Pennies make dimes. Dimes make dollars. It is really easy to overlook all the small ways we can increase our activity in a day. After all, what real difference could something simple like parking farther away really make in the grand scheme of things. It turns out, a lot. It’s not about how many extra calories on little change makes. It is about how those little changes, joining ranks with other little changes, and compounded over time make a massive difference. The mindset of staying more active is what is powerful.
Ask, and it will be given. Seek, and you will find. If you want to burn more calories in a day, all you need to do is knock on that door with this 7 easy tips:
1. Park farther away. Obviously this varies based on how many errands you may be running but even with a small number of stops you can burn an extra 30 calories a day.
2. Do your dishes and tidy your house. Getting stuff put away, squared way, and clean doesn’t just relieve stress and leave you with a more enjoyable house (and car). If you clean/tidy for 30 minutes a day you can burn an additional 85 calories.
3. Take the dog for a walk. America is funny. We have an obesity epidemic amongst our humans and amongst our pets. There is a great solution to both. Walk the dog for 10 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening and you can burn another 280 calories.
4. Get cooking. 30 minutes of cooking in the kitchen can burn 100 calories.
5. Take a 2 minute walk every hour. If you do this during an 8 hour work day and only during your working hours, you will burn an extra 56 calories a day.
6. Have a walking meeting. Most companies have some sort of wellness program because they know the cost of poor health in healthcare costs and productivity. Many companies even spend a fortune to help their employees get more active and stay healthy. Here is a humble suggestion: walking meetings. This still won’t help you if the meeting should have been an email but a 30 minute walking meeting will help you burn roughly 210 calories.
7. Rake those leaves. Yard work burns between 400-600 calories per hour. In the fall, we have leaves. In the winter, we have snow. In the spring, we have snow (even though we are sick of it by then) and maybe some planting in later spring. In the summer we have lawns to mow. Do an hour of yard work a week and you can burn between 57-85 calories per day on average.
If you add up all of these little activities it comes to over 800 additional calories per day and almost 6 thousand calories per week! Even it it ends up really being half of that gain because you’re already doing some of these things, that is a massive boost in your activity. On top of your strength and conditioning workouts, this will help you see some fantastic results. Beyond the measurable, tangible (sort of) calories, we are meant to move. The more you get your body moving the better your body and mood feels.
