Every weekend I do a deep clean in my apt. I make sure everything is picked up and put back in its place, then I sweep, mop, and do laundry (this includes all the sheets, rugs, towels etc). It takes somewhere between 2-4 hours depending on the state of things. Many times I will even clean out the closets too. DH has pretty severe dust allergies so I really have to stay on top of these sort of things to avoid trips to the hospital.

Anyways, afterwards I'm totally exhausted and it's rare on those days (unless I get a workout in first thing in the morning, which isn't always possible) that I get a workout in. But I'm wondering if this counts at all? Or am I kidding myself that it helps and should not use this as an excuse?

I would.

On DietPower I created an exercise called Shovelling ***t - picking up the yard after my 4 dogs. I renamed a pre-existing 'light gardening', I think. I do it several times a day but just count 3 minutes. There are days when, like this week, I was too ill to walk, sometimes just too busy, although I do try and programme the walk in come what may; but at least, every day, there is one exercise always showing. Comes in at the princely sum of 16 calories (was 23 at my highest weight) but it's Something!

If it makes you sweat, wears you out, and gets your heart rate going, it counts as exercise.

When I go on a cleaning spree, I feel the same muscles working as I do when I lift weights or do other forms of designated exercise. The fact that I have a scrub-brush in my hands instead of a weight doesn't mean my biceps and triceps aren't working.

Exactly how you count your exercise, if you're keeping track of it, is a little tougher to gauge. I know Fitday has vigorous housework listed as an exercise option and lists calories burned from it, but I doubt it's entirely accurate; one person's "vigorous" may be another's "laid-back." Then again, I just use Fitday to record exercise as a means to ensure that I get some of it every day, not as an accurate log of calories burned.

Given the level of cleaning you're doing, I don't think it's at all unreasonable to consider your deep-clean days a workout. If anything, designated workouts mimic the natural exercise that people used to get naturally from going about their day--back when those days didn't include lots of labor-saving devices.

I count it as extra. I would not count it as my day's exercise. But that's just me. In our ancestor's day that's all they needed to do because they were doing it all day long with fewer tools of the trade that make it easier. They didn't need formal exercise the way we do. So yeah...it counts, but it doesn't get my heart rate up enough to count as my day's worth of exercise.

I don't count cleaning. It can't sustain the heart rate I need to count as cardio...

Thanks everyone for the responses!

I definitely feel tired afterwards and I know I'm working my muscles but it doesn't get my heart rate up at all, so that's something good to think about. I think I'm going to force myself to do at least a light workout tonight just to get my heart rate up again.