10 Household Chores That Seriously Burn Calories

Boost your burn with a little spring cleaning! Now is the perfect time to check items off the household “to-do list.” Though you certainly might not enjoy housework or chores, it may help to know that many of these activities can burn serious calories. Not only will your home be cleaner, but you’ll feel good about slimming down while you work. We’ve put together a list of some common household chores that can keep you fit and healthy while staying productive.

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Here are 10 household chores that can help you lose weight and burn calories:

1. Sweep and Mop to See Pounds Drop

Looking to tone those arms and shoulders? Sweeping and mopping both make a great upper body home workout. But on top of that, these household chores double as exercise and are serious calorie blasters. According to Good Housekeeping, 138 minutes of mopping floors is estimated to burn somewhere around 405 calories if you’re working vigorously. Throw in some lunges while you’re at it and you’ll truly get in a total body toning home workout—all the while getting things done!

2. Push It!

For more at home arm workouts, grab the vacuum and get to work. Vacuuming is also a great way to get your heart rate up for some cardiovascular benefits. In order to get more out of it, try exaggerating your movements. Take big lunges as you move the vacuum forward for some added leg toning. You might also consider picking up the tempo. Put on some music and throw in some dance moves as you work. It’s a great way to make chores and housework more fun while accomplishing both cleaning and exercise goals.

3. Trim the Grass to Trim Your Waistline

If you’ve got a push mower, then mowing the grass can be a great calorie burner. According to Harvard Health, a 155-pound person burns about 167 calories in 30 minutes of push mowing the lawn. Just make sure you’re staying hydrated as things heat up outdoors! Check out these helpful H2O tips to practice proper hydration and ensure you’re drinking enough water as the weather gets warmer!

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4. Wash Away the Calories

Another activity that can be done is washing the family car. According to Harvard Health, 30 minutes of vigorous car washing can torch somewhere around 167 calories in a 155-pound person. Channel your inner Karate Kid with some “wax on wax off” movements with the sponge and you’ll feel those arm muscles burning in no time. The more you scrub, the more calories you burn and the cleaner your car gets. It’s a win all around!

5. Get Your Spring Cleaning Underway

There’s something about having the windows open and the fresh air coming in to inspire people to spring clean. It probably has to do with a new season and a fresh beginning. While decluttering during spring cleaning is good for the mind, it can also be good for the body. Lifting and moving heavy items, bagging up clothing donations and rearranging can all help work up a sweat. Whether you’re clearing out a garage, a closet or a junk room, you’ll feel good that you’re making your home cleaner and more organized while also burning calories. Take a peek at these six spring cleaning to-do’s for added weight loss this season.

6. Grab the Paint!

Tired of staring at the same white walls while you’re stuck at home? You may be rethinking one or more of your wall colors. A fresh coat of paint can do wonders when it comes to an easy room makeover. But it can be a great workout, too. According to Harvard Health, painting inside for 30 minutes can burn 167 calories in a 155-pound person. Painting is a fantastic way to work your arm and leg muscles. You’ll get a room refresh while building lean muscle that helps you burn calories.

7. Ditch the Dishwasher

While you might be used to tossing all those dirty dishes in the automatic dishwasher, why not take a half hour to do a sink-full by hand? You’ll conserve household energy while using your own energy to burn calories. The harder you scrub, the more you’ll burn and the cleaner those dishes will be! Now is also a great time to get out some of those hard-to-clean pots and pans and put some elbow grease into your effort.

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8. Weeding Away the Calories

When it comes to yard work, pulling weeds might be pretty low on your “want-to-do list.” But knowing that it can be a great calorie buster might move it up a few notches. You’ll get in some leg toning exercise as you squat and bend. Plus, you’ll need to use your arm muscles to yank and pull at those deep-rooted weeds. Your body—and your plant beds—will look better because of it. 30 minutes of weeding can burn 172 calories in a 155-pound person, according to Harvard Health. While weeding away in your yard, you can enjoy even MORE health benefits from gardening. Check out the surprising benefits here! >

9. Do a Window Wash

30 minutes of window cleaning chores is thought to burn somewhere around 167 calories in a 155-pound person, says Harvard Health. But getting the grime off the inside and outside of your windows will also make you feel good. Rather than looking at dirty smudges and streaks, the sun can shine in and you can enjoy it to its fullest!

