Accidental Fitness

Even if you can’t get to the gym or find time for a walk or a run, it’s still possible to stay in shape with activities you do every day, says Leslie Dantchik, a health coach and nutrition expert in New York. The key? “Sneaking” in exercise whenever you can. Here’s how.

(Note: All calories burned are calculated based on a 130-pound woman.)

Thirty minutes of light housework will burn 87 calories—and your house will be a lot cleaner than if you’d logged time on the treadmill. You’ll also reap some toning benefits. “When you do housework, you’re using your core almost the whole time,” explains Dantchik. “When you’re dusting, you’re using your shoulders and rear delts. When you’re picking things up, bend at your knees and you’ll be doing squats and toning your glutes.”

Extra credit: For a big calorie burn, head for the back yard. Gardening burns 154 calories in half an hour.

Instead of sitting around waiting for your kids’ soccer games to start, go for a walk. Walking for 20 minutes at around 3 miles per hour will burn 72 calories. Besides burning calories, you’ll have fit in two-thirds of your daily aerobic exercise as recommended by the surgeon general.

Extra credit: Walk on the grass, and you’ll burn one-third more: 109 calories.

Yes, lying on the sand is a key part of relaxing on the beach. But get up and take a walk, and you’ll get a great workout. Walking in the sand for 45 minutes will burn 209 calories.

Extra credit: Walk in thigh-deep water at the beach or pool, and you’ll burn 289 calories—and tone up your quads, hamstrings and glutes at the same time.

Instead of letting the kids watch TV, take them to the park: It will benefit all of you. Playing with them outdoors will burn 216 calories. “You’ll also set a good example by encouraging physical activity,” says Dantchik.

Extra credit: Use the playground equipment to do calisthenics, such as pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, step-ups or jumping jacks, and you’ll burn a whopping 495 calories. Another idea: Dantchik suggests playing classic kids' games such as hopscotch, four-square or tetherball with them to burn 359 calories.

Another reason to snuggle instead of watching Letterman: Foreplay burns 40 calories in 30 minutes.

Extra credit: Half an hour of really getting busy burns 87 calories.

Instead of fast-forwarding through the commercials, use them as movement breaks. By vacuuming during the 18 minutes of ads typical in a one-hour show, you’ll burn 61 calories.

Extra credit: Jog in place during the breaks, and you’ll increase your calorie burn to 149, says Dantchik.

Not only is cooking dinner for the family generally healthier and less fattening than eating in a restaurant, the activity also helps you burn calories. Whereas sitting for an hour while the waitress does all the work burns 81 calories, 45 minutes of cooking and then eating burns 194.

Extra credit: Burn around 50 more calories by cleaning up afterwards.

It’s hard to stay fit when you’re sitting at a desk all day, so it’s smart to build movement into your workday. Walking to the bathroom closest to your desk burns a mere 18 calories per round-trip, while walking to the other side of the floor doubles your burn to 35 calories. “Another good idea is to declare a ‘no-email’ day, and walk over and talk to colleagues instead of emailing them,” which will help get you moving and allow face-to-face conversation, says Dantchik.

Extra Credit: Use a restroom two floors above you, and you’ll burn nearly 41 calories. That may not seem like a lot, but over a year, you’ll burn 10,701 additional calories—enough to shed three pounds.

Instead of heading to the multiplex on date night, go shoot pool. You’ll burn 309 calories—nearly twice as many as you would sitting at a movie for two hours.

Extra credit: Hit the dance floor at a local club and burn a whopping 966 calories in two hours. “Dancing is also a great way to tone your abs, hips, quads, glutes and calves,” says Dantchik.