Be house proud to lose weight!

[Nelly]

I have to say that I have had my best week of weight loss ever and it’s because I have been on a cleaning frenzy in anticipation of having some guests over in the near future.

I started off by cleaning the guest room from top to bottom, dusting, vacuuming, moving things, changing the bed, etc. Then I went at the kitchen by wiping down absolutely everything (counters, cupboard doors, the tops of other surfaces, etc) and then steam cleaned it for added chemical free bacteria fighting power (it’s so fun. If you don’t have a steam cleaner, get one!). Then I washed the bathroom, then I washed the kitchen and bathroom floors. I dusted the entire house and then vacuumed the whole house. I did three loads of laundry and ran the dishwasher and put everything away. This was all throughout the week and even though I only went for my usual walk 3 times (when I normally do 5), I lost three pounds!

Cleaning is great cardio, you can listen to music while you do it (or an audio book) and you can’t eat while you’re doing it. Plus, when all is said and done, you have a sparkling house! Just thought I’d share my tip.

[suzie]

That’s a great attitude, Nelly! There are a lot of different types of chores and cleaning around that house that really take some muscle power. I find that giving the bathroom a really thorough scrub down, and washing the floors with some oomph is great for getting the blood pumping.

I also find that some of the activities that are a little bit lower intensity can be brought up to be much more part of a cardio workout if you add to them. I personally like to dance while I dust. I do crazy flying leaps while I prevent cobwebs with my feather duster on the ceiling, too. I must look like a maniac flying around the living room, but so be it. My place is clean and I have a lot of fun doing it.

I even find that if you put a lot more enthusiasm into different tasks then you do a better job and you get your heart beating more. For instance, I change my sheets every Sunday and before I put the new ones on I drag off my feather bed and beat it back into shape, shaking it all around, I vacuum the mattress (which I turn every month) and I beat my pillows until they are good and fluffy again. Then I put it all into place and actually make an effort to make it up very nicely. This takes a lot of bending and walking back and forth and I actually feel a lot warmer after I’ve done it!

[bhollytba]

I lost a ton of weight preparing for my mother-in-law's visit. I even polished the furniture and power washed the exterior. Talk about motivation! Any time in-laws are scheduled I clean so much that I even forget to eat! Of course I make it all back up when we eat out the whole weekend (sigh) but at least I break even....

[suzie]

I lost a ton of weight preparing for my mother-in-law's visit. I even polished the furniture and power washed the exterior. Talk about motivation! Any time in-laws are scheduled I clean so much that I even forget to eat! Of course I make it all back up when we eat out the whole weekend (sigh) but at least I break even....

I think I need to get some in-laws so that I can use that kind of stress to motivate me to get my house clean and my body active ha ha!

I don’t think there is anybody who makes me feel that stressed that I’d take things outside and power wash them. I have a clean house and I do my dusting and vacuuming and floor washing every week, but my furniture is now where it was when I moved in and I don’t see myself moving it at any time soon! If I did, I’d risk getting so lazy that I wouldn’t want to bring it back in again and I’d end up with all of my furniture on the lawn ha ha!

I guess you really earned your chance to eat so much over the weekend, though. You must have been starving after all of that work. I hope that you enjoyed yourself.

If only there were some way to burn it off without gaining it back from eating.

[Beth]

When it comes to cleaning, like vacuuming, can you really say that you’re burning as many calories as you would if you were out briskly walking for the same amount of time? I’m asking this question not out of sarcasm. I genuinely want to know. Because that would be great and I would just spend a lot more of my usual exercise time cleaning so that I could kill 2 birds with one stone. What I keep thinking about is that with cleaning, I pause a lot so it’s not steady continuous exercise. It’s bursts of exercise with pauses and rests mixed in. Does anyone know if that still counts?

[PaulLo]

I lost a ton of weight preparing for my mother-in-law's visit. I even polished the furniture and power washed the exterior. Talk about motivation! Any time in-laws are scheduled I clean so much that I even forget to eat! Of course I make it all back up when we eat out the whole weekend (sigh) but at least I break even....

Isn’t that always the way? One day, you work out really hard and you do all these different things that stop you from eating too much and that help you to burn off a lot of calories so that you feel great, and then the next moment, you turn around and all you are doing is eating because you are at a friend’s house or you have important guests over and you’re not going to tell everyone that all you will eat is raw carrots! There are so many social things that make you eat what other people are eating so that you will be a part of the group.

[Nelly]

When it comes to cleaning, like vacuuming, can you really say that you’re burning as many calories as you would if you were out briskly walking for the same amount of time? I’m asking this question not out of sarcasm. I genuinely want to know. Because that would be great and I would just spend a lot more of my usual exercise time cleaning so that I could kill 2 birds with one stone. What I keep thinking about is that with cleaning, I pause a lot so it’s not steady continuous exercise. It’s bursts of exercise with pauses and rests mixed in. Does anyone know if that still counts?

I guess that the calorie burning wouldn't be as consistent as using a treadmill or something like that, but what I like about it is that it is active. I'm up and moving around and when I do something like vacuuming or washing the bathroom, if I really put some muscle into it, i really do build up a sweat. That's sure better than just sititng around and i end up with a clean house!