From running after kids, to picking up socks, to wrestling little ones into car seats and bathtubs, all that parenting is burning calories—50,000 of them per/month!

According to Parents magazine, a new report looked at the daily activities of 1,000 parents with kids between the ages of 3 and 6, and found completing daily parenting tasks scorches almost 1,500 calories.  One of the “exercises” they evaluated with the help of calorielab.com is carrying small children, which burns an equivalent amount of calories as doing- 218 burpees. “Between preparing meals, making beds, moving household items, and dressing kids, we parents seemingly have CrossFit beat,” says writer Melissa Willets.

So why don’t we all look like Jennifer Lopez?  “I’m guessing it’s because between folding sheets, sweeping, taking our kids to swim lessons, karate, ballet, and horseback riding, and making sure they are having the best, most fun childhood ever, we often neglect our own health and well-being,” writes Willets.

So, yes, you may now have an excuse to cutback on the burpees, but we encourage you live a healthy lifestyle and make self-care a priority.  “Because hunting down a missing puzzle piece, while wearing a toddler in a carrier, with a load of laundry that needs folding on our hip, can only do so much to keep us in shape.”

Read the full article here.