Have Fun, Burn Calories

You don't have to hit the gym to stay fit -- especially in summer. Here, Liz Neporent, a fitness expert for LifeSupplemented.org and author of such books as Fitness for Dummies and The Ultimate Body: 10 Perfect Workouts for Women, reveals how many calories your favorite activities burn -- and ways to zap even more.

A casual stroll burns 3.5 calories per minute. You can burn an extra calorie per minute by playing a game of chase. No Fido? Take a brisk family walk around the neighborhood -- you'll burn 9.5 calories a minute.

You can burn 4.5 calories per minute by lightly treading water -- but you'll nearly double that amount by swimming laps at the same pace.

No pool? Skipping through the sprinkler is a great way to cool off on a hot summer day, and you can burn around 7 calories per minute. Remember, the faster you run, the more calories you'll burn.

You can burn 5 calories a minute by playing this family favorite on a volleyball court; play on the beach to burn twice as many.

Cruising your neighborhood streets will burn about 7 calories a minute; burn 3 more calories a minute by mountain biking.

You can burn about 4.5 calories a minute by pulling pesky weeds or planting summer flowers; using a hand-mower on your lawn burns 7.

Jumping rope at a leisurely clip burns about 11 calories per minute. Up for a challenge? Skipping rope at a high intensity burns 15 calories per minute.

You'll burn around 8 calories per minute by skating on a flat surface; blade uphill to burn 11.

A leisurely stroll through the woods burns around 7 calories per minute; trail running nearly doubles that amount.