Holiday Fitness; No Gym Required

Busy holidays may mean that you can't squeeze in a trip to the gym, but you can still get easy and real calorie-burning fitness benefits out of traditional holiday activities!

Holiday Shopping

• Brisk walking around the mall can burn between 3.5 and 7 calories per minute depending on factors such as your age, metabolism and weight - if you spend two hours scouring the stores, you'll have burned anywhere from 500 to 800 calories.

• You can add to the fitness benefits of your shopping trip, and reduce some of your stress, by skipping the traditional holiday circling for the close-in parking spaces. Try parking further back and add five minutes of walking time to your afternoon.

Flying Home for the Holidays

• If holiday travel takes you through an airport, walk to your gate instead of taking moveable walkways - a 10-minute walk from security to your gate with your carry-on will burn about 50 calories.

• Consider those unavoidable holiday delays an exercise bonus - get up and move during your layover to burn calories and keep your energy level up. Keep walking through an hour's delay and you've burned 250 calories or so!

Deck Those Halls

• An hour of climbing up and down ladders and hoisting strings of lights and garlands counts as "moderate exercise" - burning about 250 calories.

• Choosing and chopping down your own tree at the local tree farm counts as "vigorous exercise" - you'll burn at least 210 calories during a half hour of chopping and dragging the tree to your car. If you can't chop the tree down yourself, walk the lot with the kids to find the perfect tree.

• Shoveling the sidewalk burns about 350 calories.

Every Little Bit Counts

• When you're on the phone with friends and family, use the cordless phone and walk around the house.

• Incorporate a little more activity when you're carrying in a carload of holiday groceries by carrying one or two bags at a time instead of trying to drag them in all at once - your back will thank you, too!

Source for statistical information: http://www.my.webmd.com

Posted: December 2004