Day 18: Burn More Calories With Micro-Exercise | 30-Day Weight Loss-athon

Welcome to Day 18 of the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon.

All tasks in the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon are adapted from my 52 Weight Loss Missions program.

Read the steps first, then take 10 minutes to think about them and take action. Ready?

What You Need:

• A willingness to move it, move it.

Step 1

Doing your weekly 30 x 3 exercise sessions from Day 5 is great – it raises your heart rate, gets you sweating, and can burn lots of calories.

But there are many ways you can get micro-exercise into your day, too. Some people call it incidental exercise. I like to think of it as lifestyle exercise – something that becomes part of your lifestyle.

Each nugget of micro-exercise can seem tiny – and it’s good to think that way, so you’ll feel inclined to do one every chance you get.

But the benefits aren’t so tiny. Not only do the weight-loss calories add up, but by taking opportunities to move, you form a habit of moving.

So as a first step, open your mind to the ways you can add micro-exercise to your life. They don’t take a lot of effort, but they can add up to a lot of calories, taken together and over time.

Step 2

Next, let’s consider the myriad ways you can add micro-exercise to your daily life. Here are some:

• Take stairs rather than escalators or elevators (There are so stairs in your building – find them!)
• Don’t use remotes – get up and press the buttons
• Go talk to your colleagues rather than emailing them (bonus: you may save time on back-and-forth emails)
• Walk to work
• Walk the kids to school
• Wherever you go, move a little faster and more energetically
• Get off the train or bus one stop earlier and walk
• Park farther away (from the restaurant, shops, appointment) so you have to walk (bonus: parking may be easier at a distance)
• If at a dinner party, help to carry dishes to and from the table
• Put a bike or treadmill in front of the TV and move while you watch
• Do sit-ups or push-ups during ad breaks
• If you tend to have inactive weekends, make a project of doing chores, repairs or other household tasks
• Walk, cycle or run to the library, to pick up the kids, do errands, etc.
• Walk around the house while on the phone
• Play a game outside with the kids
• Take the (neighbor’s) dog for a walk
• Stop asking the kids/your spouse/your PA to pass you things, get something from over there, pick you up a coffee or go out to get your lunch – it’s annoying to them, and it denies you the chance to burn calories
• Put more energy into the housework – vacuum, hang laundry or dust with vigor
• Put more energy into the yard work – I don’t really know what goes on out there, but do it with a good posture and sense of speedy purpose
• Put more energy into your, um, love life – do it more often or with more sprightliness
• Wash the car faster and more energetically
• Do some gardening – the kind where you have to cart stuff around, dig holes, squat, wheel wheelbarrows and such; pruning bonsai doesn’t count
• Switch from passive to active family time – instead of watching movies or playing computer games, go for a bushwalk, play in the park, ride bikes together, or play fitness-based console games.

Hint: Use a pedometer for extra motivation.

There’s something about tracking anything that makes you want to do better at it. Using a pedometer can help motivate you to take extra steps throughout your day. So if you’re looking for incentive to move more in your daily life, it’s worth a try.

Step 3

Choose at least three forms of micro-exercise, from my list or add your own, that you’ll commit to doing as a new habit.

What will you do for your micro-exercise?

Check in!

And you’re done!

Be sure to leave your comment below to check in and stay accountable. If you’re reading this by email or in a reader then please click here to leave your comment.

See you tomorrow!