Quick Tips: Burning More Calories Indoors

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When cold weather makes its appearance many people become less active – especially if they live in a cold climate. After all, who wants to brave sub-freezing temperatures to take a brisk jog or walk? It’s not surprising that weight gain in winter is so common – especially with all the holiday eating and festivities. You may have less opportunity to work out outdoors in the winter, but that doesn’t mean you have to get out of shape. The key is to expend more indoor calories. This doesn’t necessarily involve joining a gym. You can increase your calorie burn rate without every leaving home. Here’s how to stay in shape indoors when it’s cold outside.

To burn more indoor calories, take advantage of the stairs in your home or office.

Did you know stair climbing burns around ten calories per minute? Plus, it’s a great cardiovascular workout. If you’re home during the day, get up from your chair every thirty minutes and walk up and down the stairs for five minutes. If you’re at the office during the day, use a portion of your lunch hour for stair climbing or do it during your break. Even short intervals of exercise have benefits and the calorie burn really adds up.

Burn indoor calories by fidgeting more.

Studies show that people who fidget are less likely to gain weight even when they eat a high calorie diet. Fidgeting may not seem like a big calorie burner, but even a slight increase in calorie burn adds up over time. If you’re not a natural fidgeter, you may need to make a conscious effort to keep moving at first, but soon it will become second nature. Tap your foot, shake your leg, or bounce around in your chair – it’ll help you stay awake too.

Don’t sit when you can stand.

Most people spend too much time seated. The natural inclination when you see a chair is to sit down and “take a load off”. Be more conscious of how much time you’re spending sitting and make an effort to change it. When you talk on the phone, pace the floor – cordless phones make this easy. Before you perform a task sitting down, ask yourself if it can be done standing. Activities carried out standing burn almost twice as many calories as when they’re done sitting.

Burn more indoor calories using dumbbells.

Keep a set of five to ten pound dumbbells handy and do a few sets of resistance exercises every twenty minutes when you’re watching television or working on the computer. Resistance exercise boosts your metabolism and helps to build lean body mass. No one says you have to do resistance training in long sessions at the gym to see results. Be consistent and increase the weight over time to keep challenging yourself.

Wear a pedometer.

Challenge yourself to take more steps when you’re at home during the day by wearing a pedometer. There’s something very motivating about knowing your every step is being recorded. Pedometers can be your key to burning more indoor calories.

As you can see, there’s no reason to head to the gym when it’s snowing outside, stay home and burn those calories indoors instead.

by Dr. Kristie