Posted 4/25/2011 on
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/23/earlyshow/saturday/main20056739.shtml
(CBS News) With summer right around the corner, you may be looking to shed some pounds, but you may not always have enough time to exercise or hit the gym. But on "The Early Show on Saturday Morning," Cynthia Sass, registered dietitian and author of "Cinch! Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds and Lose Inches," explained how to burn calories throughout your day: at the office, at home - even while you're asleep!
AT THE OFFICE: By cutting 100 calories per day, a person can lose 10 pounds in a year. That's the equivalent of 10 tubs of Crisco.
There's a new study out that explores the danger of prolonged sitting. Scientists now believe that "excessive sitting may be so taxing on our physical health that even a vigorous workout once a day can't really counteract the deleterious effects," says the Wall Street Journal.
But you can burn calories sitting at your desk by fidgeting, like tapping toes, moving around, or fussing with hands. That can burn off up to 800 extra calories per day, the equivalent of an hour-long spin class.
RELAXING: With a full night's sleep, you can burn around 200 calories.
Spend an hour typing on your computer: Keep those fingers flying for an hour and you just might burn 100 calories, or what you would burn by jumping rope for 10 minutes.
AT HOME: Cooking burns about 150 calories per hour! You can burn half of what you eat for dinner merely by cooking it yourself!
After dinner, loading the dishwasher for 30 minutes burns 105 calories, and washing them by hand eats up 160 calories.
You can also burn 72 calories while doing laundry. And ironing for 30 minutes burns about 70 calories and tones the muscles of the upper body. Stand up straight at the ironing board and press down firmly. Switch hands periodically so you don't overdevelop one arm.
An hour-long massage can burn more calories than you might think -- 230 calories -- the same as an hour of light weight training.
