Thoughts about burning calories by cleaning?

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  • WhitneyAnnabelle
    WhitneyAnnabelle Posts: 724 Member
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    I'm waiting for my favorite "cleaning-IS-NOT-EXERCISE" person to weigh in. Hahaha. You know who you are.
  • LovingLisa2012
    LovingLisa2012 Posts: 802 Member
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    we clean whether or not we are trying to lose weight

    cleaning = lifestyle and that is part of your over all calories you set when you chose sedentary, light activity etc .. if you are a SAHM and clean daily and mostly on your feet, then you probably should have chose at-least moderate ( not talking to OP, just mean in general)

    now when i got outside and cut my dang grass with the weed eater (till we get another mower) i do count it (active time only)
    once we have a mower again , then i won't count it, but carrying a weed-eater and bent over trying to cut grass, yes)

    but cleaning up is what i will do regardless and its included in my base calories :smile:

    ETA: i once had a friend log 7.5 hrs of watching tv (over kill)
  • juliee274
    juliee274 Posts: 124 Member
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    I only use the cleaning calories burned when I am doing spring cleaning or heavy duty on your knees scrubbing and stuff. General day to day cleaning I don't count. I use these also because I have my activity level set to sedentry and don't want to dip too far below net calories of 1200. Gardening and raking I also use. I do go to the gym 5 days a week and get a good burn there as well.

    I agree with this reply. I have my activity level set at "sedentary" too, so, like this poster, while I don't count day-to-day cleaning, I do count heavy-duty cleaning like yesterday when I vacuumed and mopped the entire house and scrubbed the bath floors on hands and knees! That said, I usually take the calories MFP gives burned and only credit half or slightly more than half since, yes, I feel that they "overcount" calories burned across the board.
  • lep_623
    lep_623 Posts: 197 Member
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    I live with my brothers... whom are pigs... so i gave up cleaning after them... so the only time I do is when I have had enough and can't stand how aweful it is which is like only once every few weeks... adn then it is so bad it takes hours and lots of scrubbing and elbow grease, so thats when I use it on mfp... also I am in the process of moving/packing so I count that as cleaning lately too, but as far as typical everyday just doing a few dishes or laundry i don't count it
  • Pocket_Pixi
    Pocket_Pixi Posts: 1,167 Member
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    I do if I wear my HRM. :)

    yup me too, it is surprising how much you realld do burn
  • court122383
    court122383 Posts: 47
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    I'll only log it if I already did my workout for the day- AND I wear my heart rate monitor...
    I don't do like "light" cleaning either- I mop, wash floors... clean windows, etc.. PLUS my house is 3 stories, so I'm constantly running up stairs, etc..
  • jbella99
    jbella99 Posts: 596 Member
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    i agree with ATLMel

    it is better to underestimate the amount of calories you are burning. overestimation will just cause you to lose confidence in your routine (when you don't lose as much weight as MFP is suggesting you'll lose).

    I agree, but there's a reasonable limit to that, of course. If I've spent all day in the garden and yard working hard, my 1,450 calories ain't gonna get me through the day, and I'll be sick the next day if I don't eat SOME of that exercise back. I just try to only log when I've put a lot of effort into something.

    If I sweat for more than 10 minutes, I'll log at least 2/3 the time I spent sweating as something. If my muscles are sore, something gets logged.

    But I do agree, the calories MFP comes up with are sometimes fanciful, and overlogging calorie burn can lead to disappointing setbacks.

    If you have your lifestyle set to sedentry and then burn 800 calories raking and gardening on a sunday afternoon or spring cleaning on your hands and knees you will not only be sick but this is also counterproductive you will dip below 1200 net calories eaten for the day. Do this too many times and your body will fight back. I spent two years on a plateau and tried to exercise more and eat less it wasn't until I was consistently above a 1400 net calories eaten that I started losing again.
  • paulsmisses
    paulsmisses Posts: 178
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    If it's routine cleaning, then I don't log it. But if I'm getting down and dirty with major cleaning, the I will put it in. If I'm sweating from cleaning, then it's worth logging lol

    thats exactly what i do! normally on a weekend day when changing all the beds etc
  • ScientistStudy
    ScientistStudy Posts: 249 Member
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    I spent about an hour on the weekend cleaning (dishes, bleaching bathroom & kitchen, hoovering, polishing, emptying the bin and cleaning out my pet rats), I think I would log it but maybe put it down as only 30 minutes due to the overestimation of MFP.
    I'd rather log less calories burned than too many and over indulge because of it.
  • delilah47
    delilah47 Posts: 1,658
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    Beware post starting with "I don't mean to bash...... "

