If you’re hanging out at home, missing gym workouts…here’s a list of things to do that that will help anyone burn calories.

Let’s start with science. Walking, water and natural foods are essential for health and we must stay active. Calories are the energy (heat) created by a body “burning up” foods eaten, or the energy required to perform activity. We need energy/calories to live. But if we consume more calories in a day than we burn, the excess is stored as body fat. 

On average, we burn 15 calories per pound of body weight (your weight x 15 = calories necessary to maintain current weight). About 3,500 calories equal one pound. So if someone wanted to lose excess fat, it requires figuring out how to burn or cut those calories that are above their ideal daily caloric consumption based on that 15 x their desired weight. Each activity below is grouped by the number of calories (C) burned by that activity in one minute (CpM). Multiply this number by the number of minutes (M) being active and you’ll know what you’re burning.  Here goes:  

1.5CpM: Resting, sleeping, sitting, reading, kneeling  

2CpM: Eating, playing cards, sewing, typing on a keyboard, dusting  

3CpM: Squatting without weights, standing, hand-mixing a batter of ingredients, hand-peeling veggies/fruits, birdwatching, cleaning gutters, hand-washing clothes, carrying laundry to the washing machine, carrying an infant, coaching  

3.6CpM: Walking around your house, showering  

4.5CpM: Hanging laundry to dry, bathing a dog, ironing, housecleaning, electrical work, plumbing, gardening, carrying tools  

5.1CpM: Making beds, mopping floors, pushing a wheelbarrow, chopping, yard work, bagging leaves  

6CpM: Walking outdoors, walking downstairs, scrubbing floors, active housecleaning, shaking out rugs, drilling 

7.5CpM: Walking upstairs, sawing wood, shoveling dirt or snow, stacking  

10CpM: Carrying heavy loads, carrying an average two-year-old, most farming activities Bottom line: Whole foods, moving our bodies as often as possible, managing stress and  healthy relationships all strengthen our lifelines. Hopefully this list helps clarify “activity!” 

Silver Disobedience® philosophy believes all healthy relationships begin with self-awareness. I’m @DianGriesel aka @SilverDisobedience ✨ I am a Perception Analyst and I wrote The Silver Disobedience Playbook. Here, I share my Daily Meditations for other Ageless, Passionate & Curious People.  More info in my bio, my websites and at Wilhelmina New York.