Lose weight while doing everyday chores!!!

Geni Kish
Apr 29
3 min read

By Geni Kish

Really? Lose weight while doing chores? I didn’t believe it when I first heard of this. So being a nutritionist I needed to find out if this was true. Especially since not everyone likes to go to a gym or have to work out hard to lose weight. Here is what I found after doing some research.

The program is called NEAT. NEAT is non-exercise activity thermogenesis which is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise¹. Research has shown that NEAT offers benefits or exercise by doing everyday chores, as well as adding some exercises you can do right from your very home. One of the great benefits is that NEAT lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular events and much more.

You would be surprised, just by making little changes, what a difference it makes in burning calories. For example, a person weighing about 145 lbs., if they sit at work they would burn about 102 calories for the day, however, a simple act of standing while working would burn an extra 72 calories, 174 calories burned.

That might seem a bit impossible to do, it is not always easy to stand while working. However, this same person requires 120, 30-minute cardio workouts to lose 10 pounds, that is 100 calories per day ². Standing at work gets you closer to that goal without those intense workouts. However, there are other chores or exercises that you can do that will help burn calories if standing all day at work does not fit into your schedule.

Some examples would be: ³ ⁴

Wash your car by hand
Do more gardening
Take a walk
Pace while on the phone
Clean the house
Take stairs instead of elevator
Use a pedometer (like Fitbit) and measure steps

Increase your lifestyle with a pedometer:

For someone who has a sedentary lifestyle you would have <5,000 steps/daily
For someone with a low active lifestyle you would have 5,000 – 7,499 steps/daily
For someone with a somewhat active lifestyle you would have 7,500 – 9,999 steps/daily
For someone with an active lifestyle you would have ≥10,000 steps/day

Some examples of calories burned if doing this activity for 30 minutes.

Ironing burns 69 calories
Cleaning and dusting 75 calories
Walking 99 calories
Vacuuming 105 calories
Golf 129 calories
Swimming (slowly) 195 calories.
These are just some examples of what you can do by incorporating some common day activities.

How to start?

Set an intention to incorporate more activity throughout your day.
Say to yourself, “I choose to be more active today.”
Establish a daily habit of physical activity. The best time is in the morning doing some exercise for at least 10 minutes to set the habit.
Start with something realistic. Do not over push yourself with an intense workout, you will be sore the next day and will not repeat it. That defeats the purpose of making it a habit. You can add intensity later.
Find ways to make it fun. You can always take a walk with someone or a pet. Maybe you are competitive and know someone else that is too, make it a competition. Whatever you feel will motivate you more ² ⁴.

References:

Levine JA. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2002 Dec;16(4):679-702. doi: 10.1053/beem.2002.0227. PMID: 12468415.
National Academy of Sports Medicine. A NEAT Approach to Weight Loss. 1 Levine, J. A. et al. 2006. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon of Societal Weight Gain. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. April. Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 729-736.
Levine, J. A. 2004. Nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT): environment and biology. American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism. May. Vol. 285. No. 5. E675-685.
Westerterp K. R. (2013). Physical activity and physical activity induced energy expenditure in humans: measurement, determinants, and effects. Frontiers in physiology, 4, 90. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2013.00090

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