Lose 200 calories – just doing your weekly shop

. . . and 140 soaking in a hot bath

Dreading the thought of another session at the gym or wishing you could painlessly work off that extra slice of cake without an exhausting run around the park?

Here’s the good news: it may be possible to ditch those excess calories without even noticing.

‘While there’s no substitute for a workout to keep you healthy, your body burns a surprising number of calories as you go about your daily activities,’ says personal trainer and exercise guru Mark Healy.

‘From shopping to washing and everything in between, if you’re too busy to hit the gym then it’s worth going about your daily tasks with gusto to help burn the maximum calories.’

So what else in your daily life can help you drop a dress size without working up a sweat? You’ll be surprised to discover how painless it can be.

ENJOYING A SMOOCH

MAYBE you haven’t spent significant amounts of time kissing since you were a teenager and these days you’d rather sleep than smooch. but if passion for your partner isn’t enough motivation, consider the fact that kissing and hugging can take inches off your waistline.

if it’s really passionate, according to health expert Professor bryant Stamford of Hanover College, indiana, a good snog can burn up to two calories a minute.

‘intimate contact increases oxytocin levels that help to reduce stress levels, blood pressure and heart disease, and can help you burn up to 60 calories every halfhour,’ says Mark Healy.

So it might be worth greeting your partner with more than the usual brief peck on the cheek. CALORIES BURNED: Up to 120 an hour. EQUIVALENT EXERCISE: 20-minute run.

TRYING ON CLOTHES

Carting armfuls of clothes in and out of the changing room, struggling into tight polo necks and out of pencil skirts, marching determinedly from one shop to the next and back again — it’s just as exhausting as a trip to the gym and, hurrah, just as good for you.

according to a recent survey by debenhams, the average woman burns 385 calories looking for the perfect outfit, taking an average 7,305 steps.

‘You can burn up to 130 calories an hour on a shopping trip,’ says Healy. ‘all that contorting and pulling items on and off is good for stretching muscles and increasing blood flow, too.’ CALORIES BURNED: Up to 130 an hour. EQUIVALENT EXERCISE: 20 push-ups.

NICE LONG BATH

Sinking gently into a hot bath is all about relaxing and singing along to the radio, not dieting surely?

not so: a Loughborough University study revealed that a steamy bath of 40c can melt away 140 calories (that’s a significant 7 per cent of a daily allowance of 2,000), and that sitting in a hot bath for an hour causes an 80 per cent increase in energy expenditure, lowering blood glucose levels as a result.

‘taking a hot bath not only relaxes muscles, but also stimulates the release of heat shock proteins,’ says Healy. these are proteins produced by cells under stressful conditions, which scientists think may divert glucose into muscles and away from the bloodstream.

‘Coupled with activities such as exfoliating, scrubbing your back and shaving your legs, you could burn a significant number of calories just getting clean,’ he says. CALORIES BURNED: 140 an hour. EQUIVALENT EXERCISE: 15 minutes of vigorous swimming.

COOKING DINNER

YOU probably do it every night without thinking about it.

and while shoving a ready meal in the microwave won’t burn much off, an hour’s chopping, lifting pans, stirring and blending will give you a decent mini-workout, plus the satisfaction that you’ve earned the meal you’re about to eat.

Chop root vegetables with a bit of enthusiasm, use a pestle and mortar to crush spices rather than an electric grinder and do the washingup yourself rather than languidly stacking the dishwasher.

it all adds up to a very respectable 150-plus calories an hour. ‘Cooking is an excellent way to burn off calories,’ says Healy.

‘rustling up your favourite meal not only gives your arms a big workout with all the lifting of heavy pans, chopping and stirring, but also encourages you to make things from scratch rather than ordering an unhealthy takeaway.’ CALORIES BURNED: 150 to 240 an hour. EQUIVALENT EXERCISE: Half-hour jog around the park.

HAVE A GOOD LAUGH

it’S hard to believe that sitting in the cinema watching the ab Fab movie could do you as much good as a post-work circuit of the gym, but laughter is a full-body experience that can leave you as exhausted as a treadmill session.

research from Vanderbilt Univer- sity, nashville, published in the international Journal of Obesity, found that just 15 minutes of good, hard laughing a day will burn up to 40 calories — enough to drop 4 lb of excess weight a year.

‘Laughing is the perfect way to give your abdominal muscles a real work-out, second only to an intense session of crunches,’ says Mark. ‘it’s a brilliant way to relieve physical tension and stress, too, leaving you relaxed for up to 45 minutes.’

try laughing little and often, whether it’s during a phone call with your best friend or watching a DVD of your favourite comedian. CALORIES BURNED: 160 an hour. EQUIVALENT EXERCISE: Half-an-hour of physically demanding gardening.

SUPERMARKET DASH

DOING the weekly shop can burn calories faster than Jessica Ennishill can say ‘heptathlon’.

as your trolley fills up, you’re effectively doing resistance training, firming up arms, legs and torso. Piling your trolley with heavy items first — tins, bottles and potatoes — intensifies the workout.

‘Pushing a trolley while walking is good for arms and for your core muscles, especially as you add more stuff and it gets heavier to push,’ says Healy. ‘reaching and bending down to pick up products also activates a variety of muscles.’ CALORIES BURNED: Up to 200 an hour. EQUIVALENT EXERCISE: 40 minutes of badminton.

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