Ok, stick with me here on this one.
Let me explain why tidying your house can help you lose weight.
Have you ever heard of something called N.E.A.T?
No?
Let me explain to you what it is.
N.E.A.T stands for non exercise activity thermogenesis.
What this basically is, is the energy we burn a day that isn't exercise related. Things like cleaning the house, walking the dog, walking the kids to school, mowing the lawn, playing with your kids, manual labour jobs, standing etc
We as a population move less then ever before. We do less manual labour jobs, commuting and traveling around are made easier and easier. We don't take the stairs we take the escalator or lift, we don't walk to the shop we drive or get a bus. We don't even walk the dog we get a dog walker to do it for us.
Think about it, we drive to the gym to run on a treadmill? sounds stupid when you look at it like that.
You can burn between 170-190 calories per hour cleaning the house, when I take my dog for a daily walk for around 40 minutes by the end of the day I easily do 10-15,000 steps a day.
If you increase your NEAT as well as exercise 2-3 days a week, eat a healthy balanced diet you have a winning combination for becoming a calorie burning machine and helping you lose weight or maintain your weight you feel comfortable at.
My Advice
Take a look at your daily life, is it rather sedentary. Do you spend a lot of time sitting around and not moving much? Bill do you help Barbara clean the house and barbs do you help Bill mow the grass every once in a while?
If you do sit around a lot at work etc then maybe get yourself a Fitbit or step counter and track your steps to see if do move much and if it's low start trying to increase it aiming to do around 7,000-12,000 steps a day.
I hope this helps you, if you have any questions pop me an email and I would be happy to help you.
Speak soon
Jonny AKA The Fitness Dad
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