Victorian Housework

No Snacks, no sweets, no seconds. Except on Days that start with S. Too simple for you? Simple is why it works. Look here for questions, introductions, support, success stories.

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Mustloseweight
Posts: 160
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 12:04 pm
Location: UK

Victorian Housework

Post by Mustloseweight » Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:16 pm

The weight moved somewhat in the right direction during my last attempt at No S due to cleaning like my Granny. Not for everyone, I appreciate but it started by me thinking that I would never lose weight sitting in a chair playing on the iPad all day! Now that is honesty - howbeit not rocket science!

Any activity I add needs to be something that becomes part of my routine and so I thought that we all need to clean wherever we live for the rest of our lives - so what better way to keep fit by doing it the hard way with a bit more elbow grease?

I have resurrected the bucket today and invested in some new cleaning stuff to motivate me! So I spent two hours cleaning downstairs this morning. On my hands and knees cleaning the laminate floor and lino with a cloth and bucket of cleaning solution diluted, and boy it wasn't long before drops of my sweat were being wiped up along with the dirt! Then I dusted and polished, wiped down the doors, sills and ledges and will shortly vacuum the carpets. Tomorrow I will do upstairs, Thursday the kitchen, Friday the windows, Monday when it is warmer I will do the front and back gardens.

Phew! Look like I have run a marathon now - and also the house is clean - that will put hubby in a good mood when he walks in this evening! Won't start cooking dinner though until after he gets in as I want him to smell the cleaning products! lol :-P

Cheese sandwiches with beetroot on for lunch - yum!
September 2017 - Starting weight: 19st 9lbs
March 2018 - 17st 2lbs
July 2018 - 16st 4lbs
July 2020 - 17st 10lbs 😟
Target Weight: 11 stones

r.jean
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Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: Midwest

Post by r.jean » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:56 pm

I cannot do floor cleaning on my knees any more, but I am trying to keep my house cleaner overall. I have also found vigorous cleaning to be great exercise! Another boost in activity comes from our new puppy. New puppies add not only more cleaning but also more walking and playing!
The journey is the reward.
Maintenance is progress.

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nbh76
Posts: 259
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:14 pm

Post by nbh76 » Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:11 pm

New puppies also make you extremely HAPPY...LOL congrats on the new puppy ðŸ˜

Hey Mustloseweight I am up North and haven't been able to get my walking in...long story short my son got me a jawbone 24 up thingy (it's like a fit bit or a pedometer ) anyways I was amazed how easy it is to really get your steps in just by walking in your house! Every half hour or hour I just get up and do five or six "laps" and I have tripled my step count by the end of the day !
Kindness is the only way.

oolala53
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Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:43 am

A sign of the times: back in the 70's, I believe, Laurence Morehouse, fitness consultant on the space program, claimed that we should all be on our feet moving around as befits our needed activities at least 2 hours a day. Housework for those who are not used to it would surely have to make a dent in fitness if nothing else. (I know somewhere he said women could meet functional fitness goals-- he did not believe most people needed to be athletic to be fit- taking care of a 3-bedroom house. He said men could play tennis or such! OH, the gall!)

I aspired to do more cleaning for awhile, but it lasted less time than 14-minutes of vigor has been lasting! I salute your effort and I haven't given up on myself completely. But I think I'm going to get fitter before the house gets cleaner.

And not to be a downer but my grandmother was a very good housekeeper. She was also a pretty good eater and was obese until a heart condition prompted her doctors to insist she enter a hospital and get starved down to a more acceptable weight by their standards. Amazingly, she beat the odds, accepted her fate, ate moderately, and never regained the weight. Never did anything else for fitness after the loss but keep house.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

mitchelll
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon May 05, 2014 12:45 pm

Post by mitchelll » Fri Feb 27, 2015 7:11 pm

I do my housework inefficiently to try to burn calories. for example, I take each load of laundry downstairs and up separately instead of trying to carry as many loads at once as possible. I figure that each trip up the stairs helps. same thing sometimes with carrying things to and from the car. I just remind myself that each trip is actually good for me. Same thing with putting things away: instead of gathering up everything that needs to go upstairs at once, I'll do them one at a time. I know it is no coincidence that when I was at my absolute thinnest as an adult, I spent my work days constantly walking around a 30,000 store putting things in order and living in a two story house that was several blocks from the nearest bus stop. I have never before or after been so thin with so little conscious effort (for the record, my daily eating habit was very moderate and very close to NoS. the main difference was that I didn't have official S days--i just took my S exceptions on an occasional as needed basis)

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nbh76
Posts: 259
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Post by nbh76 » Sat Feb 28, 2015 2:13 pm

That is a great idea Mitchell! I live in a tiny house ( and because of this post 😳 )I cleaned my house like my Grammie Bertha would and my step count was easily attained. I am going to do the laundry trick...stairs would help too. Could this be the beginnings of a new type of exercise...LOL...You go mustloseweight ! (and because of you my downstairs is pretty clean...now for the upstairs )
Kindness is the only way.

lin47
Posts: 93
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2015 8:10 pm

Post by lin47 » Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:19 pm

When I first started dieting (nearly 4 years ago), I didn't like the thought of formal exercise, so I tried to work it in in other ways, including housework. I definitely broke a sweat, especially since I would scrub my floors on my hands and knees. What mentally helped me was entering that in my smartphone app (I was counting calories at the time and entered my exercise calories, too). For some reason, being able to choose "housework" among the other exercise activities listed in this app and seeing the calories burned, motivated me to do it more often.

In a way, I wish that had lasted, even though my exercise is fun now---but more hard core. The main reason I wish it had lasted is that I liked having a clean house. I think I feel about housework the way I used to feel about exercise: It's the idea I dread, but when I'm actually doing it, I don't mind it too much.

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bonnieUK
Posts: 352
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:37 pm
Location: Near London, UK

Post by bonnieUK » Tue May 12, 2015 10:59 am

I do think these little things add up. After I had my baby, we were generally based downstairs in the living room (for resting and nursing) but I deliberately set up her changing station upstairs so that I would have to go upstairs (carrying 3.5kg bundle!) multiple times a day to change her. It was really good for my post-partum recovery and probably helped me lose a little baby weight too.

catservant
Posts: 89
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2012 4:02 pm

Post by catservant » Thu May 14, 2015 11:10 pm

When the weather is bad I'll set the laundry basket at the opposite end of the house from the bedroom closet and walk each piece of clean laundry from the basket to the closet to put it away. I have often gotten in a 40 minute walk that way...

vmsurbat
Posts: 499
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:12 am
Location: Montenegro

Post by vmsurbat » Fri May 15, 2015 6:45 am

catservant wrote:When the weather is bad I'll set the laundry basket at the opposite end of the house from the bedroom closet and walk each piece of clean laundry from the basket to the closet to put it away. I have often gotten in a 40 minute walk that way...
What a good idea!

Two minutes before coming onto the NoS boards for my morning dose of NoS encouragement, I realized that I'm not going to be able to get in an outside walk today and pondered the best way to get 10000 steps on my pedometer...

Now I hear the clean clothes basket calling my name....

Thanks for the timely post!
Vicki in MNE
7! Yrs. with Vanilla NoS, down 55+lb, happily maintaining and still loving it!

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