One, two, three, four; Pick up a mop and clean the floor;
five, six, seven, eight; house cleaning and exercise are the perfect mate!

Here's the solution to those pressed for time (and clean clothes), Aerobic House Cleaning by Steve Markovich:

If house cleaning were an Olympic sport, Stevie Markovich would be in the running for a medal.

Without resorting to gym fees or spandex, the 57-year-old Mr. Markovich has kept himself fit for the past 16 years by using the "aerobic house cleaning" exercises he devised.

He does squats while washing windows. He performs lunges and hip twists while using the vacuum cleaner, "the most versatile exercise machine" he knows.

Link - via Oddity Central

This fun new app/game shows you just when and where a zombie invasion is about to occur, giving you enough time to run away as fast as you can! Appropriately titled “Zombies, Run!”, it boldly attempt to combine zombie game and exercise regimen into an interactive story experience. Sounds like a great way to let your imagination run wild, just don’t go running out into traffic!

Link

The Army first introduced a formal fitness test to the troops in 1942. Millions of men were being called up to fight in World War II, and not all of them were prepared for the rigors of combat. To get the men in fighting shape, the Army implemented a systematic physical development program as part of the Combat Basic Training course. And the Army Ground Forces Test was designed to assess whether the program was having its desired effect. The test included squat jumps, sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, and a 300 yard run. The emphasis was on functional fitness and giving American GI’s the strength, mobility, and endurance they would need to tackle real tasks on the battlefield.

In 1946, a Physical Training School was created at Fort Bragg with the mission of exploring how to take the goal of functional fitness farther. The training program developed at the school and the fitness test were codified in the 1946 edition of FM 21-20, the Army’s physical training manual.

Basically, Grandpa was doing Cross-Fit before it was cool.

The physical fitness standards for service members has been relaxed since then, and more emphasis is placed on technical skills. Take a look at the fitness testing done in the 1940s, and see how tired you get just reading it. Or -you may want to try and see how well you would do! Link -via Nag on the Lake

Frugality is an important lesson to learn, but there is certainly a point where it becomes ridiculous. Over at Consumerist, there is a great roundup of the 16 most over-the-top tales of frugal fathers. To be fair, some aren’t nearly as bad as others, but when your dad is the type to have “hooked up the tv to an exercise bike so that we kids had to peddle to watch our cartoons. TV lost its charm quickly and we went outside to play,” you know your pop may have crossed the line -of course, that is a great way to get your kids to exercise.

Link Image Via Gliko [Flickr]

A fat cat in Japan complies with doctor’s orders by starting an exercise routine. I don’t know if it’s the cat’s facial expression, his considerable size, or the appropriate music, but I could not stop watching this video. Link -via Metafilter

I suspect that this is not a real product, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is. It’s probably as effective as a six pack abs tattoo.

via Geekologie

This Friday’s Museum of Possibilities employs several themes that are found in many of my pseudo-inventions: Hiding, duplicity, pretending and concealing. Today’s ideas are offered as solutions to the problem of storing and using exercise equipment in a small home or apartment. Some of these concepts will seem coy and cute, but at the same time odd. Who in their right mind jumps on a trampoline inside a fake China closet in the dark, while listening to headphones? Who would not worry that a fine living room lounge chair that contained a hidden rowing machine might eventually become grimy with sweat?
Yet I can imagine some – though perhaps few – situations in which such concealed exercise equipment might be just what is needed!

Visit Steven M. Johnson at his website.

Drink Tons of Water

Image via gfrphoto [Flickr]

You probably already know that you’re supposed to drink a lot of water if you’re trying to lose weight, but you might not know just how important water intake is to the cause. Simply drinking two glasses of water (around half a liter) prior to meals can make you think you are fuller and reduce your meal portions. Water can also help you digest. In fact, the average woman eats around 2,000 calories a day, but when she consumes water first, that number drops to around 1,200 calories. Similar decreased calorie consumption was seen in men as well.

