You can burn calories with housework!

Fromadaughter
Fromadaughter Posts: 46
in Health and Weight Loss
Did you know you can burn 136 Calories per hour while doing Laundry! What other house hold chores have you found that burn calories?
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Replies

  • simeson
    simeson Posts: 10 Member
    I've noticed others using their household work for exercise but I'd never thought of it. I live in a house with 8 other people!! (We are foster parents...) I do A LOT of laundry LOL
  • Fromadaughter
    Fromadaughter Posts: 46
    I bet! I just thought I would share that little tip. :)
  • Fergie21
    Fergie21 Posts: 46 Member
    I myself do not log housework as exercise as i have always done this diet or no diet!
  • LHudson53
    LHudson53 Posts: 126
    I have a big two-story house. I guess I could lose weight faster if I cleaned the house more. Did my family pay you to start this?? :laugh:
  • Amyeeeeeee
    Amyeeeeeee Posts: 93 Member
    Uh yes Maam and I do this and count every chore I do daily. It all adds up!!!
  • amanda8o
    amanda8o Posts: 352 Member
    I don't log normal every day cleaning but I do log stuff like moving furniture or getting on my hands and knees to scrub floors or gardening,everything else I just look at as bonus calories burned.
  • AnisaMG
    AnisaMG Posts: 154 Member
    I don't log it, but a few weeks ago I read this really nasty response about logging excersise so I decided to do a full house clean and wear my hrm just to see.

    In the 3 hours it took to deep clean my kitchen, office, living room and bathroom - I burned over 800 calories. That's more than I would have burned had I gone for a 3 hour walk.

    Still I don't log it, because I did that before I decided to make changes.
  • LastSixtySix
    LastSixtySix Posts: 352 Member
    Overhead lifting 20-lbs of bagged (unused thank you very much) kitty litter really gets the heart rate back up to fitness and max burn level. I call it the Kitty Litter Lift! Meow Meow!

    -Debra
  • UhOhItsKylie
    UhOhItsKylie Posts: 92 Member
    Out of curiosity, I wore my HRM while I did my weekly picking up and I burned about 125 calories for a little over an hour of light cleaning. I thought that was pretty neat!
  • Soozie1978
    Soozie1978 Posts: 138 Member
    I myself do not log housework as exercise as i have always done this diet or no diet!

    I don't log the everyday stuff, but the deep cleaning, cleaning/organizing closets, cleaning carpets, intense food preparation, etc, which are over and above the normal, I log. :flowerforyou:
  • BeautifulBetsy
    BeautifulBetsy Posts: 60 Member
    I log cleaning calories like mopping the floors and scrubbing a tub isn't lazy work. lets get skinny and have homes that are cleaner then everyone elses!
  • Swissmiss
    Swissmiss Posts: 8,754 Member
    I myself do not log housework as exercise as i have always done this diet or no diet!


    This is how I feel. Housework is something that I have always done. So, I am thinking that my body is used to it.
  • ChristyRunStarr
    ChristyRunStarr Posts: 1,600 Member
    I've counted a few times when I've done cleaning-like when I helped my mom clean and paint her classroom a couple weeks ago or when I had to clean the office building for when the higher ups were coming last week but normally I don't cause it's stuff I normally do.
  • rcclcruiser
    rcclcruiser Posts: 98 Member
    I have never logged housework before, but today I spent an hour scrubbing bathtubs and showers. So I figured it should count for something. Today was the only day I was going to log housework, but when I typed it in, there was no listing for it. Any idea how many calories for scrubbing tubs/showers for an hour?
  • Positive_Energy73
    Positive_Energy73 Posts: 51 Member
    I'd never really looked at house work at exercise but when I saw that MFP listed house chores as an exercise, I decided to begin logging it. I feel that any activity that helps me burn calories and assists me with my weight loss journey is worthy of listing!! You'd be amazed how many calories are burned by simple chores as vaccumming or mopping!
  • RenovatingSuzanne
    RenovatingSuzanne Posts: 56
    I don't count my housework / laundry or gardening either, but I am renovating our house at the moment so when I know I'm going to be doing a lot of going up and down the ladder, painting a ceiling (cheap arm and shoulder workout) or putting down flooring then I wear my HRM and I'm always shocked at how much I burn.
  • vtachycardia
    vtachycardia Posts: 374
    I burn 2378/24 = 100 calories doing nothing. I will seriously burn 136 additional calories putting my clothes into an automatic machine or does this include folding, ironing, putting away? Or is it 36 calories?

