Want to polish off that piece of cake? Try polishing the dressers instead.
Given the amount of running around I do, I barely have enough time to sleep, much less exercise and/or clean. (Plus, I resist – neither activity is my favorite). How can I squeeze 30 minutes of exercise into my day?
The Mayo Clinic suggests combining housework and exercise. “Make household chores count. Mop the floor, scrub the bathtub or do other housework. The stretching and lifting are good exercise. Work at a fast pace to get your heart pumping.”

Our Lady suggests we add one mammoth helping of music to the Mayo’s ‘housework as exercise’ workout program. As we know (see Top Ten Exercise Tips ), music activates the same feel good center of the brain that food does.
If we could dust, mop, stretch and sweat to the the beat of Motown, we’d burn calories, have a clean house and get our endorphins (those morphine-like substances that our body produces that enhance the immune system, relieve pain, reduce stress, and postpone the aging process) pumping too.
What songs does Our Lady squat, bend, push, pull and lift to? Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and “Pink Cadillac,” Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl,” Outkast’s “The Love Below,” and Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary.”
Tasty Tidbit: Housework as exercise is not a new concept. In October, 1901, Good Housekeeping published an article entitled “Housework as Exercise.” The author was an un-named teacher of physical culture. Her message was to . . . . “Unbutton those tight collars, take off the corsets and petticoats, hike up those long skirts and pull the blinds. Whenever possible wear a gymnasium suit for scrubbing and sweeping.”
Housework as Exercise Calorie Chart
Calories burned per hour:
Cooking / 80 (No tasting while cooking!)
Ironing / 60
Mopping Floors / 110
Rearranging Furniture / 200
Scrubbing Floors / 200
Vacuuming / 85
Washing Dishes (By hand.) / 60
Washing Windows /150
Calories burned per minute:
Washing the Car by Hand / 6
Washing Dishes / 3
Vacuuming / 3
Dusting / 4
Rearranging Furniture / 9
Folding Laundry & / 3
Putting Away
General Straightening / 9
Raking the Leaves / 7
Pushing the Lawn Mower / 6
Grocery Shopping (pushing the cart)/ 5
Gardening /4
Kissing / 5
Clicking Burns Calories, Too!
Walking: Cures Constipation and Impotence.
Diet Cheat Sheet!
10 Tips: Happiness Centered Weight Loss
Spread the fat-burnin’ word … NOT the icing!
Janice
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Janice Taylor is a Life & Wellness Coach, specializing in weight loss, reinvention, transformation & happiness, author, seminar leader and 50-pound-BIG-Time-LOSER! Write Janice for an Introductory Coaching Session.
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