Home body. The new home weight loss workouts to give you gym fit bodies. Work out routines for people who hate to work out.

Home body.

The new home weight loss workouts to give you gym fit bodies.

Work out routines for people who hate to work out.

The two keys which will open up a whole world of weight loss are; controlled eating and the scary one; exercise!

For many people, controlling what they eat is the easy part, but when it comes to exercise it quite often falls into the too hard basket. There are usually three reasons for this, firstly a lot of people find exercise boring, they also see themselves as too time poor to visit the gym regularly and lastly, they just don’t like the gym. That’s ok, you can introduce exercise into your life and barely know you are doing it. Skip the gym and still sculpt a fit, toned body in time for Summer. Sound good? Here’s how to do it.

Despite the common belief, you don’t need to be pumping iron in a gym for three hours every day to lose weight. The required amount to be healthy is a mere 20-45 minutes a day, everyone can manage that. You don’t need to have a complete rehaul of your daily routine, just tweak it a bit.

When you sleep you burn 55 calories an hour. Once awake and standing you burn almost double that, 100 calories an hour.

Do some light chores around the house like dusting and polishing and you’ll soon be reaching 160+ calories an hour. Crank it up a notch to vacuuming, scrubbing the bath, raking the lawn and gardening and you’re burning 250+ calories each hour.

Five hours of work around the house a week, or 45 minutes a day, will burn a total of 65,000 calories a year - the same number of calories you need to burn in order to lose over eight kilos a year.

Carry a small child of around 7kg up and down stairs and you’ll be burning a whopping 578 calories an hour.

Getting the picture? If exercise is too hard, just concentrate on MOVING, you’ll still benefit.

Have a look at what else you’ll be burning with those daily chores, and they may suddenly seem a lot more productive.

Activity                       Cal/hour         Activity                                   Cal/hour

Laundry                              146                  Making the bed                       136

Cooking                              170                  Washing dishes                       156

Ironing                                   156                  Dusting                                   170

Sweeping                             224                  Vacuuming                              238

Scrubbing floors             258                  Rearranging furniture              408

Washing windows           204                  Ironing                                                156

Gardening                          272                  Raking                                     292

Many people see their daily walk as a time to unwind and reflect, but if you find walking mindlessly boring, try walking around a shopping centre. You’ll be shopping 280 calories an hour and your bum will look better in all those jeans you pass.

If you want to really get down to business go into the garage and jump a skipping rope and you’ll burn a serious 700+ calories an hour. Go for a run around the block and you’ll be burning the same.

Still struggling to find an exercise that appeals? Put on your favourite cd and dance around the lounge room. Not only will you dance off 420 calories an hour, but your mind will relax and your heart will soar. Nothing can compare to making you feel good like music.

Also consider whether you could introduce an exercise dvd into your week. You can have all the benefits of a personal instructor in the privacy of your own home for an outlay of around $30. Check out what’s available next time you’re in Target, K-Mart or Big W. Any of these stores will have a mountain of exercise dvds ranging from boxercise to aerobics, yoga and tai chi to jazzercise. They are available to suit beginners through to the more experienced and some dvds even target specific areas like bum, hips and thighs.

They generally don’t require any specific equipment, and if they do, they’ll identify those things for you before you start. Start a collection and choose your workout depending on your mood.

Your body doesn’t care or know if you’re exercising in a gym in your trackies, or scrubbing that bathroom floor. All that matters is that you get moving in order to stay moving. Not only is exercise good for weight loss and tone, but it’s also essential for living a long and fulfilling life. The saying ‘use it or lose it’ couldn’t be more on the money than when it comes to exercise.

So what are you waiting for? Get busy with those household chores and not only will your house be spotless but you’ll be in top shape too!