    If you are jogging and logging, what difference does it make what anyone else puts in their diary? Is this a competition? If so, I need to change my strategy, because I ain't gonna win this way.

    And those people who are, right now, putting in justifications for what you enter as exercise... QUIT DOING THAT!! You don't have to explain or justify to anyone. By attempting to explain, you just encourage those who "don't mean to bash".. okay?
  • 10acity
    10acity Posts: 798 Member
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    I never understand why anyone cares how other people burn calories. But that's just me.
  • FitMama2013
    FitMama2013 Posts: 919 Member
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    activity from cleaning should factor into TDEE...for instance, I use a body media fit each day to track calories burned and I aim to leave 500 calories at the end of the day. technically, when I am cleaning, that ups my activity level so I am "eating" those calories. before getting my BMF, I never logged cleaning as exercise, and I still don't, but it factors into my TDEE.

    with that said, MFP does way overestimate...
  • debpul
    debpul Posts: 6
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    My work day is 100% sedentary (opposite the computer screen, driving) - so anything I do that works up a sweat or is not done sitting around gets listed. That includes sweeping and mopping floors, and sometimes cooking (if I'm on my feet cooking for several hours-not just a few minutes), biking or walking to the local shops, etc.
  • AmberLee2012
    AmberLee2012 Posts: 540
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    I do not list cleaning as exercise, however, I don’t get upset/offended if other people do. We are all responsible for our own journeys and I try not to focus on what other people do.
  • PLUMSGRL
    PLUMSGRL Posts: 1,134 Member
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    only once did I log "cleaning" exercise...when I moved by my self...packing loading, unloading, lots of stairs, cleaning...but only took credit for 4 hours~
    Daily cleaning, cleaning the rugs, moving furniture around is just normal daily activity.
  • mommyred35
    mommyred35 Posts: 282 Member
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    I only to it if I'm scrubbing floor or yard work. If the calories seem high I adjust the time to lower the calories amount. I like to underestimate calories burned and overestimate calories eaten.
  • Hernandeak11
    Hernandeak11 Posts: 351 Member
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    I never, ever log any cleaning done at home.

    HOWEVER..I do have a part-time job cleaning dog kennels that gets quite exhausting, so I'd be half-dead if I didn't eat back those calories on the days that I work.

    I do understand your sentiment though.
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
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    HEAVY sustained cleaning - like for over 20 minutes I'll log. All else I consider part of my normal daily activities.
  • Faye_Anderson
    Faye_Anderson Posts: 1,495 Member
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    What has it got to do with you what I log? In what way does it affect your weight loss? None?? Thought so, I can log sitting on my butt all day if I want to, technically I'm still burning calories. You go on your journey, I'll go on mine. My profile is set to sedentary, meaning I do nothing all day every day, I could be logging every substantial movement I make.
    You keep worrying about what everyone else is doing, I'll carry on blissfully not caring and steadily losing weight :flowerforyou:
  • Shamrock_me
    Shamrock_me Posts: 161
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    i swept and mopped all my floors, gave my dog a bath and cleaned the shower the other day. i put that in! not normal day to day stuff though. of course i don't normally clean day to day ;)

    I'm with you.. who cleans everyday? Thats like torture!!! Usually 2 days a week for keeping up with the clutter and the crazy stuff on a weekend day when I have time for that. I halftime these activities and even then sometimes I think its too high a calorie burn on MFP I did furniture moving for 3 hours but I wasn't moving furniture the whole time. A lot of standing around & trying to figure how to get through the doorway, etc etc.. so I only logged 1.5 But.. I am wayyyyy sore today so maybe not.

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