House work as exercise

You can come and do my housework anytime!!! :drinker:

It really doesn't matter to me what someone logs. My week days consist of a desk job and on weekends I don't sit down most of the day. My setting is set to sedentary. For the past week I've been scraping and painting my house (and have no time for my typical work outs), but I'm moving ladders, bending, standing, climbing ladder, getting down, and yes working those bingo wings scraping and painting! I googled it and it says a 150 lb person burns 203/hour from that. So I take some of the time, but not all. I've done it for 8-10 hours / day. So yes, I'm taking some cals burned for that. And no it isn't quite zumba or a Jillian Michaels work out, but I'm out in 90 degree heat in the sun doing this as well and if nothing else I feel like I'm melting! LOL

If had an active job where I was on my feet all day and my profile was set to this, I probably wouldn't log itif I was doing it on a weekend because MFP would be calculating it to your calories needed already.

Bottom line is who does this and why I don't care....if I see someone post it I some times ask what they did and generally it's more than load dishwasher and vac.

I don't log house work because I HAVE to do house work. I log my workouts and runs because I DON'T have to do any of that. That is just my opinion.

Why would you burn calories doing something you don't HAVE to do and not when you DO have to do it? How would your body tell one from the other? This makes absolutely no sense to me.

It's not exercise. It's the basic rudimentary functions of the 21st century human being in a first world society.

Granted, can you break a sweat cleaning or chasing a couple toddler's around? Absolutely...But to put that on the same level as 60 minutes in the gym..or a zumba class for that matter is stretching the bounds of a lazy rationale.

You should be taking care of all your domestic work in addition to conventional exercise outlets...not cleaning the toilet and calling it a hard days work.

Nothing is worse than failing because you didn't work hard enough.

Who are you to tell me, or anyone else, what they "should" do? And how dare you call other people "lazy?"

Newsflash! You don't get to decide what people "should" do. You're not specially gifted. You only get to decide what you "should" do.

It's not exercise. It's the basic rudimentary functions of the 21st century human being in a first world society.

Granted, can you break a sweat cleaning or chasing a couple toddler's around? Absolutely...But to put that on the same level as 60 minutes in the gym..or a zumba class for that matter is stretching the bounds of a lazy rationale.

You should be taking care of all your domestic work in addition to conventional exercise outlets...not cleaning the toilet and calling it a hard days work.

Nothing is worse than failing because you didn't work hard enough.

So what would you say to my HRM that say my 20 minutes of circuit training and 45 minutes of scrubbing the bathrooms burn the same calories?

I guess if u do choose to log housework maybe u should just not eat the calories back. It is a good argument on both sides because it does beg the question where do we end logging. If I do 35 minutes of cpr on someone and then lug them down 2 flights of stairs its a pretty good workout and I am sweating, but would not dream of logging it and stopping for a burger reward x

I apologize in advance...I'm sorry....but this is one of the reasons we are so obese as a society. We should not be aguing over recording basic life chores. Cleaning, walking, gardening ect. ect. it is considered life. Our ancestors walked an average of 15 - 20 miles per day. They did not call that exercise. That was their way of Life!
I clean, garden, cut the grass, Hike with the kids, I call that an active lifestyle, the way we SHOULD Be. Then I exercise! Change your perspective and you will have better results.

There was a lovely user on this site,who I have not seen around in awhile that wrote a very good post on it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/291071-activity-level-and-logging-exercise?hl=activity+level+and+logging

I hope this thread will encourage some people to rethink their views.

I have read a few threads recently which criticiseMFP members for adding housework (cleaning) to their cardiovascular exercise. I find this quite bizarre as my understanding is that MFP works out the number of net calories you need to eat using the number of calories you would burn if you stayed in bed all day, your weight goal and the number of pounds you want to lose per week.

