Did you happen to read the study that came out recently claiming that women are overweight these days because they do less housework? Before you ask, yes this study was done by a man. Apparently a man who:
A. has bodyguards
B. is incredibly brave
C. has a death wish
While the premise of the study may seem insulting, you have to dig down a little deeper to get an important lesson from it. The study found that women in 1965 did 25.7 hours per week of housework, and in 2010 that number had dropped to 13.3 hours per week.
Put another way, women went from burning 3486 calories per week doing housework to burning 2518 per week. At nearly 1000 calories fewer burned per week, you can imagine where that would contribute to weight gain.
That would be true no matter how you had an extra 1000 calories per week in your life. If you kept that up over a year's time it would put nearly 15 extra
pounds of fat on you.
So what is the moral of this story?
Move more!
Housework is a sneaky way to burn calories called NEAT or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. So you need to make your life NEATer.
Here are a few other examples how:
•Fidget
•Dance
•Calf raises sitting at your desk
•Take the stairs
•Stand more
•Use a ball chair instead of an office chair
•Drink more water (you'll be on the "go" more)
•Walk and talk rather than sitting in your office all day
There are hundreds of ways you can work more movement into your day without actually taking time to go to an actual workout. These aren't structured exercise programs, but they are ways to get more movement into your day.
You will burn more calories, feel more energized, and your muscles will not be as stiff. Get creative and think of ways you can be more active throughout the day.