Who would have thought that by scrubbing the floors, making beds and re-arranging your living room furniture you could shed pounds? Well you can! Too many overweight people turn to quick fixes and diet plans that promise to deliver great results, but never seem to deliver on those promises. They struggle each day, starving themselves and buying gym equipment that will soon become nothing more than a place to hang washing while it’s drying. We all have to clean our houses, pick up after the kids and cook. Each one of these activities is a little exercise in itself. It’s exercise that can’t be skipped!

Combined, all these routine exercises can do what your diets are supposed to. Just an hour of cleaning a day is enough to burn 200 calories. This means that if you spend 3 hours a day cleaning, you can lose up to 1.5 pounds a week.(That would explain why Cinderella looked so good!)

Keeping the house clean for a year would be the same as not having eaten 192 chocolates. Exercises done in the comfort of your own home can be doubly beneficial. You have the confidence to sweat freely and push yourself harder because no one is around.

I like to incorporate actual exercise into my daily cleaning schedule. I put on a pair of comfortable pants and get to work. While carrying the washing from the bathroom through to the scullery I work my arms, doing several curls with the basket along the way. Sometimes I hold the weight of the basket when I reach the scullery and do calf lifts, where I pull myself up onto my toes to work my calf muscles. Sometimes I stretch my legs while I’m ironing, or try to keep the correct posture when bending to pick up my kids stuff off the floor. Vacuuming I leave until last tightening my stomach muscles and lunging forward to work my bum and thighs. I look silly I know but I burn alot more calories when I’m done so it’s worth it!

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