Shopping – The Ultimate Workout

I quit the gym this week. It’s probably been about eight weeks since I last went, and now that I’m back at uni and not working so much I could do without the membership fee leaving my account each month! 

I’ve always thought of shopping as great exercise, so I’ve done some research and I am OVERJOYED at exactly how much of a workout it is! Visits to the high street mean that we walk on average 200 miles a year – that’s over 14,000 calories burnt! 

Over our lifetimes, we ladies will walk 12,000 miles just from visiting our favourite stores which is pretty much the distance from London to Australia! Crikey! 
A survey was carried out on a group of shoppers who were asked to wear pedometer when out shopping over a four week period to measure how far they had walked, and while short trips to get daily essentials were not included, it measured trips to the supermarket as well as visits to Malls and high streets.

{Running to get the best buys at a Sample Sale – now that’s my kind of workout! 
Image from Confessions of a Shopaholic}

Many girls see shopping as a past time, and will happily spend a Saturday browsing stores and not think anything of pottering around for hours at a time. So while you aren’t putting much thought into the distance travelled, your aching feet at the end of a shopping trip hint at the amount of exercise you’ve put in!

So as I’ve cancelled my gym membership, i’ll just have to work even harder on my next shopping trip!!