Odd ways to burn

(Vibrant Image Studio)

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/