Effortless Ways to Burn Calories Each Day
100
Everyone is busy these days and it's hard to find time during the day to work out. Even eating right is a hassle! When you are on a time crunch, it's so much easier just to run through a drive-thru then to plan and cook a healthy meal. So what's a person to do?
Guess what? Burning off calories can be super easy! There are lots of ways to burn calories with little effort.
Twenty Ways to Burn Calories
- Take a 15 minute walk on your lunch break. You will burn about 80 calories, maybe more, depending how fast you walk.
- Drink ice cold water before eating a meal. Ice cold water burns calories and will fill you up so you will eat less.
- Don't keep sweets in your home. When you get a craving, walk to the store instead of driving. You will either decide it's not worth it to walk or walk and burn some extra calories before having your treat.
- Vigorous cleaning for about twenty minutes burns 100 calories.
- Opt for stairs instead of taking an elevator.
- Fifteen minutes of strength training (lunges, crunches, push-ups) will burn about 100 calories. Not only that but strength training will help you burn more calories throughout the day.
- Play with the kids! Roughhousing with the kids for 30 minutes will burn about 100 calories!
- Vaccuming for 30 minutes burns roughly 120 calories.
- Take the dog for a walk. You'll burn calories while keeping your pooch happy!
- Fidgeting. Surprisingly, nervous and fidgetty people burn an extra 600 to 700 calories per day!
- Eat negative calorie foods. Your body needs to work harder to break down certain foods in order to digest them. That means you are actually burning calories while eating! Foods like celery, grapefruit, pickles, sauerkraut, onions and lettuce will slim you down.
- Turn the heat down. You burn more calories when you are cold because your body needs to produce its own heat, thus burning calories.
- Laugh more throughout the day. Laughter is not only the best medicine, a good hearty laugh will burn quite a few calories too!
- Drink coffee and tea, especially green tea. Caffeine is a stimulant and will help you burn more calories during the day. Try drinking it plain - without sugar or cream. It will take some getting used to but trust me, after years of drinking my coffee black, I won't drink it any other way.
- Do desk exercises. I'm a fan of leg lifts. Fifteen lifts per leg a couple times throughout the day works fine. Some more easy exercises to do at your desk can be found below.
- Dance while getting ready for work in the morning! Just turn your ipod on and have a little fun bopping to the music. You'll burn about 50 extra calories!
- Excercise during commercial breaks. Don't just sit there! Run in place, do crunches, lunges or jumping jacks.
- Cook your own meals from scratch. An hour of preparing a healthy home cooked dinner burns over 100 calories.
- You can burn an extra 500 calories a day standing rather than sitting. Stand while doing things like talking on the phone, texting or reading.
- Making out. Okay, a fifteen minute make-out session only burns about twenty calories but it's a lot more than just sitting on the couch and watching tv. It's also a lot more fun!
Check out my other hub on diet and weight loss!
- Twenty Ways to Increase Your Metabolism
Burning calories is important to lose or maintain your weight but it is only half the battle! Learn easy tips on how to keep your metabolism high! - Excuses We Tell Ourselves for Not Losing Weight
Are you lying to yourself about your weight? Many of us make up excuses for not getting in shape. What's yours? - Lose Weight Simply and Naturally
Easy ways to shed the unwanted weight!
Helpful Sites For You
- Negative Calorie Foods List
An explanation as to what negative calorie foods are along with a comprehensive negative calorie food list, including negative calorie fruits. - Easy Desk Exercise: Get In Shape at Your Desk
There’s no reason to cut exercise out of your life simply because you have a busy schedule. You can perform easy desk exercise in the comfort of your own office, without ever leaving your chair.
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I have two more suggestions: 1) THINK more. The brain uses a lot more calories than the body does. 2) Eat light meals at night, not heavy ones. Eat your heavier ones earlier in the day, so your body can use the energy right away instead of storing it.
OK, three: 3) Do hatha yoga. Stretching out satisfies those cravings better than almost anything I can think of. It keeps you flexible, balances your weight better, sends cleansing blood to your entire body, and strengthens the weaker parts of your body as well.
Just thought of another: 4) Cut back on the alcohol, especially beer. Too much drinking puts weight first in your stomach, then the rest of the body. Drink more water instead . . . and love more.
