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Housework Workout
A new survey shows that the average British woman
spends more than 16 hours a week cleaning. WLR dietitian
Juliette Kellow gives top tips to turn cleaning your house
into a good workout.
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Turn Housework into a Workout
By WLR Dietitian
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According to a new survey by the Discovery Channel,
many of us find cleaning our homes ‘mentally therapeutic’
and say it helps us feel in control of our lives. However,
more than 40 percent of us believe we are addicted to
cleaning and describe ourselves as ‘cleanaholics’.
The average British woman spends more than 16 hours a
week cleaning her home – that’s the equivalent of 2 hours
and 23 minutes a day!
WLR says:
Forget the gym! If women are really spending almost 2½
hours cleaning and tidying up every day, there’s plenty of
opportunity to get a sufficient workout without even
leaving home!
Housework is a great way to burn calories. But as is
the case with any workout, the more effort you put in, the
greater the benefit. In particular, polishing, dusting,
mopping and sweeping are great for keeping arms shapely.
Bending and stretching, for example, when you make the
bed, wash windows or do the laundry are good for toning
thighs and improving flexibility. And constantly running
up and down the stairs as you tidy is a good aerobic
workout.
Meanwhile, more energetic household chores such as
decorating and spring cleaning, burn even more calories.
Don’t forget the garden either – weeding, digging, mowing
the lawn, trimming hedges or bushes and sweeping up are
all great muscle toners and calorie burners.
Check out our household activity calorie chart below,
which compares the calories burnt by different household
activities with walking…
Activity
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Calories burnt in 1 hour*
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Walking at a moderate pace
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287
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Hoovering
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193.7
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Dusting
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173.6
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Painting, Inside Projects
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66
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Gardening, Weeding
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287.8
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Mopping Floors
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193.7
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Car Washing
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234
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Cleaning Windows
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180.3
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Ironing
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113.1
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Wallpapering
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133.2
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Chopping Wood
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415.5
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Walking up & down stairs, moderate
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516.3
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* Values are based on a 37yr old female, 5ft 5,
weighing 12 stone.Those who weigh more than this will burn
more calories; those who weigh less will burn fewer
calories.
Top tips to go for the housework burn
- Use a wax polish in a tin rather than a spray –
you’ll need to rub much harder to get a nice shine on
your furniture.
- Don’t leave things to pile up at the bottom of the
stairs – take individual items upstairs as soon as you
need to.
- Plan your housework so you constantly have to run up
and down the stairs. For example, empty the dishwasher
in the kitchen, then make the bed upstairs, then vacuum
the living room downstairs, then clean the bathroom
upstairs – and so on.
- Keep the laundry basket on the floor when you’re
ironing (rather than on a raised surface like a table).
That way you’ll constantly have to bend and stretch to
reach the clothes.
- Get more creative in the kitchen – peeling,
chopping, stirring, whisking and beating all burn more
calories than simply heating up a ready meal in a
microwave oven. And if you really want to work up a
sweat, have a go at making your own bread – kneading the
dough is hard work!
- Stick on your favourite music and turn up the volume
– it will help you polish and sweep that bit harder.
Bonus Tip
Find out how many calories you burn with the WLR exercise
database. You can try it
free for 24 hours.
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