You can burn calories with housework!

24

Replies

  • artbkward
    artbkward Posts: 238 Member
    On weekends this time a year I spend a lot of time working in concession trailers (at county fairs and such), I log that time under cooking. I usually scale back the time like if I spend 6 hours working, I'll enter 4 or so. I don't count it if we're not busy and I sit a lot. It really adds up the calories, as it should, but I know some people on here would be very critical of that. Anyone who thinks that four straight hours of rolling out elephant ears isn't burning a ton of calories is a fool (and obviously never done it).

    Also, if anyone wants to cure their desire to eat elephant ears or funnel cakes I suggest working in a trailer that serves them. :happy:
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    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;)

    everything gets my heart rate UP and makes me feel like my heart is about to POP.
    ::sigh::
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    It's a good reminder for lazy people like me. However, I am still not going to log all of that. I generally only log my exercise routine. Sometimes, if I walk a lot of extra, then I will log it, especially if I am still hungry at the end of the day. (That way I don't go over my calories.)
  • mcrowe1016
    mcrowe1016 Posts: 647 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

    I am so happy you said this. It was exactly what I was thinking, but I was too lazy to type it out. Sometimes I log cleaning, but I usually only add it for about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of time I actually did it, and even then it is only intense work.
  • Fromadaughter
    Fromadaughter Posts: 46
    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:

    Haha no!
  • Pollywog39
    Pollywog39 Posts: 1,730 Member
    I have my settings at "sedentary", because I have a desk job............I count cleaning and laundry ONLY when it's a LOT more than usual. For me to do laundry, I have to walk up and down a long flight of stairs, go outside the building, and into a separate laundry room........and I only do laundry infrequently because of that (you wouldn't believe how many pairs of undies I have :)

    So I think it's fair to count ambitious housework that makes me sweat like a piggie!

    .......but that's just me, and ya'll are entitled to your own opinions!

    :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
  • Fromadaughter
    Fromadaughter Posts: 46
    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.
    It includes putting in the automatic washer, folding and putting it away. All that adds to 136 if you do it many times for a hour total.
  • Fromadaughter
    Fromadaughter Posts: 46
    so my question about logging housework is this.....didnt you do housework before or during the time you gained weight?
    I have always done housework but I never counted my calories so I would about 2000-2500 calories on a good day. So the household stuff did not add up to much.
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
    I'm thinking I need to resent laundry a little less....
  • autumnk921
    autumnk921 Posts: 1,374 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.

    This is what I do as well...The things I normally do to keep the house cleaned, like laundry, dishes, etc. I don't count but when I start scrubbing, mopping and really sweating during cleaning I do log this b/c it is not something I do in my normal activities.
  • HartJames
    HartJames Posts: 789 Member
    Everyday cleaning could in theroy get logged if your activity level is set to sedentary and therefore your calories are at a sedentary level, BUT, I think the numbers are overinflated on the presets & an HRM is only accurate for true cardio so it would be hard to guess the real calories burned.

    Also remember to subtract the calories you would have burned just sitting around during that time.

    That being said, I have been known to log moving, washing my car and spring cleaning when my activity level was set low.
  • prairiedawg2014
    prairiedawg2014 Posts: 367
    i was told you can't log housework as excercise because its already figured into your normal daily activities for cal burn.
  • itgeekwoman
    itgeekwoman Posts: 804 Member
    I avoid housework like the plague. Hubby does the laundry. I do dishes and floors.
    I cook my own food, he reheats his cardboard nasty food.

    Life is good.
  • AmyBecky74
    AmyBecky74 Posts: 437 Member
    If it is just regular cleaning I don't log it but if it's heavey duty cleaning and moving furniture I log. That's hard work :)
  • senyosmom
    senyosmom Posts: 613 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 think if you are a very active person household chores dont do much for you.... but if you are set to sedetary (desk job, etc) some hard core cleaning can add up! I find vacumming, mopping, sweeping to be good for calorie burn!
  • FatAssBecky
    FatAssBecky Posts: 58 Member
    I'm a homemaker and love when I log my "light cleaning!" I have my calories set to sedentary and I follow two rules:

    - I have to work up a sweat and/or a physical feeling of doing something while cleaning.

    - I max myself out at 2 hours - even if I do much more than that.

    I don't think cleaning is going to get me to my goal, obviously - but it does help me mentally to log it by a. I'm actually good at cleaning my house if I think of it as exercise. and b. Gives me a perspective if I don't get other things done during the day. You know, I can look back and be like "Oh yeah, that's when I pumped out 4 solid hours of cleaning. No wonder I didn't make it to the grocery store!" Or even if I didn't make it to the gym.

