Keep a clean home AND stay fit – yeah, seriously.

You’re busy, so squeezing exercise into your schedule is tough when you have a full line-up of things to do each day: get the kids to school and to extra-curricular activities, put in a full day of work, make sure dinner is on the table at a certain time and maintain a clean home…among other things.

If your household is anything like mine, sometimes chores are abandoned. This has always been an irritating thing for me because when I get a bit of free time, I feel obligated to catch-up on my household duties. Ultimately this means that instead of getting outside for a walk, I am stuck inside cleaning – yay.

Fortunately for you and me, keeping a clean home and staying fit can work together. Barbara Hagen, Provincial Coordinator for Alberta’s Be Fit for Life Network, said, “Anything that you do that is active is going to increase your health benefits.” Guess what? That can include housework!

Calorie Counter, a free online diet program, suggests a 150 lb person can burn the following amounts of calories (per hour) for each household chore:

+ Vacuuming – 238 calories

+ Scrubbing floors/bathtub – 258 calories

+ Washing the dishes/putting them away – 156 calories

+ Laundry – 156 calories

+ Grocery shopping – 156 calories

+ Gardening – Yes, it will be that time soon! – 272 calories

Also, for all of you stay-at-home moms, carrying a child for an hour can burn up to 204 calories!

So, when you have to choose housework over going for a walk, keep in mind that if you put serious physical effort into your chores, you are still working towards your goal.

Why Not Walk?

For some reason, I thought that if I wanted to exercise, I had to go to a gym. WRONG. Since I could not make regular use of a gym membership, I knew I had to come up with another plan. Enter: walking.

Conveniently, a new Running Room franchise opened in my community. Spending time in the store talking to staff and other customers made me feel like an athlete again. Although I wanted to start running immediately, I decided to start with walking because I knew I had a lot of conditioning to do.

Benefits of walking from various sections of John Stanton’s book, “Walking: The Complete Guide to Walking for Fitness, Health and Weight Loss”:

+ No membership required

+ Easily include young children

+ Burns fat

+ Reduces stress

+ Improves your self-esteem

+ Helps you sleep better

+ Increases your energy level and      stamina

+ Reduces the risk of developing        heart disease, osteoporosis and      certain cancers

+ It’s fun

I hope that if you are anything like me, and you cannot commit to a gym, that you consider walking. Walking will allow you to exercise during the day when you have the most energy, and easily bring your child along.

Note: Don't be surprised if your child enjoys these walks too.