Drink More Tea

Image via Arun Katiyar [Flickr]

Water’s not the only thing you should be drinking. A Tufts University study has shown that drinking three cups of green tea a day can help you lose twice as much weight as you would otherwise. White tea is also beneficial and a German study found that it can help decrease the number of new fat cells you develop while helping you burn off the existing fat cells in your body.

Cut Out The Corn Syrup

Image via Gezellig-girl.com [Flickr]

Speaking of beverages, if you just have to drink soda, put down your regular Pepsi products and grab some Throwback, which is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. While both add on calories, a Princeton University study has shown that corn syrup prompts far more weight gain than sugar does.

Of course, soda isn’t the only source of high fructose corn syrup. It seems to be in everything these days and it can even be hard to avoid. On a personal note, I can tell you that I cut almost all sources of corn syrup out of my diet and I’ve felt a lot healthier afterwards. Most noticeably, the shaking I get between meals if I wait to long to eat is mostly gone when I don’t have corn syrup for a whole week.

Enjoy a Fattening Breakfast

Image via alternakive [Flickr]

While eating a high-calorie, high-cholesterol breakfast can seem counter intuitive to the goal of weight loss, it can actually be incredibly good for you. According to an article in the International Journal of Obesity, eating a fattening breakfast, a lighter lunch and a very light dinner can lead to more weight loss than eating light meals all day. Researchers believe that eating a hearty meal early in the morning revs up your metabolism, helping you to burn off everything you eat throughout the day. If you only eat cereal, your body will only be able to metabolize carbs throughout the day, but if you eat eggs and bacon, you will be able to digest fat and carbs much more efficiently.

Eat Slower

Eating slower helps you feel fuller after eating less food, your body also has more time to digest each bite individually, leading to better metabolization of the meal.

Put Leftovers Away Before Eating

Image via Brenderous

[Flickr]

By now, you’re probably familiar with the importance of portion control, but sometimes it’s so hard when you have good food sitting right in front of you. A simple solution to reduce your number of second helpings is to put away leftovers before you start to eat your meal. If you do go back for seconds, you’ll also have to take the time to remove the food from the fridge and the Tupperware, which will often reduce the serving size of your second trip.

Overload On Veggies

Image via Craft*ology [Flickr]

If you can’t handle portion control and love copious amounts of food, then just fill your plate with steamed veggies or salad with light dressing. These yummy foods have limited calories and massive nutrient values, maximizing the healthy side your indulgences.

Don’t Eat and Multi-Task

One of my biggest problems is the fact that I will snack while working at my computer and before I know it, I’ll have gone through a whole box of crackers. While you can always try snack packs so you can limit the amount you intake, it’s generally better to just avoid eating while doing other things. This also allows you to take a break and relax for a while, making your food more of a treat and less of a habit.

Instead of Snacking, Brush Your Teeth

Image via justonlysteve [Flickr]

If you’re craving a snack, try brushing your teeth or using mouthwash. This will not only placate your mouth from wanting to nibble, it will also make you wait a while because most foods taste icky right after you brush. Your dentist will also like this plan.

Buy Food With Cash

Sometimes you’re going to end up having to eat fast food. It’s part of our modern world, but you can easily reduce the amount you order at the restaurant by paying with cash instead of a credit card. A study by Visa showed that customers spent 30% more at fast food restaurants when paying with plastic instead of cash.

Make A “Veggie Section” In Your Shopping Cart

A recent University of New Mexico study showed that shopping carts that have been modified with a “vegetable section” caused shoppers to buy over 100% more veggies than they normally would, while they did not spend any additional money. Although your local grocery carts may not have a veggies section, you can improvise by putting a basket in your cart and telling yourself to only put vegetables in the basket.

Listen to Music While You Work Out

Image via Earl What I Saw [Flickr]

Of course, dieting goes hand in hand with exercise when it comes to weight loss, and if you want to make the most of your gym time, rock out while you work out. This not only makes exercise less tedious and boring, but this decreased boredom can help you work out longer and harder, increasing your performance by up to 20%.

Watch Less TV

When you watch tv, your heart rate slows and you burn 20 to 30 fewer calories per hour than you would doing just about anything else. Instead, read a book, take a walk, play with your dog. Just do something that requires more energy.