Good job I like the one about doing something during commercial breaks while watching TV. Just an FYI you have a typo in number 4 "calories".
Hi Shesacraftymom- I'm a fidgeter too! Glad you found this helpful.
Hi Sustainable Sue, great advice! Thank you for including your tips!
Thanks Shuck72- I made the correction. So glad you caught that!
Thanks for the useful ideas, amymarie_5. I follow some of your suggestions already, but you've also given me some new ideas to think about!
Wow, these are really effortless and I'm going to try some of them. Voting this Up and Useful.
I'm glad I'm a fidgeter or I'd probably be 20 lbs. heavier. haha. I pace a lot. Good idea about doing some form of exercise during commercials. Makes it more fun knowing there's limited time, especially for someone like me who doesn't like exercise. I agree about the black coffee, too. I rarely use creamer or sweetener anymore. Loving my black coffee! Great hub. I look forward to more of yours!
Thanks Victoria! I am also a fidgety person. Gosh id probably weigh a ton myself if I wasn't! Haha. Glad you found this helpful!
Thank you alocsin and Alicia! I appreciate the comments and glad you found this helpful!
Love it - Makes me happy knowing I'm "working out" while cleaning!!
Hey, I do most of these things! Thanks for an informative HUB and for the confidence boost!
Hi epatera! Knowing that I'm burning so many calories keeps me motivated to do housework! Lol! Thanks for stopping by!!
That's great AJ! You're very welcome and thank you for commenting. :)
I don't watch a lot of TV, but doing something during commercials (other than getting a snack) is a good idea. I pace when I'm on the phone and am fidgety so I think I maybe burn more than I realize. I know I could burn a few hundred more though. Great hub...voted up and useful!
Great suggestions. Our group is doing a biggest loser. I'm trying but it is not easy :)
Wonderful hub, voted up and useful as well as shared. ;)
Very Informative Hub. Good Job! Voted up!
Lisa ~RusticLiving
I think this is one of the big ones: Don't keep sweets in your home
Great hub
Thanks for all the tips! I am heavy mostly due to having my thyroid removed when I was 21, but also some poor eating habits as well. Loved the tip about walking to the store to get snack. I will have to try that and the leg exercises as well
Nice one!! The list appears to be very simple but extremely beneficial..like playing with your kids which also exercises your relationship with your child.
I especially like your last suggestion about making out. I need a volunteer for that one............(; These were great suggestions, and I will use most or all of them!
I was pleased to see apples on the negative calorie food list in the link you provided, because I have an apple with my bowl of oatmeal and walnuts every morning for breakfast.
These are some pretty good suggestions. I was surprised about some of them. Thanks for the info.
Love it!!! now I do my chores happy!!! my favorite one #16,"DANCE" every time you want is good for health and great for your spirit!!! Thank you for this super useful hub!!!
Great suggestions! This is very informative and I will definitely give some of these a try.
Great hub! Instead of keeping sweets in the house, I stock up on fruit. If I get a craving, I have a bowl of strawberries. When they're out of season, I buy the frozen ones. It's kind of like having a popsicle. I also keeps popsicles on hand that are only worth 1 Weight Watcher's point: they're swirled flavors like cotton candy, orange creamsicle, banana split... They taste like the real thing but have practically no calories and are all natural. I don't feel guilty and it curbs the cravings!
I've never heard about the ice water before eating. Going to add that one immediately. Thanks!
I fidget constantly! Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be helping my weight loss! ;) Great hub though!
Great hub. All excellent tips. I do numbers 2, 14 and 17 on a regular basis. They really work! I've actually lost 20 pounds over a five month period without having to change my eating habits.
Good morning everyone! I was so pleasantly surprised to see how many comments this hub has accumulated in the last 24 hrs! Thank you so very much for all the comments! I truly hope this hub helps all of you!
Timar7- Good luck with your Biggest Loser plan. It helps to diet with a group. I've been trying to organize something with my co-workers. It seems to be much more motivating when you are doing it with other people.
One2Recognize- thank you for sharing this! I truly appreciate it!
DeviousOne- If I kept sweets in the house, I'd eat them all day. It's so important to only keep healthy foods in the home. I only buy sweets when I am having people over.
Exotic Hippie one - Hahaha! Me too!!!
