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Babysitting: The easy way to lose weight

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Contributed by: Connie Massa on 5/23/2008

Well, once again it's that time of year to pull out last summer's clothing and see what can be salvaged from the winter hibernation.

Like many folks, I put on a few winter pounds, but I'm not a real advocate of exercising. I know it's good for you, but I am admittedly not a fan. I cannot bring myself to join another health club or buy another piece of exercise equipment that eventually ends up being offered half-price in a garage sale.

People, like myself, need non-traditional ways of exercising. The trick is to disguise it as yardwork, household chores or best of all, babysitting.

I have put all three to the test and can say with authority that if you want to drop two sizes fast, the only dietary aid you need is an 11 month old child.

I babysat my grandson, Luke, for 3 days and two nights last week. Come Monday morning, when I put my jeans on, they fell off my waist. I knew right then and there I had found the goose that laid the golden egg.

My day with Luke went something like this:

Wakeup at 8:00 A.M. Get Luke out of the crib (all 23 pounds) and change diaper. Carry him down the steps into the kitchen to make a bottle. Put him in the highchair with his bottle and several toys while he eats. Make approximately 15 trips to the highchair to pick up the bottle and toys that he continually launches onto the floor. It's morning bath time now. Back up the stairs, fill the tub, peel off his clothes, srcub him up, get him dressed and back down the stairs to the family room. Baby gate him in the family room with his toy box. Chase him around the family room as he tries to pull himself up on everything from the glass tables to the lamp cords. Sit patiently on the floor while he climbs all over me like a jungle gym and give him several pony rides on my legs. After three hours of "play", it's back in the highchair for a lunch bottle and strained fruit. Another round of launching occurs. It's now naptime so up the stairs we go. After a two hour nap, it's back up the stairs and down again with Luke in tow. We then go for a walk around the neighborhood in the stroller. After getting home, the whole process starts over again and lasts until bedtime at 9:00 P.M.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted and all my muscles ached, not unlike a good workout.

I figured out that I burned approximately 2000 calories a day during while babysitting and consumed only 1400 calories. Not only did I eat less, my muscles began to redefine themselves. This was almost too good to be true!

I have decided that fad diets and tedious exercise are not the way to go. I have opted for the "family" approach for losing weight and getting in shape.

In the future, when my jeans start to feel snug, I'm going to offer to babysit. If I do enough of it, I may even treat myself to a new bathing suit.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Connie Massa

Castle Rock , CO

Connie Massa has posted 30 stories and 3 comments since joining on 10/2/2007. Connie Massa 's average story rating is 4.96.

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