New Habits Pay Off

Good morning!

I absolutely love waking up to this sight...

Carmelita on my left, Parker on my right.  Heaven!  Parker has always had his "spot" on my right side every night but Carmelita hasn't figured out where her spot is.  It's a toss-up on whether she's under the covers or over the covers, by my feet or by my stomach.  Sometimes I'll even see her curled up with Terry!  Parker has learned that it's impossible to sleep with Terry since he moves (and sleep walks) too much ;)

I woke up slow, got dressed, started the coffee, and headed out for a walk with the dogs.

For the last week and a half, I have taken the dogs for a walk around the park by our house every morning.  While some mornings I am out the door by 5:40AM and therefore don't have much time to take them for a walk (but do walk them as soon as I'm home from work), on the days where I have off or don't work until 2:00PM, I'll walk them first thing in the morning.

Today, I decided to finally record how long our little route is.

Very short and never takes more than 20 minutes, but it's the perfect amount of excitement and exercise for the little pups.  But I was curious, besides being an awesome mood booster and start to my day every morning, what else was this extra 1/2 mile of walking a day doing for me?

Burning between 50-100 extra calories each day can equal to a 10 pound weight loss in a year!  I'll take it.

Some other ways to torch 100 calories without realizing it?

Mowing the lawn for 20 minutes
Raking leaves for 23 minutes
Shoveling snow for 15 minutes (NOT looking forward to this)
Shopping for 38 minutes

Or some goofy ways...

Put on lip balm 765 times
Fish for 41 minutes (Terry will enjoy that one!)
Dog paddle for 17 minutes
Play "chopsticks" on the piano for 41 minutes

What are your favorite ways to burn calories without considering it exercise?

On one list, I did see water-skiing burns 100 calories for every 15 minutes!  Love it!