Greg Serada- Sounds like a really great breakfast. With all the fiber and protein, that must keep you satisfied til lunch. I may try eating something similar in the morning.
Brielise- Great idea with the strawberries. I freeze my grapes. It really does taste like a popcicle! Thanks for the advice!!
MarlaNeogra- Thyroid problems run in my family. I hope these tips truly help you out.
USAPool, Yes- drinking ice water really helps before eating! It's a great tip that my riddiculously skinny friend taught me.
Hi Marlene! Congrats on losing 20 pounds! That's very inspiring! Thank you for commenting!
Hi, Great tips and easy to follow. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Vibhavari,
Glad you found this interesting! Thank you for commenting!
I've got one - I jog with my dog - he loves it and I can feel myself getting fitter!
Great tips that can be worked into any schedule,
Thanks for SHARING.
Great suggestions and ideas. Time to get the lead out.
Thank you for sharing. interesting and useful
Hi L4byg, that's a great suggestion. I'm sure your dog also has fun and stays fit too! Thanks for sharing!!!
Brett & Miss Olive, as always, thank you for reading and thanking the time to comment! Glad you found these tips useful!!
Thank you for sharing these great tips..
Excellent tips. I'm trying to do as much as i can in your list. I love your tip 19. Standing rather than sitting. Tried it once at work, but it's just darn hard to type standing up LOL.
What a great list! Making out and fidgeting - alright then! Another negative calorie food are hard boiled eggs. It takes more calories to digest one than what you're calorically taking in, so win-win!
These are some crazy ideas, but I'm sure they work great. I had a bus driver who used to do jumping jacks at red lights. That's a little extreme, but in a job like that, why the heck not? It kept his passengers intrigued (if not a little worried) and helped keep his energy up. Thanks for sharing these tips, super useful!
Great hub. I think between fidgeting and walking back and forth between Humboldt and Bucktown I burn about a million calories! Now, just to find some one to make out with...
Hi JPCMC- ha you made me laugh! Typing while standing is tough! Thank you for commenting!
Eurocafe, I didnt know that about eggs! Thank you so much for letting me know.
Hi WonderingWoolley, that is so funny about the bus driver!That may have made me a little uneasy but hey whatever works!! Thanks for commenting!
Hi Easyword,
It's a small world... my dad grew up in Humboldt Park. I'm out in the suburbs so we don't walk nearly as much. Must be why you city girls are in such better shape! Thanks so much for commenting!!
I should drink more water. I know it would help me with weight loss but it is a habit I have not adopted. I will make a more conscientious decision to do this now. I love this hub. Thanks.
Great article. I am blogging about the same things and I use alot of these suggestions in my life and in my blog. Great to see the same info which I so totally agree with and follow.
Thanks
Awesome article,I would recommend it to all my friends.Gonna share it on Facebook.Thanks a lot for excellent writing..
Hi Bruzzbuzz- Water will help you lose weight. Try putting lemon or lime in it if you don't like drinking it. Thanks for commenting.
Thanks for commenting Sgeers and would love to chk your blog out!
Hi Marinedrive,
Thanks for commenting and I truly appreciate you sharing this on fb! Thank you!!
This was excellent. I hope to use more of these ideas. God knows i could stand to lose some weight.
Thanks Retail Rich. I think you are not alone, most of us can stand to lose some weight as well. I truly appreciate the comment. Thank you. :)
Fantastic tips! I don't know about dancing while I'm getting ready for work, but I can certainly dance on the way out of the door at the end of the day!
Nice tips. Thanks so much and it will really help me.
Hi llyasmohammed, thank you for commenting and I truly hope these tips help you!
Love it!
I think the one about drinking the cold water was my favorite. I knew the one about your body burning more calories when it was cold, becuase it has to work so hard to maintain your constant body temperature. But I had never really thought about how your body would have to work harder to heat up cold water, before your it can use the water. This is a great hub, and I love alot of the ideas. Makes losing weight seem alittle easier. Voted up and thanks for sharing :)
I would love to share my blog with you, but I didn't think I could leave the link here, due to the hubpages rules. You can email me directly and I will share the website. susangeers@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Susan
Was worth the share and let me add those I shared it with are very happy and optimistic as this Hub also assists with the pressures of dieting and sticking to it. Thanks again for sharing... :)
Hi OnetoRecognize2 - thank you for reading. I'm glad you found this useful and thank you very much for sharing. :)
Nice hub with great healthy & helpful suggestions! Thank You for sharing, Peace & Blessings!
