Can micro-exercise help you lose weight? 10 Housework Calorie Burning Tips

Who says that “exercise” means going to the gym? Do I have to run and jump to make it count? It would be best if we could do this, but human laziness is extremely strong. There are many reasons for not exercising, such as "I'm too tired from work", "I'm too busy and don't have time", "It's inconvenient when it rains", "I feel lonely without anyone to accompany me", etc.! Instead of not moving at all, it is better to start from your daily life and seize the opportunity to do housework. It turns out that you can increase your activity level, burn calories, and do micro-exercise at home!

Most people hate doing housework because it is tiring, troublesome and boring. Well, now I’ll give you a reason to be diligent in doing housework─the calories consumed by doing housework alone may be as high as 2,000 calories per week!

Doing housework burns calories more easily than exercising

The British Daily Mail reported that the fitness diet website "MuscleFood.com" conducted an interesting study, calculating the calories consumed by various housework, and then finding out which exercises consume the same amount of calories. The results are quite surprising.

For example, scrubbing the bathtub, doing laundry, washing dishes, and vacuuming the floor at home, as long as you really clean the house, the calories burned by these housework may be equal to a trip to the gym!

Doing housework at home seriously can actually burn a lot of calories!

10 Household Chores You Do to Burn More Calories Than You Think

Here are 10 common household chores to see how many calories you can burn by doing housework every day:

1. Scrub the bathtub

It does take some effort to scrub the dirt out of the bathtub, but as long as you keep scrubbing for 15 minutes, you can burn 100 calories, which is equivalent to doing 30 "jumping squats." Bathtub scrubbing particularly uses the muscles in your shoulders and arms, and can also help strengthen your biceps.

Scrubbing the bathtub vigorously for 15 minutes can burn about 100 calories and exercise your arm muscles at the same time.

2. Do the laundry

Throw piles of clothes into the washing machine, take them out one by one after washing, and then hang them up to dry one by one. Just washing clothes for an hour can burn 78 calories, which is equivalent to doing 100 sit-ups.

Washing clothes for an hour can burn 78 calories, which may not sound like a lot, but it is already the calories burned by doing 100 sit-ups.

3. Washing dishes

Washing dishes for 15 minutes every night for a week can burn 560 calories, which is equivalent to swimming 2,500 meters. It sounds like washing dishes isn't that annoying?

Washing dishes for 15 minutes every day for a week may burn the same calories as swimming 2,500 meters, which sounds amazing.

4. Change your bed sheets

Changing your bed sheets sounds simple, but it can be a daunting task. If a family has four beds, changing bed sheets for 15 minutes can consume 65 calories, which is equivalent to walking 1 kilometer.

Changing bed sheets for 15 minutes burns about the same amount of calories as walking 1 kilometer.

5. Ironing

Ironing clothes for 3 hours a week can burn 420 calories, which is equivalent to taking a Zumba aerobic dance class. Standing for a long time itself consumes calories, and when ironing clothes, you apply even force on the clothes, which also uses the strength of your arms and abdomen.

Ironing clothes for a total of 3 hours per week can burn 420 calories and exercise the arm and abdominal muscles.

6. Vacuum the floor

Vacuuming the floor for 30 minutes can burn 90 calories, which is equivalent to 15 minutes of kickboxing. In addition, walking 10,000 steps a day is good for your health. If your house is big enough, you can increase your daily walking steps by walking around and vacuuming the floor.

Vacuuming the floor for half an hour can burn 90 calories, which is equivalent to practicing Taekwondo for 15 minutes.

7. Sweeping and mopping

Vacuuming the floor is a bit relaxing. If you really want to work up a sweat, you can switch to sweeping and mopping the floor for half an hour, which can burn 145 calories, which is equivalent to using a 15-minute treadmill.

Sweeping and mopping the floor for 30 minutes burns 145 calories, which is more than vacuuming the floor.

8. Wash windows

Washing windows for an hour burns 334 calories, which is equivalent to doing 40 push-ups.

Washing windows is not easy. The calories burned in one hour of cleaning are about the same as doing 40 push-ups.

9. Weeding

Using a lawn mower to weed for one hour can burn 325 calories, which is equivalent to 20 minutes of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

Using a lawn mower to mow the lawn for an hour can burn 325 calories, which is equivalent to doing 20 minutes of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

10. Gardening

Nothing to do on the weekend? Go and tidy up your long-abandoned garden! Acting as a gardener in the garden, 30 minutes of gardening work such as pruning flowers and plants, watering, fertilizing, and hoeing can consume 213 calories, which is equivalent to riding a bicycle on flat ground for 45 minutes. Hoeing, in particular, uses the shoulder and abdominal muscles.

Gardening work such as pruning flowers and plants, watering, fertilizing, and hoeing can consume 213 calories, which is equivalent to riding a bicycle on flat ground for 45 minutes.

It is true that exercise is the best and doing housework is better than sitting still for a long time.

How about it? Are you surprised after reading this? It turns out that there is such an interesting relationship between doing housework and exercise! Of course, doing housework is different from exercising. It would be ideal if you can regularly go for brisk walking, jogging, swimming, dancing, cycling, etc. This not only consumes calories, but also trains your cardiopulmonary function and muscle endurance, and can effectively promote metabolism.

The research in this article is somewhat interesting, but it also reminds us that getting up and moving around more often is much better than just lying on the couch watching TV after get off work!