Sunday, August 8, 2010

AEROBIC HOUSEWORK

Sometimes when I skip a day at the gym I say I did "aerobic housework" instead.  I know that you burn calories doing pretty much anything you do - so housework can certainly be done vigorously in a way that will up the burn.

This weekend we moved a sofa from Tom's office to make room for his new "litigation table."  So that meant we had to make room for it in the house.  We moved my comfy old reading chair and ottoman out of the master bedroom (and listed it on the Free Craigslist - it's still sitting in the driveway...)

Tom and Zac, did the moving in and out of the furniture and left it to me to do the arranging.  In the course of the morning I moved the queen sleigh bed, side tables, eight drawer dresser, armoire and sofa around into 3 different configurations.  Of course I did not empty the dresser and armoire and this is all on carpet. Thus, the aerobic and weight lifting component of the day.  (I also vacuumed  because there were feathers from my leaking former down pillow everywhere!)  Then I dusted everything and cleaned the glass shelves and mirrors and picture frames and glass. Finally I was done -  hot, sweaty and while drinking an iced tea I wondered about the reality of the workout aspect of my morning.

So I checked out the calorie burn based on the effort and time spent.  Looks like I did better than I would have if I had done my regular gym routine!  About 620 calories which includes lugging the vacuum up and down the stairs twice because I thought I was done and then rearranged it again and found more feathers...

5 comments:

Karen@WaistingTime said...

If you run out of things to do there, let me know and you can start in at my house!

Cammy@TippyToeDiet said...

It's amazing how quickly the calories burned can add up! I've got a few of those days coming up this week.

Jen on the Edge said...

I recently checked the Weight Watchers points given for cleaning and was surprised by how many it was. Then again, I tend to work up a real sweat when I clean.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

I am wondering how many calories I burned walking all over Magic Mountain--I'm hoping it was enough to burn off the calories from the 1/2 piece of lemon meringue pie I ate at Marie Callendar's at 11 p.m.

Yum Yucky said...

Yep. I hang my hat on "functional fitness" most days of the week. I'm with you!