Everybody is always thrilled to lose their baby weight, right? I’m sure I can blame my success mostly on what I have been eating (good, real food healthy stuff!), but I also make good use of my time while standing up in the kitchen.

As you might be able to ascertain by the title of my blog, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen!  While chopping veggies and especially doing dishes, there’s not much else to do, so I focus on posture.  (Unless you’re a Christian; click here for dishes prayers…or if you’re a blogger you’re probably writing posts in your head…but you can still work on tummy tone!)

Here are the three things that work for me in the kitchen:

1.  Inside Shoes

Every morning I make sure I find my inside shoes and put them right on. It gets my day going and keeps me from crawling back into bed!

Flylady turned me on to this concept, and I have to say she’s right.  Two falls ago I bought new tennis shoes, and wearing them outside in a Michigan winter seemed like a waste of the “new” look of new shoes.  I gave the inside shoes thing a try, and I haven’t looked back!  Now every pair of tennis shoes I buy will become my “inside” pair, and the old inside pair goes outside.

Inside shoes keep me feeling industrious all day (less likely to flop on the couch and fall asleep) and give needed support for all the time I spend standing in the kitchen.  I know my feet, back and joints are happier at the end of the day with my inside shoes on than with slippers or socks.  Inside shoes are something I love!

2.  Four corners of the Feet

When I did a class of yoga, the teacher explained that when you stand up, you want to balance the “four corners of the feet”.  When I do dishes, if I concentrate on making both balls and heels of my feet flat and evenly balanced, about shoulder or hip width apart, it helps the rest of my posture all the way up to my neck.

The other posture option I use is one that was on my prenatal exercises sheet, and my friend who is a physical therapist confirms that it is a helpful, ergonomic posture.  You open the cupboard door and put one foot up on the ledge of the cupboard.  I like to switch feet from time to time to stay balanced.  This one makes my hips feel better if I’m doing a lot of standing.

3.  Keep the Core Tight

You’ve all been waiting for the tummy toning part, right? Dishes cleanup is the perfect time to do what my mom calls “vertical sit-ups”. Basically that just means keeping your abdominal area tight and pulling up toward the chest cavity. You’d be surprised at the tone you can gain just by good posture, and the kitchen counter is a great place to practice!

Someday this will probably be a Monday Mission, but for now it’s just an extra bonus!

For more tips like these, visit Works for me Wednesday or see some of my other posts:

• How Much Does your Dishwasher Cost to Run?
• Why I have Empty Ziplocs in my Fridge
• 10 Easy Prep Foods You’ll Always Find in my Freezer
• A Reduced Produce Primer
• The Fate of Returned Food in Grocery Stores
• Why You Should Never Use Antibacterial Soap

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