Jaimi Jansen Fitness, Nutrition and Business Consultant

Let’s face it. Being stuck at home due to the  COVID-19 pandemic sucks. It limits our social connections, workflow, and physical activity. It can be hard to stay on top of your fitness goals and routine without access to the gym and with our daily routines upended. Fortunately, I have always felt that the key to success is only a matter of adapting and adjusting. So, here are a few ways I’ve found to burn some extra calories around the house. The following are four simple ways to increase your energy output in the safety of  your home.

Deep clean. Many of us have busy schedules and rarely get the chance to deep clean our homes, but the time is now. Deep cleaning involved moving around furniture to clean areas that aren’t thaty obvious. Examples include under the couch, under the bed, behind the toilet or the refrigerator. Maintaining a clean environment is also protective during a pandemic, when constant disinfecting is key to our well-being. This way we keep a clean home and burn some extra calories.

Re-arrange/Organize. When was the last time you re-arranged your closet or kitchen drawers? Being stuck at home is perfect for re-arranging parts of our daily living. Maybe you have some extra clothes that you never use and wish to give away? You can separate your work clothes from our everyday clothes, get rid of old dishes, separate food containers that could be used for meal prep, etc. The point is that this time at home can be used to benefit your daily living when things go back to normal. An organized environment helps lower anxiety in a lot of individuals.

Gardening. If you have a yard, now is the perfect time to work on it. Put on some sunscreen, a hat, and go outside to work on your garden. Being outside while in the safety of your own home is ideal for getting vitamin D from the sun and regulating your circadian rhythms with sunlight. This will not only burn extra calories, but improve your immune health, mood, and sleep patterns.

Walk the dog for an extra 10 minutes. Walking for ten minutes (approximately 1 mile or 2,000 steps) is equivalent to burning around 100 calories. Doubling down on your daily dog walk will burn some extra calories as well as affording you the benefits of spending time outside. We guarantee your pooch won’t mind! Don’t have a dog? Bring a family member or just your headphones and something to listen to.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to burn more calories, the important thing to keep in mind that slow, steady, sustainable lifestyle changes are the key to long term success. Just burning 100 extra calories might not seem like much, but practicing small changes on a daily basis will stack up to big change as long as you stick with it!

Want to maximize your efforts? The fastest way to achieve long term healthy weight loss is to coordinate physical AND dietary health habits. Consult a nutritionist and/or a personal trainer to double down on your health goals. I promise you won’t be disappointed in your results.