These simple activities can help you get in extra movement and stay fit to close out the year.
The holidays are known as a time for celebrating, eating, drinking and spending time with loved ones.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t always leave much time to keep up with a healthy lifestyle.
Photo: Getty Images/Marko Geber
Walking at a moderate pace for just20 minutes burns 100 calories.
Clean up the house
Who says it’s possible for you to only burn calories from strict exercise?
Cleaning, such as vacuuming, sweeping or washing the windows, can burn over100 calories in 30 minutes.
Talk about two birds with one stone.
Just15 minutesof clearing the sidewalk or driveway burns over100 calories.
As an added bonus, this gives you a great excuse to briefly get outside throughout the day.
Spending time outdoors has been shown to give a mental health boost, in the short and long term.
Squat and crunch
Thirty minutesof bodyweight exercises adds up to nearly 100 calories burned.
If you don’t have time to do it consecutively, adding it up throughout the day works too.
Setting timers on your phone or computer can help remind you to get up and move.
Stretching or doing yoga for30 minutescan add up to burn close to 100 calories.
Grocery shop
Think of this as walking with an added bonus, since you are pushing a cart.
That’s right, your grocery shopping trip burns about105 calories per 30 minutesthat you shop.
Cook up something
Believe it or not, cooking actually burns calories.
Roughly100 calories in 40 minutes, to be precise.
However, it is still important to eat mindfully and listen to hunger and fullness cues.
