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Does housework count as exercise?
Ever wonder if house cleaning burns enough calories to make a difference? I got to wondering how many calories one burns after I did a bunch of house chores.
As we’ve mentioned before, if you incorporate more movement into your daily activities, you can successfully lose weight (or keep weight from jumping on to your body in the first place). So it sure would be nice if house cleaning fell into the “watch those kcals just fall off my body” category, wouldn’t it? (PS It’s also nice if you want to subscribe and get active aging answers from certified fitness pros twice a week).
Good news for all of us who have worked up a sweat changing the bed sheets, vacuuming the rugs, and dusting the ceilings (please don’t say I’m the only person who does this) – according to a recent study in the U.K., a good spring cleaning can burn more calories than running a marathon. Since I hate to run marathons, this is welcome news indeed!
A good house cleaning can burn more calories than running a marathon. True or False?
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What do TransformAging and Housecleaning have in common? Both get you more fit
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Now back to calorie counting and housework:
What you might find under the bed if you don’t clean. Looks like a furry golf ball, but it’s fungus!
According to the study (done by promotionalcodes.org.uk), a good spring cleaning burns 3,655 kcals, while a marathon burns 2,500 – 3,500. Yes, it will take you longer to do the cleaning than the running, but look on the bright side – you didn’t have to run. Check out this breakdown:
- Vacuuming (1 hour) 238 calories
- Dusting (2 hours) 340 calories
- Emptying, cleaning, repacking cupboards (4 hours) 952 calories
- Scrubbing the floor (1 hour) 258 calories
- Climbing up and down stairs (20 mins) 181 calories
- Turning mattresses and making beds (1 hour) 136 calories
- Moving heavy furniture (2 hours) 476 calories
- Cleaning windows (3 hours) 612 calories
- Cleaning external doors (1 hour) 204 calories
- Deep clean bathrooms (1 hour) 258 calories
Let’s clean these doors and windows for a firestorm of calorie burning
Quick math tells me that’s 16 hours of work. And I see no category for jumping onto the mattresses when you discover spiders lurking under the bed. I’m sure there’s a high calorie burn for that. I can testify that my heart rate was definitely in the “Working Very Hard” range.
Cleaning external doors isn’t my thing, though I do scrub down the area by the doorknobs. I’d also love to see the calorie count for scrubbing all the kitchen cabinets plus the stove hood and kitchen walls, mainly because I want credit for these chores. Does sweeping count as part of scrubbing?
So, who’s up for 20 minutes on the stairs? And who thinks this is good news? I know I’m excited, though I doubt I’ll pull on my workout gear and put out a 16 hour house chore workout. And how many calories did I burn getting all the dog hairs off the mini-trampoline?
Action: Another easy and free action is to have us come to you twice a week. Not to clean, mind you. But to share tips on how to age actively and enjoy the second half of life. SUBSCRIBE now and grab your bonus while you’re at it. Also, could you get that dust bunny from my corner when you’re done entering your email?
Alexandra Williams, MA
The post Lose Weight Doing House Cleaning: Possible or Not? appeared first on Fun and Fit: Active Aging Answers for Boom Chicka Boomers.