5 Daily Activities You Didn’t Expect That Burn Calories

When we speak of weight loss, no matter what the latest diet trend dictates, it’s a golden rule to use more calories than what you consume. Good thing, you don’t necessarily have to hit the gym and spend hours every day lifting metals to lose some calories. Another way of keeping a healthy lifestyle is to get moving every day through activities you do that unexpectedly give health benefits. Of course, these simple movements may not give you whopping calorie reduction as it would rely on several factors. According to Stephanie Tan Tsin Tsing, Physiotherapist Department of Physiotherapy Singapore General Hospital, “To achieve successful weight loss, the amount of energy you use should be more than the amount of energy you take in. Exercise intensity and duration will determine the amount of energy you use.”

Check out the following activities and start doing them now:

Commuting
Who likes to commute? In spite the stress commuting can sometimes bring, who would have thought it can make you burn noteworthy calorie counts each day? This simple, often overlooked back and forth movement is worth noting in your handy planner each day. A 5-minute (5 miles/hr.) run catching the subway may burn 40 calories; 20-minute walk (4 miles/hr.) may give you 72 calories burned; while a 10-minute walk uphill can smash 79 calories off your body! Go by the distance and time according to your style of commute. Good job to you if you can combine 2 or all transportation methods!

Cooking & Other Household Chores
Everything from chopping ingredients to washing pans and sweeping the floor will never leave you zero. Obviously, the amount of calories you would burn highly depends on the type and vigor of activity you do at home. For example, a body weight of 150lbs performing washing of dishes in 10 minutes can burn around 26 calories; or ironing in 20 minutes is roughly equivalent to 50 calories burned! To burn more, just simply ditch the assistance of electric mixer for example and start stirring by hands to give your arm muscles some loving.

Shopping
It doesn’t matter if you’re grocery shopping or looking for new pair of jeans; when you shop you walk, and walking makes you burn calories. To better your shopping workout, avoid using elevators or escalators and opt to take the stairs instead. If you’re going on wheels, you can park far from the entrance of the mall so you have more time and distance to walk. Constant moving and standing can make you burn around 200 calories per hour.

Working on Computer
People with a busy schedule often don’t have time to workout but who knew weight loss is just a click away! Clicking or typing on the computer help burn calories too, hands and forearms receive the impact or pressure of the work that you do.

More so, if you sit up straight, your back and neck muscles exert some work as well and doing so improves posture. Working for 30 minutes straight may have you burn around 40 calories!

Standing
Muscles in your legs and back do the work when you are standing. To burn more calories while standing, you can step back and forth while talking on the phone or stand on one foot, lifting your foot at least an inch or two off the ground; this can improve your balance, work your core and leg muscles.