Nice and easy does it

11:28am Monday 28th January 2008

As the end of January looms, your New Year's resolution of making regular visits to the gym may already be tailing off - surveys show that by February the novelty will be wearing off for 30 per cent of new gym members.

By that time, they will struggle to get to the gym even once a week, and by the end of the year four in ten will have abandoned it altogether.

Well, you don't have to put your hand in your pocket for an expensive gym membership - you can say goodbye to the flab by simply putting some oomph into your housework, getting off the bus one stop early, or having more sex!

Professor Marc Hamilton of the University of Missouri has found that the sheer effort of standing upright is enough to double the metabolic rate, and the amount of calories you burn.

"If you stand up, you are much more likely to end up pacing or pottering around and that seems to make a crucial difference.

"Many activities like talking on the phone or watching a child's ball game can be done just as enjoyably upright, and you burn double the number of calories when you're doing it because you're probably going to pace around."

In a series of studies he showed that enzymes responsible for breaking down fat are suppressed when a person is sitting rather than standing, leading to fat being stored, rather than burned off.

He says: "To hold a body that weighs 170lb upright takes a fair amount of energy from muscles. There is a large amount of energy associated with standing every day that can't easily be compensated for by 30 to 60 minutes at the gym."

Andrew Shields, editor of new book, 365 Ways To Get Fit, in association with Sport England, also believes that small activities in daily life, like brushing teeth or turning on the television, can be bulge busters.

He recognises the benefits of standing: "Simply standing up uses 0.3 calories per minute.

It's small changes made to a lifestyle will build together to make a real Þ

difference - it only takes 30 minutes a day to feel healthier and happier. So don't go crazy and start running every day, because it's probably unsustainable.

"Your aim is to gradually increase the amount of activity in your life - an extra bike ride here, an additional game of football with the kids there - and to extend the duration.

"Stay out half an hour longer when walking in the country, or prolong that afternoon gardening session."

And here are come more calorie-burners: n Have more sex! Thirty minutes of passion can burn around 160 calories.

n Wear less! By doing so you'll have to create your own body heat, which is the very root of the calorific process (one calorie being the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius).

n When driving and the traffic lights are red, pull in your tummy muscles and clench buttocks. Hold until the lights turn green! Great for firming your bottom.

n Assign an exercise to each room of the home, do it once or twice daily. For example, do five sit-ups in the lounge, ten star jumps in the kitchen, five hops on one leg along the hall...

n Get off the bus one stop early, and burn six calories for each minute that you walk. Standing on public transport (and trying to keep your balance) or pacing the platform when that train is late burns calories.

n Have baby, can exercise! A powerpramming' workout adds purpose to that daily push around the park. For ideas visit: www.powerpramming.co.uk n Fidget - squirming around in your seat, standing up and sitting down, and crossing or uncrossing your legs can burn up to 350 calories per day.

n Ditch the remote control - getting up and changing the TV channel manually ten times a day, with the TV six feet from the sofa, burns an extra ten calories a day (that totals 3,650 per year, enough to burn 1lb of body fat). Walk around during ad breaks to burn up to six calories a minute.

n When sitting, occasionally lift feet from the floor and hold the position, to work the abdominal and hip flexor muscles.

n Use a doorway to help tone the sides of your shoulders. Standing upright with your arms hanging straight down, push outwards against the door jambs with the backs of your palms. Hold for 60 seconds then step away from the door, relaxing your arms and letting them drop to your sides. Then, feel them levitate'!

n Burn 230 calories an hour making a bed, 80 calories with 15 minutes of vacuuming.

n Wash, peel and chop your vegetables, using up two calories per minute.

exploding the fitness myths n If you stop exercising your muscles turn to fat.

Wrong: They can't - muscle and fat are completely different substances in the body.

n I'm fat because I burn calories slowly.

Wrong: Being fat is not caused by a sluggish metabolism. A study showed that although fat people expend more energy than slim people, they also tend to underestimate how much they eat, by as much as 800 calories per day.

n Running is bad for the knees.

Wrong: Running is actually good for your knees, and ankles and hips as well. Scientific studies show that moderate amounts of running can help protect against problems such as osteoarthritis by keeping the major joints of the body strong and mobile. Wear supportive shoes though, and keep a good posture.

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