The Sneaky Way to Lose Weight

Weight loss is, quite simply, about the numbers. How many calories in verses how many calories burned dictate your weight. There are two ways to shed extra pounds; either cut back on calorie consumption or move more to burn off more calories. Moving more doesn’t mean you need to train for a triathlon. There are plenty of opportunities to increase activity during the course of a day. And it may not be as hard as you think. If you could burn off just an extra 100 calories a day you could lose 10 or more pounds over the course of a year.

The best way to sneak in that activity would be to add some fun to your day. If you engage in an activity you enjoy it won’t even seem like exercise! Here are some examples of fun activities that would burn 100 calories:

• Dancing for 20 minutes at a moderate pace
• Golfing for just 20 minutes
• Frisbee tossing for 30-minutes
• Roller-skating for 15 minutes
• Playing catch with the kids for 35 minutes
• Touch football for 15 minutes
• Sledding in the park for 15 minutes
• Tennis for 15 minutes
• Bowling for 30 minutes
• Hoola hooping for 20 minutes
• Playing fetch with the for 20 minutes
• Ice-skating for 20 minutes
• Soccer for 15 minutes
• Billiards for 40 minutes

The great thing about adding any of these activities is that it won’t feel like work. It’s more like play. Who couldn’t use a little more play in their life?

Have you thought that housecleaning is exercise? Don’t discredit daily activities for burning those 100 calories!

• Vacuuming for 25 minutes
• Ironing clothes for 25 minutes
• Mowing the lawn (self-propelled mower) for 25 minutes
• Painting for 20 minutes
• Cooking dinner for 40 minutes
• Washing the dog for 25 minutes

So run that vacuum cleaner! That housework creates a two-fold blessing – you get to live in a clean environment and you’re burning calories!

Taking up a hobby can contribute to successful weight loss.

• Karate for 15 minutes
• Belly dancing for 20 minutes
• Gardening for just 15 minutes

Finally, another way to burn an extra 100 calories is to increase your fitness. Here are some activities to consider:

• Get on the rowing machine for 15 minutes
• Kickboxing for 10 minutes
• Stretches for 40 minutes
• Circuit train for 10 minutes
• Do Pilates for 20 minutes
• Running 1 mile will burn 100 calories
• Weight training for 15 minutes
• High-impact aerobics for 10 minutes
• Brisk walking for fifteen minutes
• Zumba for 15 minutes

Achieving goals is rarely about making big, significant changes. That type of approach usually leads to frustration and failure. Achieving goals is more about the small, deliberate shifts in our daily lives – those choices we make during our day.

Small, focused steps are easier to manage and easier to be consistent with.

By focusing on increasing your daily activity just a bit – by, say, a 20 minute walk – you can reach that goal of losing 10 pounds in a year. Simple. Doable. Achieved.

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