House work as exercise

No, housework is not a lesser form of exercise. However, it depends on how you do your initial set-up. If your daily routine (housework, yardwork or whatever) is factored in to your daily activity level, then it should not count; however, if you set it up as "sedentary" then by all means... count it because anything you do is above and beyond sitting down. The thing is I encourage all to not count things twice... If you are counting something as exercise and not seeing results, then try not counting it ...

I totally agree with you, have seen some comments (nasty ones too) about critising housework efforts and walking kids to school.

Someone I know regulary walks 2 hrs a day and of course you need to claim that. Has to be better than catching the bus !
Window washing, scrubbing floors, mowing the lawn must all be counted.

Yeh I stopped logging my situps and dumbell exercises because MFP didn't allow any calories for the strength training. For a moment I thought I wasted money on my bench !

MFP don't class it as a cardio workout, well my heart races when I do 100 situps I can assure you.

Lugging my vacuum cleaner up the stairs, scrubbing off soap scum from shower walls, washing and grooming my dogs, and scraping and washing litter boxes all get my heart going, too! LOL!

Mike Jacobs, you can always wear a HRM to gauge how many calories you burn during strength training. I was literally surprised how many calories I burned, both during housework and strength training, and how much of my time was actually spent "in the zone" - a Polar FT4 is fairly inexpensive (which is why I have one) and I'm finding it is an invaluable tool.

:flowerforyou:

I think as long as you are listed as sedentary on MFP, I don't think there's an issue with logging those things. I don't usually log them but sometimes I do. You only know for yourself if it counts or not. If you're working up a sweat and your heartrate is up, I think it should count. As far as items not being in MFP, put it in cardio. If it's not already in there, google how many calories whatever you're doing burns and manually add it to your cardio section. I had to do this with my one home workout DVD. It's a hard workout with an exercise ball and I KNOW it burns calories. Once you create it in there, it will automatically calculate your calories depending on how long you do that exercise. They are lacking stuff on here I've noticed though. Ex. They have all the Wii exercises but they do not have any of the Xbox Kinnect exercises. I work a lot harder on the Xbox stuff than when I used the Wii but I have to settle for logging it as Wii exercise.

Personally, I may log housework- but NOT so I can have extra burn showing in my data- but so I can see record that I am MOVING. It doesn't matter how much people bag on it for burning calories- if you are a person that is motivated by seeing housework in your stats- DO IT. Just be realistic about how much burn you actually get and then push yourself to do something outside of the norm. Stretch your limits and push yourself to step outside of that self made box.

Do what is best for you. But also keep in mind, what's best for you isn't always what comes easy.

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.



i'm pretty sure(tho i may be wrong) that my fitness pal did not exist then!!! :noway:

Right, but then their lifestyle (and yours) is considered active--as you are always active throughout your day, so therefore you burn more calories than say I do--my job is mostly sitting at a computer all day. So, when I do anything that raises my heart rate (as per my HRM) it burns more calories than what I would do if I were doing my regular fairly sedentary lifestyle. Note...I do not eat back all of those calories for part of the reasons you indicated.

Please remember, we are all on a different path to wellness here and are all starting at different levels of fitness and lifestyle.

Take care and I wish you continued success on your journey--it appears you are doing very well.

My theory - if it works for you to log it, log it! I don't judge friends logging anything. Seriously.

I don't *usually* log cleaning unless I'm dance-cleaning (totally different beast involving looking like an idiot AND having a high heart rate) or if I'm highly drugged with Benadryl and it's hard to find the energy to stand, much less clean (yay for my Fourth of July.... ugh.)

My general rule - if I feel like I'm exerting myself, it counts. But then again, my calorie goal is set at 1,600, and I'm not looking to lose much more weight at this point, just to shift the weight I have.

Personally, I may log housework- but NOT so I can have extra burn showing in my data- but so I can see record that I am MOVING. It doesn't matter how much people bag on it for burning calories- if you are a person that is motivated by seeing housework in your stats- DO IT. Just be realistic about how much burn you actually get and then push yourself to do something outside of the norm. Stretch your limits and push yourself to step outside of that self made box.

Do what is best for you. But also keep in mind, what's best for you isn't always what comes easy.

Very well stated. That's why I've begun measuring everything - which is funny because that's what my profession taught me: what we measure, we improve. I weigh my food now, I measure my heart rate to log activity accurately. You are SO right that what is best is often not what is easy!

Hi I totally agree housework is hard work, I clean my house top to bottom once a week, I get down on my hands and knees to do the floors and clean windows and give a thorough clean. I have a dog and 2 cats and you need to maintain cleaning on a regular basis when you have animals, i usually spend about 6 hours and climb 2 flights of stairs at lease 100 times in that timeframe and work my *kitten* off

I totally agree with you, have seen some comments (nasty ones too) about critising housework efforts and walking kids to school.

Someone I know regulary walks 2 hrs a day and of course you need to claim that. Has to be better than catching the bus !
Window washing, scrubbing floors, mowing the lawn must all be counted.

Yeh I stopped logging my situps and dumbell exercises because MFP didn't allow any calories for the strength training. For a moment I thought I wasted money on my bench !

MFP don't class it as a cardio workout, well my heart races when I do 100 situps I can assure you.

Situps are calisthenics, and there is a listing for that in the cardio section. There is also a listing for Strength Training with weights.

To each their own, what business is it of mine is someone wants to log housework as cardio.