A recent study confirmed that everyday homemaking activities (e.g., laundry, housecleaning, cooking) play an important role in helping women maintain healthy weights.
As you’re likely aware, maintaining a healthy weight is about much more than being able to fit into your favorite skirt. It’s about reducing your risk of developing coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and many cancers.
Finding time for exercise can be very challenging. Subsequently, it’s a great idea to take full advantage of work around the home in order to meet recommended levels of physical activity (i.e., at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity at least 5 days each week).
Just how many calories can you expect to burn when completing various homemaking activities? Below you’ll find a list of 25 homemaking tasks that burn at least 100 calories when completed by an average-sized adult (calculated using this tool). Even if your diet remains unchanged, you can expect to lose approximately 1 lb. every 35 days if you expend an extra 100 calories each day.
Though most of us will not grocery shop every day or spend 45 consecutive minutes changing light bulbs, we do engage in many of the abovementioned tasks on a daily basis. We can approach these tasks with vigor so we maximize their physical fitness benefits.
Which homemaking task do you find to be the most physically strenuous? Do you use homemaking activities to help you achieve your physical fitness goals?
Shared on the following link-ups:
Living Proverbs 31, Making Your Home Sing, Creativity Unleashed, Thriving Thursday, Thrive @ Home, Works for Me Wednesday.
Sadly, I spend a lot of time at a desk at work, so my house keeping is limited, most of the time, to week-ends. Therefore, I make time every morning to work out on my “Total Gym”. (Great contraption!) The only exception, is when I know I have to shovel snow…. 🙂 There has been a lot of that lately! It sort of shows that just because we are busy, doesn’t mean we are getting exercise! Thanks so much!
Shoveling snow provides such a great work out! Looks like I’m going to get to do this again tomorrow with the snow we are supposed to get tonight…
Somehow they left off “chasing a male toddler,” which, I can only assume, would rank #1! 😉
{I hopped over from Thrive @ Home Thursday}
Definitely! I thought that bathing toddlers/preschoolers would rank up there, too, but it wasn’t on the list! 🙂
How interesting! Thanks for sharing this with Thrive @ Home Thursday. Pinning this! 🙂
This is fun! Did you make the chart yourself? I love all the little graphics. You should do a blog post sometime on how you did it all! 😉
I hope I never have to fold laundry for 44 minutes but if I ever do, I am going to be thrilled that I’m burning so many calories, lol!
Thanks for linking up to Making Your Home Sing Monday!
Yes, I did make the chart. 🙂
I agree about having to fold laundry for 44 minutes…though sometimes it feels like I’ve been folding for that long. Does that count?
I read this while at work on my break. “reclining with baby”…how I wish I were home doing that!!
It is definitely the most pleasant of the tasks on the list!