Have you ever powered through that daily to-do list (office, shopping, cleaning the house, entertaining the kids), and then felt too tired to complete the “attend gym class” task? We know that feeling.
And we’ve got some good news for those who share that “ugh, I’m too exhausted for water aerobics” emotion. Learn below how daily activities, from office work to grocery shopping, can blast fat.
How Does Your Body Burn Calories?
We might assume that only focused workouts, such as jogging or taking a gym class, burn calories. But our bodies actually burn calories every minute of the day.
Reading, watching TV, even sleeping use up calories, which supply our bodies with energy. We take in calories from food and beverages.
Like putting extra gas in a car, our bodies can store unused calories. We burn those calories as needed.
Too many calories combined with lack of exercise, though, may result in excess weight. That’s where understanding how many calories we can burn in daily activities may help.
Which Daily Activities Burn Calories?
Ready to slow your roll to the gym and speed up that calorie burn? Get the skinny on which daily activities can blast calories.
Calorie-Burning Activities Around the House
If we need a little motivation to do some housework, we’ve got it! Check out the calorie burn for 30 minutes of these home-based activities:
- Gardening: Pulling those pesky weeds, watering, raking, planting…If we weigh 125 pounds, gardening burns 135 calories. We blast 200 calories if we weigh 185 pounds.
- Caring for kids: From playing games with the kids to bathing them, childcare can burn between 105 to 150 calories if we weigh 125 pounds, or 155 to 222 calories at 185 pounds.
- House-cleaning: Washing the windows, mopping the floor, vacuuming… We can use house-cleaning to blast 135 calories if we weigh 125 pounds or 200 calories if we weigh 185 pounds.
- Cooking: We can have our cake and burn calories, too — as long as we’re the chef. If we weigh 125 pounds, we’ll work off 75 calories by cooking or, for 185-pound cooks, 111 calories.
Calorie-Burning Activities Outside the House
Got a shopping list? Tasks on the office to-do list? A dog whimpering for walkies? Get the work done and burn calories with those and more 30-minute activities outside our homes:
- Walking: From heading out with the dog to trotting down to the corner store, a walk can blast fat if we move quickly. Walking at 4.5 miles per hour burns 150 calories if we weigh 125 pounds or 222 calories if our weight is 185 pounds.
- Office Work: If we weigh 125 pounds, we can burn between 41 to 53 calories with office tasks such as attending meetings and working on the computer. Those tasks burn 61 to 78 calories if we weigh 185 pounds.
- Grocery Shopping: Let’s grab a cart and start plowing through our shopping list. We burn 105 calories at 125 pounds or 155 calories at 185.
- Biking: Dust off the bike in the garage and head out for a leisurely bike ride. Blast 113 calories at 125 pounds or 168 calories at 185.
NEAT Is Neat for Burning Calories
What if you don’t want to time yourself for a 30-minute activity but want to burn more calories throughout the day? Meet NEAT: Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.
This term refers to calories that we burn even without long periods of timed exercise. Examples of activities that can qualify as NEAT include:
- Use the stairs rather than an escalator or elevator.
- At the office, use the copy machine or printer that’s the furthest away from your desk.
- Visit a colleague rather than call or email.
- Walk to the mailbox rather than use a drive-up mail drop.
So the next time you can’t check off the “work out at the gym” to-do list item, don’t sweat it. Just remember that every activity counts for calorie-burning. Whether we take the dog for a walk, play with the kids in the park, or tackle the office stairs, our bodies know what’s NEAT.