Christmas is nearly here; the nights are dark, towns and cities across the UK have been illuminated by z-list celebs and the Coca-Cola adverts are on our TV screens. Chances are you will be thinking about (or perhaps already started) getting your Christmas shopping sorted.
Christmas is a busy time of year, we understand that. Sometimes other more interesting things like shopping for gifts takes precedence over things like aerobics classes and gym sessions. On our usual mission to make things easier here at WeightLossTopic.com, we decided to put together a few ways you can keep fit whilst doing the shopping.
Shopping can burn some serious calories so as if you didn’t have enough of an excuse to go shopping, now you really do. If done properly, you can burn as many calories as a medium intensity workout in the gym what with all that walking and bag carrying.
- Carry your own bags and spread them evenly – distribute the weight over both hands to tone up your arms and shoulders nicely. Stop for rest to avoid over working your muscles particularly if you are a hardcore shopper.
- Do some lunges – these can be a really effective way of toning up your legs. If you have some nice heavy bags you can do a few lunges whilst you continue with your shopping. OK, so you might get a few strange looks but then again you might start a new craze and worst case scenario you will be the one smug at your toned bum and thighs.
- Walk fast in between shops – don’t meander, if you want to burn some calories then you need to do a quick march between shops. This is a really effective way of working out your legs and shedding the pounds.
- Walk into town (if you can) – the best way to really make your Christmas shopping work as part of your weight loss plan is to take a stroll into town. Obviously if you live too far out then this can be impossible but if you take the bus or train then get off a few stops early and walk the rest of the way. If you are driving then consider parking at one of the car parks a little further out of town, they tend to be cheaper and they can add a few extra calorie busting metres to your workout.
- Select your coffee break snacks carefully – we all know how tempting it is to hit the cafe and grab yourself a lovely big mocha and a nice big slab of cake to treat yourself after a hard morning shopping but remember that in around 5 minutes you can undo all the hard work of the day. So select your snack carefully, try the fresh fruit options or perhaps just a coffee (without all the trimmings!). It might be frustrating but if you are serious about weight loss then it is a necessary evil.
