I would count as exercise.

Daily / everyday-life activities should go towards determining your activity level.

If you're hard labour / cleaning your house every day etc, then setting your level as "very active" is more accurate than logging housework.

Why do you say that it is more accurate? It seems to me that it would be more accurate to set it to sedentary and then recording what you do?

First I would like to start this post by qualifying it with....I am just asking questions so don't get all defensive and rude. I am not judging anyone here! Trying to educate myself.

I see people logging daily activities, like cleaning, carrying laundry, carrying a baby. Doesn't mfp already account for daily calories burned? So isn't someone that logs those activities doing themselves a disservice by counting them towards cardio? Seems like an easy way to pump up your diary and convince yourself you can eat more. Unless of course, you never clean your house, carry laundry, carry your baby, etc and these truly are new activities to you. I clean my house, carry laundry up and down stairs daily, carry my 5 month old quite a bit. I also work 9 hours a day, seven of which is walking around a nursing home and kitchen. But I am still fat, which is why I am using this site. If I loggd all that as extra calories burned, and ate to make up those calories, wouldn't I be just as fat as I was before starting on mfp?

If we set out activity level at sedentary it only accounts for breathing.