Work off the calories from your Chai Tow Kueh lunch with these household chores

Can't go to the gym due to safe distancing measures? These household chores - which you probably have more time to do if you're commuting less these days - will help you get moving.

Do what: Watering plants

Burn off: 26 calories in 15 minutes OR five strawberries. If you water (and eventually kill) your plants three times in a day, you get to eat more strawberries. Yay!

Do what: Washing the dishes

Burn off: 50 calories in half an hour OR one stick of satay. Verdict: the ROI is too low for this much work (and you suffer dry hands at that) - so hello, automated dishwasher/disgruntled spouse.

Do what: Doing the laundry

Burn off: 75 calories in half an hour OR two small pieces of chwee kueh. And by this, we don't mean heading into a laundromat and scrolling down your Instagram feed for 30 minutes.

Do what: Ironing

Burn off: 88 calories in an hour OR one tablespoon of peanut butter. Maybe all that perspiring from holding a steaming iron helps too.

Do what: Mopping or vacuuming

Burn off: 170 calories in an hour OR one-third of a plate of fried carrot cake. Truth is, unless you live in a palatial mansion, you'll probably be done cleaning your entire home in less than an hour. And if you lived in a palatial mansion, we are betting you won't be mopping or vacuuming the floor yourself. Also, no "what if I use a robotic vacuum" questions.

Do what: Cleaning the bathroom

Burn off: 180 calories in an hour OR two popiah. Don't hit the gym after a pig-out session. Scrub a toilet bowl instead.

Do what: Gardening

Burn off: 250 calories in an hour OR a plate of fried beehoon (plain - no fried egg, no fishcake, no otah). Now to find a garden in land-scarce Singapore that is not vertical, miniature or in an artificial light-fed tray.

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.