Want a clean house and inches off your midriff? Ever wonder how many calories you’re burning doing the chores you do every day around your home?
You want to lose weight and look your best, but you aren’t sure when you can fit in time for exercise. The thought of buying a gym membership makes you want to stay home and eat chocolate cake. So how can you lose weight?
The secret is to maximize the workout you’re getting doing the every day around the house chores that make up your cleaning routine. Read on to learn how to turn your housework hours into workout time, where you are busy engaged in stretching, squatting, pushing, turning at the waistline, and dancing with the vacuum cleaner.
Table of Contents
Standing Jobs
While you’re peeling those potatoes, work on your posture. Stand on both feet with equal weight. Keep your spine straight and avoid slumping. “Relax your knees, tuck in your fanny, hold in your tummy. Now, for above the waist, lift your rib-cage, pull your shoulders back and down,” instructs McCall’s Guide to Beauty.
If you have the coordination, try positioning your legs six inches apart. Start with your right foot. Kick your feet back by bending at the knee. Repeat ten times then switch feet.
Livestrong.com claims that scrubbing the dishes by hand will burn 320 calories per hour, while loading the dishwasher burns only 210 calories per hour. When doing the dishes, try adding in some head rolls — rolling your head from side to side, bending at the neck — to complement your exercise.
Pushing Jobs
According to VacuumHome.com, “Vacuuming burns an average of 75 to 125 calories per hour.” When you vacuum, keep your chest up and push from the shoulders to give your chest and stomach muscles a workout. Try putting on music and dancing while you vacuum. If you vacuum with one hand, make sure to switch sides evenly and to fully extend your arms.
Bending Jobs
Deep-knee bends are the best way to go when you have to pick up toys from the floor. Make sure to keep your torso straight when you squat and get up.
And gardening, especially weeding, will burn 287.8 calories per hour, according to Weightlossresources.co.uk. That’s one more reason to get fresh air and work in the yard.
Waistline Jobs
Try swinging from the waist as you scrub the bathtub. Shift your weight from with to left as you go. When you wipe countertops, practice good posture and turn from the waist as you clean the surface.
Reaching Jobs
A great way to stretch out your shoulder and back muscles is to reach for something high up. Stand on your tiptoes and give your body a good stretch. Alternately, reach with your right hand to the left extended at an angle over your head. Then, switch to the left hand reaching toward the right.
Sources:
- French, Miriam. McCall’s Guide to Beauty, McCall Corporation, 1955.
- Weightlossresources.co.uk, Turn Housework into a Workout.
- Livestrong.com, How Many Calories Does Housework Burn?
- VacuumHome.com, Burn 500 Calories Through Vacuuming.
