Daily chores added to exercise diary?

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fern90
fern90 Posts: 6 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just curious. Do you only add your workouts to the MFP exercise diary, or do you also add daily chores (like cooking, cleaning etc.) to keep a record of the total calories burnt in a day?

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,104 Member
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    Log your planned workouts only . The stuff you do as part of your normal routine are accounted for in the Activity level you chose.
  • momwhosbusy
    momwhosbusy Posts: 154 Member
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    I re-set my activity level to sedentary and since I have done this, yes, I add my daily chores to the exercise. When I was on light activity, no I didn't because I figured that it was already figured in to the equation.
  • keeponkickin
    keeponkickin Posts: 1,520 Member
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    I never add chores as exercise. That is part of daily life. The only thing I add is planned exercise where I get my heart rate up and break a sweat.
  • Ladylovington
    Ladylovington Posts: 2
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    I always post my "actual" exercises like spinning, treadmill etc... I only post the household chores if I'm working up a sweat...i.e. scrubbing floors, vacuuming the whole house, washing all the windows etc... because ironing two shirts or doing a few dishes at the sink doesn't burn a whole lot more calories than sitting on the couch reading... :)... keep it up :)
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
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    I barely ever clean; therefore I'll add it sometimes. My TDEE on this set is set to sedentary, i.e. next to nothing, so if I'm cleaning a few rooms in the house, that's more than what I would normally do. Plus, I like more food.
  • lorim77
    lorim77 Posts: 63 Member
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    I did when I first joined MFP but then realized I was using it as an excuse to "earn" more calories for the day. Now I only log exercise unless I do something really strenuous like shovelling snow or mowing the lawn.
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
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    If you account for them by choosing a higher activity level, then don't record them and don't add the calories back into your daily food intake.

    If you don't account for them in your activity level, then do record them, do add the calories back into your daily food intake, and do ignore people who try to make you feel like a wuss for recording accurately.

    In either case, monitor your progress and reevaluate as needed.
  • NatalieWinning
    NatalieWinning Posts: 999 Member
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    I set my activity level low. And I haven't got my loss per week at maximum. The deficite is pretty low, to within one snack extra. So if it's out of ordinary I have no problems logging it. You can set it all the different ways and see how many calories difference it is. For me being older, female, and having lost most of my extra weight, i'm not getting a lot of calories no matter what.

    Mowing the lawn once a week, shampooing carpets, spring cleaning, these are out of the ordinary every day stuff for me. Extra effort goes to more calories burned and more to eat back. I eat every one.

    It depends on whats "regular" to you. A very sedentary person might be perfectly right in logging food prep or housework if they never usually get up and get going. I've had friends log "standing and teaching" or "carrying an infant". Depending on where they were in weight loss and activity, it's a good choice. As I've gone along and got more active, my "regular" stuff is more active, and my exercise has got more intense overall.
  • gldnlark
    gldnlark Posts: 53
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    I do a lot of chores and movement taking care of my house/lawn stuff, but I do not log it. My log lifestyle is set to sedentary also. I would rather under-guess than over-guess. I don't want to be fooling myself about my progress.
  • ajelove
    ajelove Posts: 97 Member
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    I would only log it if you are like...intensely cleaning. Like working up a real sweat and doing more than the daily stuff. I logged my cleaning cals the other day because it was a full scale onslaught on the entire home.
  • xxxhelenaxxx
    xxxhelenaxxx Posts: 61 Member
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    I always post my "actual" exercises like spinning, treadmill etc... I only post the household chores if I'm working up a sweat...i.e. scrubbing floors, vacuuming the whole house, washing all the windows etc... because ironing two shirts or doing a few dishes at the sink doesn't burn a whole lot more calories than sitting on the couch reading... :)... keep it up :)

    Yep
  • fern90
    fern90 Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks for the feedback, everyone. :)
    I set my activity to 'sedentary' and I don't usually log the daily chores, except for the cooking part lol. But I realise I was just cheating myself so now, I don't add to my diary unless it involves 'out-of-the-ordinary' work or till I break a sweat.

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