Oh no! You broke a shoe lace. Guess gym’s off the cards for you today. Yes, we’re raising an eyebrow, but it’s okay. You can still sneak in some activity…
Watch And Win
Watch the new season of Handmaid’s Tale on a stability ball. Stability balls keep you unbalanced during workout moves, forcing your core to do extra work to keep you stabilised. In fact, routinely subbing a chair for a ball can zap more than a thousand extra kilojoules daily.
READ MORE: The Cardio Move You Can Add To Any Workout To Burn More Kilojoules
To really feel the burn: During ad breaks, get in plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart on a stability ball. Draw your right knee towards your chest. Hold for one second, then repeat with the opposite knee. Continue alternating until the end of the break. Soon Elisabeth Moss will call you bad-ass!
Stand Up, Slim Down
Whenever possible, stand instead of sitting. If you sit for an extended period of time, your body starts to shut down at the metabolic level. Key flab-burning enzymes responsible for breaking down triglycerides (a type of fat) simply start switching off. Sit for a full day and those fat burners plummet by 50 percent, says Dr James Levine, author of Move a Little, Lose a Lot. Try this: every time you use the phone, stand for the duration of the call.
READ MORE: What You Need To Know About Doing Yoga To Lose Weight
To really feel the burn: Stand on your toes and slowly lower back down to your heels 12 to 15 times for a calf raise. Check out these crazy figures! Sitting at your desk: 347kJ burnt per hour; standing at your desk: 480kJ burnt per hour. Talking on the phone seated: 426kJ burnt per hour; pacing while chatting: 614kJ burnt per hour. Mailing a colleague: 401kJ burnt per hour; walking to her office: 525kJ burnt per hour. *Based on a 64kg woman.
Shop Till You Drop
… A size, that is. The legwork you do on a style spree for an hour while carrying a three-kilogram boho bag (and a few new outfits) can burn 418kJ – that’s almost one serving of dry white wine.
To really feel the burn: Skip the escalator and lift. That’s right: use the stairs and walk them at a fast pace. Inclines recruit lower-body muscles and are usually a bit more difficult as you need to stabilise or balance yourself, says fitness expert Dr Kim Nolte. “We also waste so much time in queues. Why not use the time to do a few exercises, like calf raises,” she suggests.
READ MORE: The #1 Reason Why You’re Not Seeing Results From Your Butt Workouts
Laugh Yourself Lean
Say what?! That’s right, the International Journal of Obesity found that laughter really is a diet pill. Researchers discovered that laughing increased both heart rate and kilojoule expenditure by up to 20 percent. Using the results, the scientists went on to calculate that just 15 minutes of laughter a day will burn 42 to 167kJ. That’s enough to shift up to two kilos a year.
To really feel the burn: In 15 minutes you’ll only burn one Rolo. So put on a funny movie. It would take an hour of giggles to burn a mini Lindt bar.
