Thursday, March 17, 2011

Exercise is Everywhere

In conjunction with yesterday's post about how to not eat when all you can do is think about eating, here are a few ways to sneak in some extra exercise that don't involve a gym, special attire or sweat.

1. Park far away. You can double your steps if you just park twice as far away. (I break this rule when it's raining.) I'm young, healthy and able someone needs those close spots much worse than me. 
2. Hurry. There's a guy in my office who half runs everywhere he goes. He's a little, tiny, Asian man whose name I don't know and I admire his dedication. Literally, every time you see him, he's scooting as fast as he can without running, kind of the same gait that kids have when you tell them not to run indoors. I'm not suggesting you have to almost run, but hurrying faster than you normally do counts.
3. Fidget. Burns more calories.
4. Stand up. I am involved in a lot of conference calls. Many don't require me to be an active participant, but merely a listener. So I put my phone on "speaker" and "mute", push my chair back and stand up. Sometimes I march. Sometimes I do leg lifts. I'm lucky in that I have a door and no one can see me doing this. But even in cubeville, you could do it.
5. Walk. Walk around your office building (inside or outside) during lunch. Walk to get the mail if your mailbox isn't attached to your house and normally you drive up to it. Walk to the neighbors to return the flashlight you borrowed instead of dropping it off on your way to/from work. And if you MUST have ice cream, walk to get it if you can. Park a few blocks away if you have to.
6. Opt for the harder way. Today was garbage day at my house. Jim gets the garbage down to the road. I bring the empty cans back up the long driveway ... the hard way. I don't roll them, though they have wheels. I carry them. It's a free resistance exercise.
7. Take the stairs. Duh.
8. Load it up. In my grocery store, I have the option to pick up my soda at the end cap on aisle one or in the regular beverage section at the very last aisle. I choose to put it in my cart on aisle one so I have to push a heavier cart the whole time.
9. Return the cart to the inside of the store when you're done.
10. Do squats or kicks or arm circles while you brush your teeth.
11. Shake your groove thing during TV commercials.
12. Have more sex.

OK, you might sweat on that last one. (If you're doing it right.)

3 comments:

Karla said...

Ewww. Keep that last comment to yourself. lol

HR Girl said...

It appears you creeped Karla out. I on the other hand just laughed because I pictured you in the get-up you described a few posts back and couldn't stop laughing.
Really, do you carry your garbage cans instead of rolling them, really?

Miss Daisy said...

My sister isn't quite as bawdy as I am, to say the least. But you're on the money, HR Girl ... brown socks, waffle weave long johns, hair in a headband, zit cream. Hubba hubba. Men are easy.