Odd ways to burn

Obesity continues to dominate health headlines this week with studies and advice on counteracting obesity, the cancer link, genetics, obese pets, children and celebrities with education, government initiatives and taxing 'junk food' - missing is the fact that more energy needs to be exerted than consumed.

Cedric Bryant, PhD, of the American Council on Exercise, explained the "afterburn," the period of time after the body has completed an activity and continues to burn calories, "it's generally a function of how many calories you burn during the activity. A good rule of thumb is that for every 100 calories you burn during an activity, you'll burn an additional 15 or so from the afterburn effect."

According to Military.com, US military and veteran online community, if you are a male around 190 lbs (86 kg) you can burn about 200 more calories during the same hour of activities opposed to a woman 145lb (66kg) woman.

Here is an entertaining list from Men's Fitness magazine of how you could better spend one hour of your day to burn calories in unlikely situations:

one-hour activity                    70kg         86kg

Milking a cow                              211            259

Policing (making an arrest)          562            689

Making photocopies                     176            215

Reading                                        91            112

Grocery shopping                        246            302

Toweling off after a shower          281            345

Sex, vigorous effort                     105            129

Rope jumping, moderate effort    703            862

Handball                                     844          1034

Making your bed                         141            172

To view all 85 activities including sports, cardio, recreation and chores, go to: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_11_18/ai_93009049/