Think you don’t get enough exercise? Chances are you’re burning off 2,000 calories a day, without going near the gym, simply by doing the mums’ workout.
Loathe it or, er, loathe it, washing, cleaning and all the other household stuff is unavoidable when you’re a mum.
Even if you’re in the fortunate position of having a cleaner, or your partner is a house-proud stay-at-home dad, you’re probably doing more than your fair share of cooking, mopping up, changing sheets after potty-training accidents, and loading the machine with grubby babygros/T shirts/muddy kit.
Top it off with running around after the kids and no wonder you feel as exhausted as if you’d just done a workout…
… Hang on a minute, you have just done a workout! All that energy you use doing the chores has a plus side – it can help you keep fit. Just an hour’s housework can shift more than 200 calories.
Gym based exercise
Let’s see how much energy (calories) you use up sweating over conventional forms of exercise first…
| 1 hour high impact aerobics | 396 calories |
| 30 minutes jogging | 300 calories |
| 30 minutes swimming | 300 calories |
| 30 minutes playing tennis | 274 calories |
| 45 minutes gym workout | 278 calories |
Home based exercise for mums
And here’s how much energy you burn up, without realising it, when you’re rushing around doing chores and chasing after the kids…
| 1 hour housework | 238 calories |
| 30 minutes ironing | 75 calories |
| 30 minutes pushing a buggy | 145 calories |
| 30 minutes brisk walking | 194 calories |
| 30 minutes grocery shopping | 121 calories |
| 5 minutes walking up the stairs | 45 calories |
| 1 hour playing with the kids | 265 calories |
| 30 minutes vacuuming | 140 calories |
| 10 minutes mopping | 50 calories |
| 30 minutes preparing dinner | 72 calories |
| 30 minutes weightlifting, eg small children | 105 calories |
Other exercise for new mums
Everything else you might do during the day can also count towards your mums’ workout…
| 2 hours sitting | 140 calories |
| 10 minutes talking on the phone | 12 calories |
| 1 hour driving | 141 calories |
| 10 minutes kissing | 4 calories |
| 30 minutes sex | 95 calories |
Even sleeping…
| 8 hours sleeping | 432 calories |
All that lot adds up to 2,274 calories – not bad considering you’d need to do nearly six hours of aerobics to burn off the same amount. So, Katie Price and Davina (and all those other celeb mums with a keep fit DVD to their name), forget your exercise routines and get moving with the hoover instead.
Figures from www.caloriecontrol.org and www.healthstatus.com based on a woman weighing 10 ½ stone (147lbs) or 66.7kg.
.jpg)
Bounty
Bounty
