FemaleFirst's Countdown to a Credit-Crunch Christmas has begun. It might seem a bit early but if you want to fit into your gorgeous dress for those parties there's no time like the present to start your fitness regime.
We've looked at Wii Fit, basic fitness solutions and celebrity fitness DVDs as a way to get in shape for the festive period. Today we're looking at keeping fit while doing your household chores; basically doing exercise without even realising it!
So stop being a couch potato and get up an be active! Firstly make sure you have a decent warm-up by jogging on the spot and stretching your muscles gently.
Next, prepare to plug in your vacuum and whiz your way around your whole house- twice. Believe us, by the time you've gone round once you will be sweating, so by the time you've done it twice you'll feel like you've done a marathon. Out top tip is to put some music on and wiggle to it Mrs Doubtfire style!
Once you've done some household chores, head on out into the garden (weather permitting) and indulge in a mowing, weeding and digging exercise programme. Even just picking things up and carrying it around counts as some valuable exercise time and if you can do it for a few hours without needed a rest, you'll be in tip top shape in no time!
Our next suggestion involves canned goods and bottles of water. Yep, you guessed it- place one of these in each hand and lift to tone your upper body. Forget investing in weights, either of these work just as well and try combining it with jogging or climbing up your stairs to strengthen and tone your leg muscles.
If you have a car then prepare to lovingly take care of it once a week until Christmas, by giving it a good old wash. By squatting, lunging, bending and scrubbing you'll be doing a full work out without even realising it. If you're doing a good job then it should last at least an hour and you should feel exhausted- but at least you will have done some exercise and got a nice clean car out of it.
Finally, go back to basics and simply lie on a mat and do some ab crunches, or grab the back of the chair for support and do some lunches and leg raises.
Next week we'll be looking at the best diets on the market to help you slim in time for Christmas And I'll also be running my Belly dancing blog from now until Christmas, so check it out here and see how I'm getting on in my battle to tone up and shed the flab.