10. Scrub that Tub

If you’ve got soap scum build-up, it takes some serious power and energy to scrub your tub or shower clean. That hard scrubbing can burn a lot of calories if you’re working up a good sweat. The more elbow grease power you put in, the more payoff—both in the form of a clean surface as well as toned muscles! It’s another win all around.

The Leaf Weight Loss Blog is here to help you stay healthy! Learn more helpful fitness exercises, wellness tips and healthy, easy to make recipes to keep you and your family happy and nourished.

Are you in need of a healthy meal delivery service? We’re here for you! Learn more about Nutrisystem programs >

*Always speak with your doctor before starting an exercise routine.

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The post 10 Household Chores That Seriously Burn Calories appeared first on The Leaf.

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Getting worried about approaching goal weight

Male 5'8 SW:255 GW:155 CW:175

Hi! I am a 5'8 man and started at 255 with a goal weight of 155 and am now at 173.7 as of this morning, this weight loss has all taken place in about 6 months. all my clothing sizes have decreased dramatically (feels crazy to be able to shop in normal sections of stores haha 😅) and I've gotten compliments and comments from everyone who has seen me since losing this weight.

Despite all this I'm getting worried at how much excess fat I still have on my torso (and a little on my arms, legs, and below my face) and how low my gut hangs, does anyone who has dealt with a similar situation have any advice?

Edit: fixed the formal of the post, sorry.

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Down 3 dress sizes!

Lately, I noticed that one of my work dresses was feeling a bit loose on me. I have a huge wardrobe, but that is one dress that I wear quite often, so any changes in fit are quite noticeable.

When I started my weight loss journey, I was wearing 16s and they were tight on me, so I went thrifting and looked in the 14s and 12s, only to find that they were also loose on me. I ended up going with a size 10, and I am overjoyed at my progress!

I am a huge thrifter, so I am aware of vanity sizing and all the variables in sizes depending on brand and vintage/contemporary clothes. But I definitely could not have worn a size 10 six months ago. Being able to easily find cute clothes was a big motivator for me, so this is awesome!

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Extreme hunger after losing 170lbs - Rapidly regaining weight. Desperately in need of help.

Hi, this will be a little long but if anyone has any advice or experience with something similar happening I would greatly appreciate it 🙏 I have absolutely no idea what to do and nothing I’ve tried so far is helping. Thank you so much :)

I’m 25f and I've been on an intentional weight loss journey since Summer 2022, and I've lost 170lbs naturally so far. I still have another 80lbs to lose and have been in a calorie deficit until now.

Throughout this journey, I've experienced a beautiful transformation in my relationship with food. I've embraced a non-restrictive approach and developed a healthy mindset around eating. However, I believe I may have missed some major stress signals that my body was sending me along the way and have now hit a massive roadblock.

The problems began in October when I started experiencing energy crashes between meals with symptoms that mimicked reactive hypoglycaemia. It seemed random at first but became more and more frequent until January when it worsened, and I started to think I may be diabetic. But medical tests ruled out any underlying conditions.

So, I continued to eat in a calorie deficit, but eventually, I hit a tipping point, and extreme hunger and binge eating episodes started occurring.

I've only been able to barely manage this by eating at maintenance, which I’ve been doing for the past 2 months but nothing has calmed down yet and even the slightest deviation, such as an increase in activity level, triggers intense and uncontrollable eating episodes.

These episodes are completely different from any emotional or restriction based binges I’ve had in the past. I’ve had a lifetime of unhealthy eating habits to compare it with and this is nothing like anything I’ve ever experienced before. Most online advice seems to focus on general binge eating advice, which doesn't fit me because I’m absolutely certain the eating episodes are NOT triggered by emotion, or stress.

My body seems very panicked around food, which is strange because I'm not restrictive at all. The other strange thing is that the cravings have not been for highly palatable foods. It's mostly for plain high-carb foods like rice, bread, oatmeal - things I don't even like very much. And I've never restricted carbs either. That's why I thought it might be some other health issue. But my doctors have run tests for diabetes, blood sugar imbalance, thyroid, hormonal issues, and everything came back normal. The only link seems to be the prolonged calorie deficit.

I think I missed a lot of other distress signals along the way too, like extreme dips in mood and mental health and low energy. It seems like my body eventually gave out on me.

I'm very eager to continue my weight loss journey and I'm willing to give my body whatever it needs to recover. But I’m unsure how to navigate the extreme hunger since it seems to be over-riding my usual hunger and fullness cues and the binge-like episodes are deeply disturbing and have been having a significant impact on my mental health. I’ve rapidly regained 25lbs since this started and I have no idea what to do.

