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!
Taking the stairs, house cleaning with energy and parking far away. I’ll start with these.
I like the idea of the pedometer!
Extra walk with the dog and more stairs!
I do – and I can see more possibillities. I can see dirty windows, I can see flowers to plant…. and it´s time for spring cleaning all areas 🙂 Time to create a new playlist to make it more fun.
This will be easy for me
I like a lot! Can’t wait to do some
great ideas, just have to do them more than I do now.
These are some great ideas! Some sound much better than others! LOL! But all are good ones! : )
I always park my car in the last spot at work so I walk farther to and from the door.
I love the ideas. I may try several of them so I don’t get bored ;).
I’m going to choose stop asking, house work, and weekend chores.
I will take the stairs, park farther away, and do more active things with my son. He loves to walk outside.
I was thinking about the FitBit. Are you familiar with it and would you recommend using it?
I live in a 3 storey house so stair walking is my number 1! Then I’ll go for cleaning and gardening more often 🙂
Great, this fits in with my want to re-arrange and de-clutter my basement and garage! Now no excuses!
I excluded all activities related to remote and TV as I don’t even sit there, however, I do use the laptop a lot.. Anyway, I made my list and will do one-a-day at least.. Thank you!
I added a couple sets of stairs in our house, instead of going up once I turn around and do another set. Oh and I will deffinately add in some more sex
I like to park far away, take the stairs, walk my dog every day…….
New pedometer arrived, can hardly wait to use and test accuracy. Exercise program in a slump this week. Back on track today. Luckily—no weight gain.
I park farther from the doors when shopping, I walk at a quick pace, and I will try to put more energy into housework. ugh.