What a mad week it has been with lots of calorie burning activities completed. Getting things ordered and ready for the Why Weight Ireland Local studio, ordering the mirrors, purchasing the weights etc. has taken up so much of my time and the house has become a complete storage area!! On Tuesday I got up early, sat down and decided to repaint the downstairs hall and hang some wallpaper on the wall near the stairs to make a sort of feature wall. Sure I have nothing else to do, right? I mentioned it to Gerry and the first thing he said was “Are you pregnant”? The two other times I had suddenly decided to paint the down stairs I had been pregnant! No definitely NOT pregnant this time. I had found some paint when I was pregnant with Chloe and put it on but when I put it up it was a bit bluer than I had expected; it was supposed to have been a sort of grey colour! So I’ve put up with it for the past few years and then I saw some lovely wall paper a couple of weeks ago to go up the stairs wall so I just bought it with the idea of using it “eventually”! Then the other day I happened to come across the colour paint that
I actually wanted before so I bought that too! I’d honestly just bought them to do maybe next year but now with the new studio launching I decided to get it all over and done with now rather than waiting. I have to admit, I do enjoy painting, compared to Gerry, who “likes” painting and then gives up after 5 minutes because he’s bored!! So I managed to get the downstairs hall all painted, two coats and also managed to get the wallpaper hung. The kids were desperate to “help” so I gave them each a pencil and they drew some pictures on the end wall that was waiting to be papered…didn’t go quite to plan though as Chloe had a strop when I said she couldn’t help paint and then proceeded to stomp off to her bedroom sliding the pencil all across the wall as she went, at least I was still on the first coat – so at least I could paint straight over it!! Definitely would’ve been a little quicker without the kids but got there in the end and another plus point – painting is a fantastic calorie burning activity. Although I could’ve definitely done without Gerry coming into the hall after my 8 hour painting marathon and commenting “what colour was it before? I can’t really tell the difference…maybe its just because I’m a bloke though”…………What the hell?! It was dark blue and now it is stoney colour – tut tut MEN!
What Extra Calorie Burning Activities Can You Find?
So this brings me to thinking about this weeks blog…you don’t have to go to the gym, train for a marathon or lift weights all day to burn calories. Working in the garden, cutting the grass, trimming the bushes, sweeping the driveway are all fantastic ways to burn calories. Cleaning the house, making the beds, hoovering the floor, cleaning the windows, dusting the cupboards – they’re all calorie burning activities. The more effort you put into doing these tasks, the more calories you will burn. Now if we get all the snow that’s been predicted then shoveling snow is excellent for burning calories (just make sure you are wrapped up warm lol :-)) Basically the more you move the better! 
Don’t let being cooped up in the house be another excuse why you “can’t” get the exercise in. If you have kids play with them, or have a game to help clean the house as quickly as you can – give each child a different job (basically anything that distracts them long enough for you to get some hardcore and energetic stuff done!) and get stuck in together. If the house is perfectly pristine – then lucky you! Why not try having a dance-off instead? My kids both love dancing around in the kitchen while we are cooking dinner. The kids both like “helping” me do the dinner and they help by putting veggies in the pan and trying to weigh things out. Once we have got the dinner on the go, the next favourite thing to do is have a boogie around the kitchen. Sometimes I practice my Zumba and they try and follow – but by far their favourite is climbing onto the bench in the kitchen and I have to pick them up pretending to waltz around the kitchen………now I don’t know how many calories that burns but I can imagine a LOT, I am literally out of breath after 1 waltz around the kitchen – but the screams of “one more mummy” keep me going at least another few times each 🙂 By the time the oven beeps we’ve all worked up an appetite!
Make Small Changes and Plan
I guess my formula for successful weight loss, and more importantly maintaining that lifestyle for LIFE is making small changes that are easy to slot in and keep into your everyday routine! For me – fitting in exercise whilst I’m doing other things helps me to fit in everything I actually need to fit in, trying to kill 2 birds with 1 stone is always top 
priority for me so that I can actually get a small bit of “me” time every once in a while! Time management is a really good way to make sure you make the most of your time…and I hate to say it again, but PLAN, PLAN, PLAN and then PLAN some more! The more you can get everything planned ahead the more structured your routine will be, the quicker you will get everything done – and the more time it will free up! SOOOO get that plan together, get your time organised – and regardless of whether you can get out and about, or whether you are stuck in the house, there are always ways to keep the energy levels high so draw a line under those excuses and get cracking! Even if you have Sky TV flick the channel to Channel 282 (Ireland) Fitness Channel as they have fantastic workouts on them for you to do. If you have SKY Plus then even better; look through and see what workouts you fancy and set them to record – there are always calorie burning activities on for you to do when you are at home and can’t get out, as well as members having access to my workout videos 🙂
Don’t Let An Excuse Get In Your Way!
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Hannah x