Staying active through housework?
 

So recently my calf has been acting up which is why I've decided to take a few days off from running and focus on recovery. I'm still going to be doing lower impact exercises like elliptical and walking to get my daily steps in (I shoot for 10-15,000 a day). It may sound dumb and obsessive but just from doing housework this morning I'm up to 500 steps already :) I don't know just something I was kind of happy about today. How do you guys stay active throughout the day?

Yes.....especially in the winter. I do not have a gym membership so if its cold outside I try to up the intensity of my house work. Good clean fun! :-) why not count it....its hard work!

You know it! :) Up to 1000 now

Cleaning is an excellent workout. Dusting and vaccumining large areas definitely make me work up a sweat.

I certainly feel it in my belly when I steam mop the floors.

It's definitely better than sitting on your butt all day. Plus it distracts you from thinking about food all the time. I think eating out of boredom is a serious downfall for a lot of people.

When I first started exercising regularly (again), my goal was 2 hrs. a day, but at least one of those hours was housework. My house was never so clean, and believe me I worked up a sweat (I mop my floors on my hands and knees).

Wow dedication! I just started to organize my room and the living room. It's just cool to see the steps add up. I'm at about 1700 steps? It's not bad considering I had to spend most of my time doing my Chinese school work.

Even if I don't work up a sweat, it gives me something productive to do on my days off. I tend to eat out of boredom. I have the hardest time sitting and enjoying a TV show without a bowl of something crunchy in front of me. Plus having a clean house is so rejuvenating! It's wonderful to come home to.

I am a very nervous person by nature. So during the day at home i never sit in one place long. I 'have' to do something in order to feel ok. Don't ask me why, i have no idea. The only times therefore when i am oblidged to sit in one place is when i am playing with my kid......so i suppose you can call my daily routine really trying.....BUT i haven't felt truly exercised just by cleaning the house (that's just me though). Unless i do something dedicated to exercising all the rest are daily routine for me. I wake up at 10 and sleep at 2.......Except for 2 hours at night where i sit in the computer ALL the rest i am on my feet.....or outside walking my butt off. Maybe that is what saved me all /these 4 years, because if i'd been sitting all day long with the amount of food i used to consume the 169 i became would have probably been twice up...... :(

Actually, I kind of think that upping physical activity through "real" life activities is just as important as the gym or elliptical or whatever. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the gym to watch people drive around and around the parking lot trying to get the closest spot so they don't have to walk as far to their work-out...ummm :dunno: taking stairs, gardening, parking far away, it all adds up!