Shopping and Cooking and Cleaning, Oh My!

Do you find yourself in the kitchen and grocery store more often around the holidays, anticipating the fun and creation of old family favorites and trying some new recipes, too? It seems to me that if we could capture the magic we feel in the culinary space at this time of year all the time, we’d probably be spending our time differently – in a good way – caring for ourselves through foods we choose.

If you think about it, how we spend our time really helps define how we burn calories and manage weight. For me, summers are about the garden – I don’t hire someone to do it, I do it myself. Dragging those full yard bags around that have a 50-pound limit? Yes, I can do that. Same for housework and cooking. I like it. There’s something about the simplicity (and importance!) of keeping the house clean and going through the process. A dear friend and colleague of mine were working on a major project years ago, and as we’d start our meetings, we’d talk about how an idea came to us while mopping the floor – and sometimes while cleaning the toilet. Boom! A good idea out of nowhere.

We hear about how sitting is not so great for us, yet we do more of it. If you hate to go to the gym, perhaps it’s a motivator to take stock of how you spend your normal day and see if there isn’t a way to squeeze in some calorie burning by taking on some tasks yourself. You may be like me and find that you enjoy it – maybe not the actual task (seriously, does anyone enjoy cleaning a toilet?), but the mental clarity and satisfaction that comes when the chores are done.

Think this won’t work? Have a peek at this chart to see just how many more calories you’d burn if you shopped and cooked for yourself instead of standing in line to order.

Oh – and if you wonder why a heavier person can burn more calories in the same time frame, there are a few reasons for this. Metabolism is a pretty amazing thing. Long story short? Think of gas mileage in a car. It can range from say, 10 miles per gallon to over 40. For the same distance. It’s kind of like that – lots of variables come into play.

What sounds like an easy way for you to integrate activity in your day? Start now – the holiday food fest is a fantastic time to find new ways of spending time in a more active fashion to burn off some extra party food calories. And as for the gym or working out at home? Yep, I’m a fan of that, too. Having options for activity is one way I keep it from getting monotonous.

Go get ‘em.

	Examples of Calories Burned in 30 minutes
Activity	155-pound person	185-pound person
Sleeping	23	28
Standing in Line	47	56
Sitting in Meetings	60	72
Cooking	93	111
Food Shopping (with cart)	130	155
Heavy Cleaning	167	200