Strictly Nutritious: Weekend Wrap-Up: Movin' On Up (Literally)!

My weekend was marked by stair climbs, weight lifting and running from here to there. No, I wasn't at a CrossFit class. No, I didn't spend all weekend in the gym. No, I didn't participate in a women's bodybuilding competition (though that would have been super impressive).

No, what I did was much less fun than all that... I spent the weekend moving into a new apartment on the top floor of a brownstone, to be exact - 4 flights up and no elevator in sight (welcome to New York!). So, between all the stair climbing and box lifting, I got a pretty good workout this weekend, which made me wonder... approximately how many calories did I actually burn? If my throbbing calves were any indication, I'd guess a lot!

With the help of a handy dandy online calorie counter, I figured out that I burned at least 2000+ calories just in the 4 hours I spent moving - that's not even counting the unpacking part. That's a lot of calories! - which got me thinking... how many calories on average do we burn while doing day-to-day chores or other activities? Exercise can be found in many ways. You definitely don't have to go to the gym to find it. Sometimes we have days when our to-do list is a mile long and it's impossible to fit a workout in. No worries, my friends! By staying busy and crossing items off your to-do list with gusto, you are burning more calories than you thought!

I've listed some examples of calories burned in the span of 30 minutes! Remember, calorie counts are dependent on your weight, so consider these to be approximate figures...

IRONING - 70 calories

VACUUMING - 90 calories

CLIMBING STAIRS - 285 calories

PAINTING - 100 calories

RAKING LEAVES - 225 calories

CAR WASHING - 140 calories

LAWN WORK - 120 calories

In addition to the calories burned, most of these activities give you a resistance workout as well. Washing your car works for arms and your core. Raking leaves gives you a great all over workout! Climbing stairs works your leg muscles, while vacuuming attacks your arm muscles. Even cooking can be considered a calorie burning activity, especially if you're burning things and doing the 'smoke detector' dance like me!

Courtesy of usmagazine.com

Oh, and the best news (for people like me who like to practice their vocal stylings while cleaning) is that singing also burns 75 calories in 30 minutes! So tack that on to your boring household activity and you'll really be getting somewhere!

Hope you all had a good weekend! If you live in NYC, you might be getting a dinner party invitation soon once I get this place under control. And if you don't live in NYC, that's a good reason to get yourself on a plane headed this way! I actually have a skylight in my apartment and a view of the Freedom Tower and Empire State Building across the water! Renting doesn't get much better than this!

And now...for a photo montage of my moving weekend. Peruse and feel sorry for me. After all those stairs, my quads burn like the fiery pits of hell.