Let the bloodbath begin....

I really don't get how that affects your or hinder your journey. There are people here who swear they eat only fast food, others who eat clean, some who just walk, others who do crossfit, some with thyroid and PCOS. Everyone has their own journey and what works for one doesn't work for everyone. So if someone is logging their chores and that works for them, I don't see how that could stop you from losing weight. This site is for education and support. You take the information you need to help with your goals.

I have to respectfully disagree with this. I do agree that what someone else logs has nothing to do with me. It's their body and their business. But what they post in an open internet forum does effect me and others. If you see someone post information that you feel is blatantly wrong and perhaps harmful, it can be really hard to bite your tongue (fingertips?) and not type a response. The whole purpose of a open internet forum is to exchange ideas, and exchange means it goes both ways. It does affect me, because I look to get advice on this site and if someone posts something that's wrong I could waste time and money while risking my health at the same time.

If someone posted that the best way to lose weight is to only eat 400 calories per day or drink poison or take steroids, would you feel it's wrong to post a contrary response? Even if you don't really care what that person does, wouldn't you want to warn other people that clicked on that thread that this is terrible advice? If you had personal experience with lifting/running/crossfit/paleo/veganism wouldn't you want to share your experiences? ESPECIALLY if you feel someone said something that you felt was blatantly wrong?

Obviously people should not be rude or insulting. But just disagreeing doesn't make them rude.

You are correct that this is an open internet forum where ideas and opinions are exchanged, but it is up to you to exercise good judgement. None of us are experts and even those who say they are could be making it up for all we know since this is cyberspace. If someone says they lost weight doing something harmful and you followed suit that is no one's fault but your own for taking that person's experience at face value and not researching it further. If someone logs their chores whether it be daily or ever so often that is their choice and is not going to hinder my journey. My needs and goals are unique to me and while I do find the exchange of ideas informative at the end of the day I'm going to do what's best for me and if more people on MFP did the same they would exert less energy criticizing people who follow a different fitness plan than one they prescribed too.

Let's take the emotion of being a homebody vs. a career vs. younger vs. older out of this whole discussion.

Let's get scientific for a moment. The tab clearly says exercise and is broken down into cardio & strength training.

Exercise is defined as planned, structured, and progressive process by which a significant exertion is applied to stimulate a specific desired and positive bodily change.

Given that, I don't see how work around the house can be considered exercise. Walking the dog can qualify if there is significant exertion applied, obviously based upon your physical conditioning.

Work around the house can burn a great deal more calories and bring up your heart rate a lot higher than walking the dog. One poster mentioned their HRM showed an 1100 calorie burn for mowing her lawn. Another poster said 700 calories for giving the house a scrub down. So the physical exertion is there. I don't do a scrub down of my house daily, but when I do I sweat much more than I do from a half hour on the elliptical. Exercise has a very broad definition and does not have to be just want you do in the gym. Chores are included in the MFP database as well as other sites like Fitday. BTW Fitday also includes sex for exercise and you can log it based on length and intensity. Personally, I think MFP should follow suit.

The average person's definition of exercise is vague. But I don't see where mowing the lawn or scrubbing a house is progressive. I'm sure there are people that will argue that it's structured and planned.

If you sweat more doing house work than on an elliptical, then my observation would be that the intensity should be picked up on the elliptical.

Let's take the emotion of being a homebody vs. a career vs. younger vs. older out of this whole discussion.

Let's get scientific for a moment. The tab clearly says exercise and is broken down into cardio & strength training.

Exercise is defined as planned, structured, and progressive process by which a significant exertion is applied to stimulate a specific desired and positive bodily change.

Given that, I don't see how work around the house can be considered exercise. Walking the dog can qualify if there is significant exertion applied, obviously based upon your physical conditioning.

Work around the house can burn a great deal more calories and bring up your heart rate a lot higher than walking the dog. One poster mentioned their HRM showed an 1100 calorie burn for mowing her lawn. Another poster said 700 calories for giving the house a scrub down. So the physical exertion is there. I don't do a scrub down of my house daily, but when I do I sweat much more than I do from a half hour on the elliptical. Exercise has a very broad definition and does not have to be just want you do in the gym. Chores are included in the MFP database as well as other sites like Fitday. BTW Fitday also includes sex for exercise and you can log it based on length and intensity. Personally, I think MFP should follow suit.

The average person's definition of exercise is vague. But I don't see where mowing the lawn or scrubbing a house is progressive. I'm sure there are people that will argue that it's structured and planned.

If you sweat more doing house work than on an elliptical, then my observation would be that the intensity should be picked up on the elliptical.

As does continually having to repeat myself because some *kitten* didn't really take my perfectly valid point into consideration before making said snarky, condescending remark.

As does continually having to repeat myself because some *kitten* didn't really take my perfectly valid point into consideration before making said snarky, condescending remark.

