Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Discover over 30 ways to burn extra calories in your everyday period

News flash: Five hundred calories a day is all that stands between you and one pound of weight—gained or lost—each week. That means if you’d like to lose one pound a week, or if you want to stop a slow-but-steady weight gain, you just need to make a 500-calorie change. To do that, you can choose to eat 500 fewer calories every day, or you can take a look at this list of calorie-busting activities you can easily incorporate into your day. Each one shows how many calories you may burn in 30 minutes. Calorie counts may vary based on height and weight. 

Morning routine:
Singing in the shower: 68 calories
Sitting in a hot bath: 140 calories 
Brushing teeth: 171 calories (5.7 calories in a two-minute session)
Shaving: 34 calories

Indoor chores:
Sweeping floors: 118 calories
Mopping floors: 150 calories
Making beds: 72 calories
Dusting furniture: 80 calories
Ironing clothes: 77 calories
Vacuuming: 84 calories
Making dinner: 100 calories

Outdoor chores:
Push-mowing the lawn: 197 calories
Mowing the lawn on a riding mower: 89 calories
Raking the lawn: 154
Gardening: 162 calories
Washing the dog while standing: 125 calories
Picking up trash: 225 calories

Play time:
Watching scary movies: 38 calories
Playing Frisbee: 107 calories
Playing cards: 59 calories
Holding a baby: 54 calories
Kissing: 36 calories

Around town:
Pushing a shopping cart: 122 calories
Walking slowly, carrying less than 25 pounds: 143 calories
Walking with a purpose, empty-handed: 161 calories
Standing: 72 calories
Walking up hills: 251 calories

Sneaky tricks

How about a few secret tricks to burning more calories without really even trying? 

• Drinking a glass of cold water, rather than room temperature, burns an extra 9-10 calories.
• Your body works harder to digest protein than it does to digest carbs. In fact, it takes about 30 percent of the calories in that protein just to metabolize it!
• Adding a little cinnamon or spice to your food can help you burn an extra 116 calories during the day.
• People who tend to fidget, rather than sitting still, burn an average of 350 more calories every day.
• Chewing gum burns 11 calories per hour. If you chewed gum all day every day, without changing anything else, you could lose 10 pounds of fat after one year!