I’ve tried mentally pushing through the episodes but the hunger is so intense I literally can’t concentrate- I literally feel like I have to turn the lights out and meditate to even attempt to get through them and I still fail every time.

I've also tried eating freely, but it leads to binges and needing to eat massive quantities of food almost every hour, which has been exhausting to keep up with.

I’m already eating a well balanced high protein, high fiber, mostly whole foods diet with consistent spacing between meals.

TL;DR - I’ve lost 170lbs in a sustainable way and my body seems to be fighting back at me. I still have 80lbs left to lose. I haven’t gone back to old unhealthy lifestyle but hunger has been so intense it’s been almost impossible to fight. I’m already eating high protein, high fiber, mostly whole foods and leave consistent spacing between meals. The binges are NOT emotion or stress triggered and the cravings are not even for highly palatable foods. Feels like my body is trying to store up food. I have no underlying health conditions. Currently eating at maintainance and taking a break for the past 2 months but nothing has improved so far.

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What is a realistic time frame for losing weight?

So I'm 6'3 and currently weighing in at 354lbs. I exercise for ~90 minutes 3-5x per week. Doing light cardio and weight training, I've seeing doing that for ~2 months now.

I had a big problem with chips/chocolate and pepsi, I've been drinking diet pepsi for ~15 months now and cut out chips and chocolate in the last two months. The only thing along those lines I still eat is I will buy a rice Krispy bar thing on payday so once every 2 weeks or so but i could probably cut that out too honestly.

I've noticed that my clothes are getting baggy but my weight on the scale hasn't moved at all at least not since I bought a scale that can actially weigh me ~1 month ago.

I have currently have two weight loss goals first off is just less than 300 and I'd like to eventually be around 200lbs but I have no idea what kind of time frame I should be looking at, is no change after ~1 month a sign that I'm not doing enough? I have been getting stronger as evidence from my weight training so am I just building muscle at the same rate I'm losing fat?

Also does anyone have any recommendations for things I can get for work lunches? It would need to have at least a 2 week shelf life and able to be stored at room temperature. I was thinking the canned sandwich meats but I dont know if they're any good either.

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I (22F) get very discouraged with weight loss

Im 5’5 and 135 pounds. I don’t workout so I’m really skinny fat. I struggle with a sense of perfection and if my routine is not “perfect” I don’t try at all. I know resistance training is very important but I just get very nervous in my university gym because it’s full of extremely hot young people. Will group fitness classes be enough? The reistance training in group fitness is more like cardio with weight…

I just want to “tighten” up but I’m not interested in losing a bunch of weight per se? I would like to lose the skinny fat look and extra pudge while still keeping my ass.

Is this just diet + strength training? I also want to add that I’m vegetarian and Indian so I naturally don’t get a lot of protein and I naturally have low muscle mass. Would just dieting + doing any sort of activity like walking or cardio be enough? Is dieting even necessary? I want to lose 10 pounds but I also don’t want to lose my ass ahaha

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When was the first time you could visibly see that you had lost weight?

Hey all, I'm 19M with a start weight of 98.8kg/218lbs and a current weight of 78.8kg/174lbs. I started in November and since then I've lost 20kg or 44lbs.

One thing with me is I've always had a very warped self image. To an extreme where I can't even comprehend what I look like as I'm staring in the mirror. If I had to draw myself, I couldn't because I can't perceive myself. This has made recognising my weight loss quite difficult and it was only a few weeks back that I managed to see a difference in photos of me from pre weight loss to now.

But today I realised that my body is different and I can kind of see it more clearly. My legs look smaller, my stomach is smaller and my torso has more of an angular shape than just a circle. And my stomach apron no longer hangs over my skin when standing and instead floats in a way? I can see my jawline and neck. My shoulders and arms. I can finally see these changes I've been reading on the scale on my own body and it's really exciting. My two XL t-shirts have gone from slightly baggy to breathe in to now being bedtime t-shirt level baggy. I fit comfortably into an old pair of size large joggers yesterday. And my size XL long sleeve shirt was a little loose instead of skintight and stretched out.

I don't know if that made any sense but I'm just excited that nearly 6 months of hard work has paid off. I'm excited to see how I'll look to myself when I get to my goal weight.

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