In terms of attempting to change opinion, I'm not ENTIRELY sure whether referring to "the opposition" as a-holes will endear them to your views, add cudos to your argument or add validity to your points?

Nothing gets my BP to spike faster than having to reapeat myself because someone isn't listening.

You should come on here for support and ideas to change up your routine. Everyone's body is different so if something someone suggested isn't working for you then you should change things up. As for learning about metabolism and nutrition, I take suggestions I see on here and follow up with real research either in books at a library (so old school) or on legitimate websites. The MFP forums are filled with great suggestions and information, but also a lot of crap.

I was reading another forum post where everyone was bashing the OP for wanting to log an activity that no one else seemed to deem as exercise. Am I one of the few on here that realizes that llllooooonnnnnggggg before there were gyms, people did chores to keep themselves fit?!? There was no such thing as an eliptical and people seemed to do just fine so why the heck shouldn't I log doing chores as exercise????

And, let the bloodbath begin....

The post you are referring to had the 'unfortunate' title "how many calories do you burn standing". By just reading the title 99 percent will probably think off the bat.......in what universe is standing consider a physical activity. There is a lot more to this thread and let's not get into that again.

However in regards to what to consider what to log as exercise....I think you really have to be honest with yourself. Did you exert your self, get your heart rate up for a sustained period of time?? Is my profile already set to lightly active, active....this all comes into play on a case be case basis. If you are logging small exertions here and there and NOT losing weight or hit a plateau...well maybe your over estimating. As it is MFP over estimates calories burned so unless you have a HRM your only guessing anyway.

Anyway.........I think we all know that there are many viable forms of exercise that you SHOULD log that are not performed in a gym!!!! That's just commonsense!

Let's take the emotion of being a homebody vs. a career vs. younger vs. older out of this whole discussion.

Let's get scientific for a moment. The tab clearly says exercise and is broken down into cardio & strength training.

Exercise is defined as planned, structured, and progressive process by which a significant exertion is applied to stimulate a specific desired and positive bodily change.

Given that, I don't see how work around the house can be considered exercise. Walking the dog can qualify if there is significant exertion applied, obviously based upon your physical conditioning.

Work around the house can burn a great deal more calories and bring up your heart rate a lot higher than walking the dog. One poster mentioned their HRM showed an 1100 calorie burn for mowing her lawn. Another poster said 700 calories for giving the house a scrub down. So the physical exertion is there. I don't do a scrub down of my house daily, but when I do I sweat much more than I do from a half hour on the elliptical. Exercise has a very broad definition and does not have to be just want you do in the gym. Chores are included in the MFP database as well as other sites like Fitday. BTW Fitday also includes sex for exercise and you can log it based on length and intensity. Personally, I think MFP should follow suit.

The average person's definition of exercise is vague. But I don't see where mowing the lawn or scrubbing a house is progressive. I'm sure there are people that will argue that it's structured and planned.

If you sweat more doing house work than on an elliptical, then my observation would be that the intensity should be picked up on the elliptical.

I would argue that, if you're not working up a sweat and getting your HR up by doing deep house cleaning (for several hours, not a few minutes) and/or mowing your lawn (with a push mower), you're not doing THAT properly. As I said before, you've apparently never deep cleaned a house from top to bottom, nor have you ever seen what I look like after thirty minutes on the elliptical. I'm doing BOTH the way they should be done, and I'm here to tell you, I burn WAY more calories and get my HR MUCH higher doing three hours of deep cleaning than I do in thirty minutes to an hour on the elliptical.

If your settings are "sedentary" and you don't normally break out a sweat/increase your heart rate similarly as you would with other forms of exercises, then log it.

If you're logging it so you feel better about eating more, than you probably shouldn't log it.

Can you get a gold medal in Toilet Bowl scrubbing?

Moving is moving. Getting off the couch and staying busy.

Maybe people take for granted some things others find difficult. I know a person who weighed almost 400 pounds and to walk to the street to get the mail was a workout. Then it became walking to the next mailbox (no, not to steal mail lol) and then back. She added another mailbox and kept it going . She is now under 200 pounds and if she didn't start her "mailbox" workout, she may have never seen the onederlands.....

She is my aunt and I'm proud of her!

Because chores are a part of your daily routine. You don't account for them because it's a normal part of your day. You might as well log your trips to the bathroom as Walking, 2 mph, slow pace (2 minutes). It's basically the same thing. I think anything you have to go out of the way to do that requires strenuous effort can be logged. Everything else is null.

Why is it taking you two minutes to walk to the bathroom at 2mph? That's like 105 metres. If your house is really that big, you gotta get yourself a second toilet.

I say let everyone decide for themselves. Who am I to say you can or can't log something as exercise. If I don't agree with it I move on. End of story. People need not worry so much about what others are doing.