When you think of working out, do you automatically picture yourself on a treadmill at a gym? Or do laps in a pool? If so, you will be surprised how many calories you can burn doing daily activities.

Housework is a task that everyone has to do at some point. Instead of dreading it, proceed quickly through your tasks and you can have a great workout. A 150-pound person can expend up to 140 calories mopping the floor for half an hour. Vacuuming for 30 minutes uses about the same number of calories. Cut another 75 calories by ironing for half an hour.

Outdoor chores also provide great opportunities to burn calories. The same 150-pound person will burn 177 calories pulling weeds for half an hour and another 120 calories mowing the lawn. Because gardening often involves stretching and bending, it offers muscular and cardiovascular benefits. Save 300 calories by spending an hour washing your car. Removing leaves and grass clippings burns 136 calories in 30 minutes.

If you like to entertain, you can make up for that piece of cake by cleaning up after the party. If it takes you an hour, you’ll burn over 300 calories. If you do the dishes too, you’ll burn another 152 calories. If you spend an hour rearranging furniture before and after your party, that’s a whopping 450 calories. However, keep in mind that all of these activities must be performed at the same level of intensity over time to receive the full benefits. Still, even if you only burned half of the estimated calories getting ready and cleaning up after your party, it would still equate to 500 calories of cake.

Home improvement tasks can also burn calories. An hour of interior painting burns 204 calories. Removing and installing carpet burns calories in 30 minutes. Roofing burns a whopping 400 calories an hour, just be sure to drink plenty of water if you’re going to be spending the day on a hot roof.

Even something as simple as going to the supermarket can be a calorie burner. Half an hour of quick grocery shopping will spend about 130 calories. If you walk a half hour to the store, subtract another 100 calories from your daily total. Just don’t blow all your savings on Oreos.

If all else fails, just sleeping for 8 hours burns 50 calories.

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