“Every bit counts.” – That is what they tell you when it comes to physical activities and weight loss. It is true, every bit counts. This perception is partly the reason why “home workouts” have been becoming extremely popular lately. The promise of losing weight whilst cleaning your house sounds very appealing but can it really be that easy? The answer is: It depends. Often, the workout instructions promise 40 calories for 20 minutes of ironing or 100 calories for half an hour of cleaning the floor, which are in my opinion utopistically high numbers. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that those activities do stimulate your metabolism and can very well get you out of breath.
However, according to a study that was published in the journal BMC Public Health, people who counted household activities as part of their weekly exercise quota were often overweight and complained about not losing weight at all. These people often overestimated the amount of calories they burned during those moderate “workouts” or they simply did not change their diet despite their weight loss ambitions. In fact, they still ate too much. So we can essentially deduct from that, that we could lose weight when doing household tasks provided that we adopt a healthy diet that involves a calorie deficit for efficient weight loss. Of course, additional sportive activities are still more than recommended if you want to lose weight successfully.