Why is housework a lesser form of exercise than any other? Is there some sort of exercise snobbery going on? Just because it has to be done, it doesnt make it less valid in my opinion. Is it a sexist thing? If so why is it predominantly women that have been critical? I sugar-soaped my kitchen door at the weekend and it was a great work-out for my bingo-wings! Are there any other forms of exercise that people think should not be listed? Dog walking? Gardening? As a single Mum I have all these responsibilities. As I also have to work, cleaning, dog walking and gardening are sometimes the only form of exercise I have time(or the opportunity) to do - and its paying off because I am listing them as exercise, sticking to my net calories (most of the time) and I am losing weight! What are your thoughts?

PS I wish MFP worked out the calories burned during strengthening exercises e.g. pressups, situps. Is there a reason for this?

I'm always on the "log it" side so I'm not sure there's any reason for me to answer but...

One group of these people condescendingly says the equivalent of "You're only cheating yourself." It's a sly way to imply cheating, when sedentary is defined by MFP as "mostly sitting," (not lying in bed, as you claim, but that's really irrelevant.) so no "cheating" is involved, and there's really no such thing as "cheating yourself," anyway. They can feel better about themselves by telling the world that YOU are a cheater, THEY would NEVER cheat.

Another group says, "I got fat while cleaning my house, obviously I'm not going to get thin by calling cleaning exercise." These people ignore the fact that MFP is a multi-pronged approach, and they, and you, didn't get fat while cleaning the house AND maintaining a caloric deficit. Don't clean and don't eat the cleaning calories or clean and eat the calories, the deficit is built in, and most of us can't clean while sitting. Net less than you burn and you lose. You body can't tell if you're using a stepper machine or running up and down your basement stairs to check the laundry. No reason why one is exercise and the other isn't. These people also can feel better than you, because they work out and you do not. It's not exercise unless you wear special clothing for it, you know.

My personal favorite are the people who say it's not exercise if you "usually do it," or "do it daily or almost daily." Of course they exclude running or workouts THEY do daily or almost daily, because these are "obviously exercise." They never seem to have an answer to whether people who pay someone else to clean for them have to subtract some calories for the ones they say MFP adds in for the cleaning that it's "normal" to do. Again, it's all about, "I'm somehow more virtuous than you."

And I also actually dislike the "peacemaker" group. They say "I would NEVER count housework, but if someone is VERY OBESE, and this motivates them to move more, maybe this all they can do right now." Also busy feeling better than those poor souls who have to count housework because they're not as "fit" as these people.

I think it's all about feeling superior. S you just do what works for you, keep your food and exercise diaries CLOSED so you don't get sidetracked by people who think they're better than you, and remember you only have to answer to yourself.

I wear a FitBit and only manually log things FitBit can't measure accurately (or in some cases, like swimming, at all). So my "cleaning" is recorded as exercise by my FitBit because it does indeed record more calories when I'm cleaning than when I'm not. Maybe the best thing would be not to call it "exercise" since it's really "calorie burning activity."

And MFP does list calories burned during strength training. Why wouldn't it?

I log my housecleaning as exercise when I am truly exerting myself and doing above and beyond my normal everyday things. It is exercise to me and I am sore afterwards. I sweat, I use muscles I wouldn't have used sitting at my desk. I AM ACTIVE and not sitting on the couch. Am I running a 5K yet, no, but I am getting there, more slowly than a lot, but I am much better than I was a year ago before I started logging anything at all. I'm getting there and I hope when I finally get to the point that I am doing what others call "real exercise" I don't look down on those who are just starting and trying to go from totally sedentary to MOVING and feeling at least a little bit better about themselves for logging it at all. We are on here to build up and not tear down. Most of the people on this site are here because they want to be healthier and probably lose weight and be more active. We are all at different levels and a 5 min walk may not seem like exercise to someone who does 5 miles a day running. Yes, there are those on here who may never get past just logging housecleaning, but there are a lot who will, with encouragement and not nastiness or criticism.
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Such lovely supportive comments. Thank you for this :-)