Wear Comfy Clothes

If your work doesn’t require you to dress up, then don’t. People who wear comfortable clothes walk an average of 8% more every day than those in business attire. Besides, why be uncomfortable when you don’t have to be?

Weigh Yourself

Image by foshydog [Flickr]

You are 82% less likely to regain weight you’ve shed if you weigh yourself on a daily basis. It can also help motivate you to keep working out and stick with the diet.

Before you start on any weight loss regimen, I seriously recommend learning your body fat percentage so you know what you’re working with. While many people think that your body mass index (BMI) is a good indicator of your health, this measurement doesn’t take body shapes and muscle mass into account. You may be overweight according to the BMI and healthily muscular according to a body fat test. For a simple test you can use at home, try this one at Health Central.

Do any of you have any tips to add that help you keep your weight down?

Sources: Lifehacker #1, #2, #3, Health Assist #1, #2, BBC, KOB, About.com, Reader’s Digest, InventorSpot, MSN and Medical News Today

ElliptiGo is a combination of a stationary elliptical trainer and a bicycle. It looks a bit unstable to me, but the official website says that it was successfully used on the grueling 129-mile Death Ride in California. What do you think — is this a useful exercise tool?

via CrunchGear | Official Website

Overweight, sedentary people who spent a week at an elevation of 8,700 feet lost weight while eating as much as they wanted and doing no exercise. A month after they came back down, they had kept two-thirds of those pounds off. The results appear in the Feb. 4 Obesity. [...]

The scientists ferried 20 overweight, middle-aged men by train and cable car to a research station perched 1,000 feet below the peak of Germany’s highest mountain, Zugspitze. During the week-long stay, the men could eat and drink as much as they liked and were forbidden from any exercise other than leisurely strolls. The team measured the men’s weight, metabolic rate, levels of hunger and satiety hormones before, during, and after their mountain retreat.

After a week up high, the subjects lost an average of 3 pounds. A month later, they were still 2 pounds lighter. The sceintists’ data showed this was likely because they ate about 730 calories less at high altitudes than they did at normal elevations. They may have felt less hungry, in part, because levels of leptin, the satiety hormone, surged during the stay, while grehlin, the hunger hormone, remained unchanged. Their metabolic rate also spiked, meaning they burned more calories than they usually did.

A high-altitude weight loss strategy could be viable, though studies have shown peoples’ appetites bounce back after about six months at high elevation, Leissner said. “If you could do intermittent periods for one week, then go down, and then go back up, this might actually be helpful.”

Link (Photo Stephan A [Flickr])

Once adjusted to take into account the help from pets, the study indicated that boys in the borough walk or run 12,620 steps a day, below the recommended level of 15,000 steps.

It also found that girls take 10,150 steps, falling short of the recommended 12,000 steps.

It indicated that more than a third of 11 and 12-year-olds in the borough of Tower Hamlets are overweight or obese – 11% higher than the national average.

Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Flickr user size8jeans)

Researchers from Loyola University Health System and other centers compared African American women in metropolitan Chicago with women in rural Nigeria. On average, the Chicago women weighed 184 pounds and the Nigerian women weighed 127 pounds.

Researchers had expected to find that the slimmer Nigerian women would be more physically active. To their surprise, they found no significant difference between the two groups in the amount of calories burned during physical activity.

"Decreased physical activity may not be the primary driver of the obesity epidemic," said Loyola nutritionist Amy Luke, a member of the study team. [...]

Diet is a more likely explanation than physical activity expenditure for why Chicago women weigh more than Nigerian women, Luke said. She noted the Nigerian diet is high in fiber and carbohydrates and low in fat and animal protein. By contrast, the Chicago diet is 40 percent to 45 percent fat and high in processed foods.

Link

I don’t know whether to call this American ingenuity and laziness: behold the Canine Treadmill that lets the dog walk itself indoors. You can set the speed, distance, and incline to give your dog the right amount of exercise.

Link | Previously on Neatorama