    Sometimes us Homemakers need a little pat on the back from someone - even if that "someone" is MFP! :)
  • senyosmom
    senyosmom Posts: 613 Member
    i was told you can't log housework as excercise because its already figured into your normal daily activities for cal burn.

    Your every day normal calorie burn is if you do NOTHING - its the burn your body does simply by functioning. Anything else can be counted.
  • tyresank
    tyresank Posts: 174 Member
    Let's just say let my house get a bit out of control. I spent 3 hrs, vacuming all rooms, moping a large tile area, and washing all baseboards, my house is about 2100 sq feet. This was Sunday. Yesterday the back of my thighs were killing me, but still went to the gym and worked out with my trainer, and did 60 mins cardio, today OMG they are killing me. Obviously I need to clean baseboards more often, used something I do not on a daily basis !! All that bending up and down. I burned about 100 cals per hour according to my FitBit.
  • SweetJoanne
    SweetJoanne Posts: 106 Member
    when i do house work I know i burn a lot of calories going up and downstairs so many times i can't remember, I still wash my floor on hands and knees and do a lot of reaching and bending, it all adds to the burn and looks so nice when clean, having pets you need to clean a lot
  • Linda_Darlene
    Linda_Darlene Posts: 453 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.

    People with nasty comments should be blown off!
  • PlunderBunneh
    PlunderBunneh Posts: 1,705 Member
    I love my HRM for this reason. If I can't get to the gym and just need to catch up on chores, I throw that baby on, throw on some loud and fast music, and move TONS while doing those chores. You want to burn calories while folding clothes? Try skipping through the living room as you are folding. Wanna burn doing dishes? Instead of bending, squat.

    Jump, wiggle, dance around, and you'll get in a great burn while doing housework.
  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,810 Member
    Did you do laundry when you were gaining weight/overweight/not getting healthy? I know I did. I got fat while still doing laundry, cleaning my house, etc, so I don't know why I would log it now as exercise. Makes no sense to me.

    Also, no, your normal every day calorie burn is NOT just what you burn by functioning, that would be your BMR. Your TDEE is your every day calorie burn, which is what you should be basing your calorie intake off of (deficit for losing while still eating at least your BMR, eating your TDEE for maintaining, eating more than TDEE to gain weight, etc).
  • giftieetcetera
    giftieetcetera Posts: 96 Member
    I only log massive stuff, like an hour of scrubbing floors and tubs, or moving around lots of heavy furniture. I figure if I only do it about once a month or less, I can count it, especially if it leaves me too sore to exercise. Otherwise, I consider it normal movement.
  • alexis831
    alexis831 Posts: 469 Member
    ALL OF THEM! I have a fitbit now so it tracks it for me but I can burn 200 calories from housework especially if I am mopping the floors!
  • TXBelle1174
    TXBelle1174 Posts: 615 Member
    Mopping and vaccuuming for sure! I work up a sweat when I mop. Also, scrubbing floors, washing windows, etc. If you think about it - how many times do you walk back and forth through the house while cleaning. On an 8 hour cleaning spree, I never sit down, I am moving constantly, walking from one room to another, bending, lifting, etc.

    Also, gardening is a good calorie burner. Especially mowing the lawn, raking leaves, etc. Even planting flowers and pulling weeds burns calories.

    If you are not sitting on your butt, you are burning calories!
  • scapez
    scapez Posts: 2,018 Member
    If you are not sitting on your butt, you are burning calories!

    Actually, if you were lying in a coma you would be burning calories...
  • tasiamere
    tasiamere Posts: 233
    I log when I go OD with the cleaning like tearing apart my daughter's room or if I sweep and mop both floors and the porch all at once. smh that definitely breaks a sweat
  • Fromadaughter
    Fromadaughter Posts: 46
    If you are not sitting on your butt, you are burning calories!

    Actually, if you were lying in a coma you would be burning calories...
    How is that?
  • TXBelle1174
    TXBelle1174 Posts: 615 Member
    If you are not sitting on your butt, you are burning calories!

    Actually, if you were lying in a coma you would be burning calories...

    Yes, that is true. However, you probably burn significantly more calories while not sitting on your butt than you would in a coma. I was just making a point.
  • MrsKillough
    MrsKillough Posts: 30 Member
    I log it if it involves concerted effort, or if I want to eat the calories. Today I cleaned the bathroom, which took about 10 minutes, and I haven't bothered logging that, but if on Saturday I spend a couple of hours doing the whole house, the calories will go towards a treat meal that night.

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