    I am all for counting little gains, great believer in the "Fidget factor" and how little bits make a lot rather than nothing making nothing.
  • petiteLady89
    petiteLady89 Posts: 198 Member
    Glad to know that. I am a sahm and it seems like I am always cleaning or cooking. I'm not going to track those calories burned, though.
  • lauralind5
    lauralind5 Posts: 133 Member
    so my question about logging housework is this.....didnt you do housework before or during the time you gained weight?
  • cowgirlup327
    cowgirlup327 Posts: 58 Member
    Gardening, too! I guess when you're counting calories, every little bit helps, right? If we're counting every calorie in, it's fair enough to count every calorie burned. I cleaned the heck out of my car last weekend. I don't have an HRM, but it would have been interesting to see how many calories a couple hours of washing and waxing a car could have burned - I sure felt it in my arms! I tend to log my cleaning and garden time since it's physical activity, but I don't let it make up for time/calorie burning that should be spent walking or otherwise working out at the gym.
  • mainelymama
    mainelymama Posts: 57
    so my question about logging housework is this.....didnt you do housework before or during the time you gained weight?

    Personally I dont log housework because I dont think its accurate, BUT I went to the gym before and during the time I gained weight but I still track that.
  • BSBgirl337
    BSBgirl337 Posts: 119 Member
    I typically use Sunday as my non-gym day so I can get some work done around the house. Doing laundry definitely burns some calories, and my laundry room is downstairs, so I go up and down the steps a bunch of times, too. I don't have central air either, so when it's hot out, you can really tell how much work you're doing!

    Exercise is exercise, whether you'd be doing it anyway or not! :drinker:
  • verptwerp
    verptwerp Posts: 3,659 Member
    Well, I'm in the middle of taking my house apart ...... company's coming & those dustbunnies need picking up ...... honestly, anything that makes me break out in a sweat should get logged for a few extra calories :laugh:
  • cspence2270
    cspence2270 Posts: 229 Member
    I'm on the do not log house work or any activities that I have always done list. I'm making a change in my life- logging something I've always done is not a "change". But I'm glad others tracked what they are burning- I always wondered what I was burning- I tend to work up a real sweat while cleaning.
  • zaithyr
    zaithyr Posts: 482 Member
    I have my calorie set for sedentary so any time I'm up doing more than just quick piddly stuff I usually track it with my HRM. Depends on how much I'm doing.
  • Dudagarcia
    Dudagarcia Posts: 849 Member
    I have a big two-story house. I guess I could lose weight faster if I cleaned the house more. Did my family pay you to start this?? :laugh:

    Lol
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    Did you know you can burn 136 Calories per hour while doing Laundry! What other house hold chores have you found that burn calories?
    I don't log housework/gardening because I chose "lightly active" lifestyle.
    Sometimes I think about switching to 'seentary' and then logging 'housework, etc"- to see what difference it makes in the way my numbers look. I think I will switch after we move- for the fun of it
  • carriempls
    carriempls Posts: 326 Member
    Whether to log housework or not depends on how you have your activity set, not whether you used to do it before or not.

    If you've got it set at sedentary but spend an hour or more a day doing chores, you should probably log it.

    If you've got it set at lightly-moderately active to account for the housework you regularly do, then no, I wouldn't log it.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    each of us burns calories per day whether we are in bed or out so the only time I count calories burned is when I am in the activity. When my heart rate is above resting in other words. Yes, doing housekeeping or laundry, whatever, burns calories but unless I am actually getting my heart rate up, I don't count them because they are already calculated into my day. Hope this makes sense;)
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    Out of curiosity, I wore my HRM while I did my weekly picking up and I burned about 125 calories for a little over an hour of light cleaning. I thought that was pretty neat!

    Here's a problem with counting cleaning. Lets just say you burn 100 calories an hour living, not moving, just organs using energy. Now you wear your HRM for cleaning and log 136 calories for the hour of "exercise". Now you would have burned 100 calories with just breathing and laying there over the same hour. So you log the 136 calories as exercise, but in reality it's really just 36 calories more than sitting around. Then you eat back your calories and you're actually 100 over your target. Then people wonder why they aren't seeing results. They're eating above their TDEE, the math is there, embrace it!

    Long story short, too late I know, don't log daily life activities if you want to see maximal results. Just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt. I did successfully lose 140 lbs in 7 months with nothing but diet change and exercise, if that lends credit to my opinion *shrug*. As another friend of mine says, "Success is a choice".

    Good luck!

    -M

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