Ideas to help you increase your energy expenditure.
By taking a do-it-yourself approach to everyday tasks—that means saying no to drive-through car washes, remote controls, and even interoffice e-mail—the average person stands to considerably increase her monthly energy expenditure, up from 1,700 calories the automated way to as much as 10,500 the active way, according to a commentary in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings. "I think that inactivity is the major public-health problem of this century," says study author Steven N. Blair, a researcher at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. "Physical activity has been engineered out of daily life." Now's a perfect time to engineer it back into yours. For some little moves that could help you ignite a monthly calorie bonfire, take cues from the lists below.
Calories Burned Using Automated Services
Using a drive-through car wash: 18
Paying for gas at the pump: 6
Hiring someone to clean and iron: 0
Buying pre-sliced vegetables: 0
Waiting for pizza delivery: 15
Using a lawn service: 0
Shopping online for an hour: 30
Letting the dog out the back door: 2
Driving 40 minutes and walking 5 minutes from the parking lot: 22
Sending an e-mail to a colleague: 2 to 3
Taking the elevator up three flights of stairs: 0.3
Letting the cashier unload the shopping cart: 2
Using the remote control: less than 1
Reclining while talking on the phone for 30 minutes: 4
Using the garage-door opener: less than 1
Calories Burned by Doing It Yourself
Waxing and washing the car by hand: 300
Walking into the station to pay: 5
Ironing and vacuuming for an hour: 152
Washing and chopping vegetables for 15 minutes: 10 to 13
Making your own pizza: 25
Gardening and mowing for an hour: 360
Shopping at the mall for an hour: 145 to 240
Walking the dog for 30 minutes: 125
Walking 15 minutes to and from the bus stop twice a day: 60
Walking to a colleague's office, standing, and talking (3 minutes): 6
Walking up three flights: 15
Unloading a full shopping cart: 6
Changing the channel manually: 3
Standing and chatting on the phone for 30 minutes: 20
Raising and lowering the garage door manually twice a day: 2 to 3