Burn Calories With Household Tasks? It’s Possible!
In addition to eating responsibly, it is recommended that you get enough exercise every day if you want to lose weight. Movement burns calories, so exercising is ideal. Several other activities burn calories, such as household chores. Now, you may find this weird, but it is true!
To begin with, let’s go back to the words calories and kilocalories. Many people confuse or misuse these two words. The fact is that our bodies get energy from food and drinks, and this amount of energy is expressed in kilocalories, but we often say calories. The energy used by the body is also expressed in calories and is defined as calorie consumption.
Comparison of Calorie Intake and Calorie Consumption
The body uses energy to burn calories when it moves, but calories are also involved when we sleep. How many calories you burn depends on several factors, including your weight, age, gender, and activity level.
If you consume as many calories as you take in, you will maintain your weight. If you consume more calories than you take in, you will gain weight; you will lose weight if you consume more calories than you take in.
Make Housework Your Workout
Are you always looking at a mountain of work for the various household chores you have to do repeatedly? Keep in mind that these tasks burn a lot of calories and are actually like exercising. These household chores require a significant amount of effort. Here is a list of different tasks and the calories burned per hour:
Cleaning the bathroom: 400 calories
Gardening: 350 calories
Cleaning floors: 325 calories
Cleaning the floor: 312 calories
Rinsing ramen noodles: 300 calories
Vacuuming: 250 calories
Dusting: 170 calories
Washing dishes: 160 calories
Ironing: 137 calories
Doing laundry: 146 calories
Cooking: 136
Changing a bed: 136 calories
Some Other Calorie Burning Tasks Include:
Washing the Car
This necessary work helps to strengthen the muscles that enhance shoulder stability. Additionally, this task promotes rotational movement. This is a trick to open up the shoulders, which tend to stagnate after sitting in front of a computer for hours. The secret: when washing, use a circular motion. This way, you can rotate your shoulders properly. Washing a car burns 230 calories per hour.
Garage Cleaning
Garage cleaning is also one of those chores that we always put off. Here are some details that will make you get to it immediately: you burn 320 calories per hour when cleaning a garage.
Take out everything in your garage. This alone will be a 90-minute workout and may take longer if your garage is full. The lifting, pushing, and pulling involved will help work your muscles from head to toe, and maybe you can find enough space to put a home gym. What could be better?!
Painting
Painting is all about rotational movement. You have to apply force; you’re working above your head, crouching, all in one. There’s a reason Mr. Miyagi has his student Daniel LaRusso painting fencing for hours in The Karate Kid film series. Even if you don’t practice martial arts, painting – indoors or out – is a great workout. While painting walls, you burn between 250 and 300 calories per hour. So, if you want to lose weight, start painting now!
The number of calories per hour is based on averages, and the following principle applies: the more diligently you work, the more calories you’ll burn. Have you ever tried transforming your household chores into your workout? Share your experience with us in the comments below, we’d love to know more about it!