We often think we have to hit the gym or go for a run to burn off any substantial amount of calories but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Both adults and children burn off hundreds of calories every day just by going about their daily lives but there are certainly some activities that burn more calories than others!
If you’re wanting to burn a few extra calories day to day, here are the things you need to be doing a little more of:
- Shopping
Many of us have joked about shopping be one of our favourite forms of exercise but you’re in luck, hitting the shops is actually great for burning calories.
Whether you’re picking up the weekly food shop or grabbing some new clothes, the combination of continual walking, carrying a basket/pushing a trolley and carrying bags could actually see you burning off over 200 calories every hour!
- Dusting
If you struggle to find the motivation to get out the cloth and polish and dust the surfaces in your home then losing a few pounds might be the incentive you need.
Dusting the sides in your house for just 30 minutes can burn around 80 calories, meaning your house will be sparkling and you’ll have got some gentle exercise in for the day!
- Ironing
Another household chore a lot of us don’t enjoy but the fact that just 30 minutes of ironing your clothes can burn over 75 calories provides slightly more motivation to get those clothes crease-free!
- Mowing the Lawn
If you’ve got a lawn at home then you could have just found a new form of exercise to help you burn the calories! One of the highest calorie burners of all your day to day chores, using a push along lawnmower for an hour will burn over 300 calories which for a lot of us, is the equivalent to burning off your breakfast!
- Hoovering
It’s something we all know we should probably do every day but just don’t want to – the hoovering! However, it may be worth giving the house a good vacuum if you’re trying to shift a bit of weight as just 20 minutes of hoovering the floor can burn over 50 calories!
- Wash the Car
So many of us willingly pay someone else to wash our car but did you know you could not only save money but burn calories too by just doing it yourself.
When you wash the car for just 20 minutes and more often than not, it will take longer than that, you could burn about 100 calories. So, giving the car a professional-style valet at home could see you burning a good couple of hundred calories!
- Walking the Dog
If you’ve got a furry friend who needs walking then it’s a win-win for both of you as an hour-long walk with your canine companion can burn around 230 calories.
- Dancing
It might not be something you do every day but if you like to head out with friends at a weekend, if you’re going for it on the dancefloor for over 30 minutes, you could be burning over 200 calories!
You can’t just be sidestepping though, get your whole body involved and really feel the music and the calories will start to melt away.
But remember, high-calorie drinks and greasy takeaways on a night out will ruin all your hard work on the dancefloor, so choose wisely!
Whether you’re doing the food shop, cleaning the house or heading on a night out, you’re always burning calories without realising, so be sure to do everything in your routine with maximum effort and energy for the ultimate results!