A great list to keep handy. I lost just over 25 lbs in the last year. I am back to my weight in high school and I feel better. No more back sliding. Keeping an ideal weight is a daily effort. Thanks for the encouragement.
Thanks for sharing, great information here :)
very insightful!
This is a very good list. I sometimes give these suggestions to people, but now I think I'll just point them to this hub. Thanks for writing this.
Quite a few interesting ideas... Hopefully I can practice a few of the tips
Great tips. Another thing I do is to park far away in the parking lot at work, and always walk to the bathroom that's farther away from my desk. It all adds up at the end of the day!
These are some very great tips. I do follow some without knowing now that I have read this hub. Thank you.
What a great hub! It's Saturday morning and I just found an excuse not to grumble while doing the house chores today! :)
Great ideas and suggestion. Will try them on myself. Voted uP and useful
This was funny, as well as interesting and useful. Hope I can put a few to good use--- I certainly need to! Voting up.
Hi amymarie_5,
What a great hub .... Am quite fat .... hope to use some of the tips... Great share .... keep up the good work .... voting up ...
Hey, now I know why I don't gain weight - I'm a houseworkaholic! Its good to know that you can keep fit by doing simple things that don't take up much time. It's great that you took the time to put this together.
Very Informative article. Useful one specially for me :) Thanks..
very good tips. let me see where I begin. hehe
Those are some pretty easy things to do. It's surprising that burning calories can be that easy.
Excellent hub,keeping on the move and eating in moderation has to be a positive move.
Great Hub! Thanks for the reminders to keep doing our natural living! Just get up and get moving, very motivating hub. Great read, and now I will go jogging around the house for 10 minutes, Thanks again.
Wonderful Hub, great ideas. Thank you for the inspiration.
Thanks for sharing. Your tips are very helpful and I'm sure they'll help keep the relationship (or single) gut from showing :)
Nice Article
What an amazing information about Burn Calories Each Day
100
This is a wonderful hub! I have shared it with my 800+ friends on Facebook.
These tips can be opted as a daily routine,as they are simple and can be done while doing regular household work.
Great ideas in an easy-to-read format. Awesome!
This is a very fun way of losing weight, very interesting. Voting up.
great hub and motivating to exercise again ! i have been so busy with grad school etc, i have neglected my exercising so you have inspired me to get back on track voted up and useful !
truly useful..thanks for sharing those great tips with us
Another great idea is to park far from an entrance and walk. So many people try for the "money spot" and burn more gas than calories!
nice post.
I always do walking and taking the stairs. My client is on the 5th floor and I have no problem taking the stairs that high.
Nice tips, here. A lot of people really don't realize these simple actions have great health benefits.
OK, I'm on my third cup of coffee and fidgeting like crazy. Two tips rolled into one. Can I double the calories burned per minute? ;)
Great hub, voted up!
I like number 10 about fidgeting! Now I know how many extra calories I burn on days that I have exams! Creative hub!
Great tips, some things I did not know. One thing I began doing is walking further than my destination, example: when I take the trash out, I use the dumpster that is farther away. I enjoyed reading your tips, they are very useful. Thank you.
Wow! This has lots of great tips. I will try some of these for sure :) Thanks for the helpful Hub! Sharing and voted up.
Great hub with so many simple ways we may overlook inour quest to burn calories.
Yours was a beautiful one....... thank You
One of the most easiest ways of loosing calories is to walk at least 1 and half hour each day. Try to do that at morning and also at evening as it will certainly help you to obtain good digestive system of your body.
Anyways thanks for inspiring hub! :)
I'll listen to you're advice, wow its amazing small things can make such a change.
Thank you for a very useful hub! voted up and useful!
I drink cold water before meals and tea :-)
Very useful and practical tips.
Very useful tips! Being one that fidgets A LOT, it is nice to see all the other fidgeters who have commented. :)
Thanks for sharing the other tips. Most I had heard at one time or another, but had forgotten.
What/where are your sources? I know that there are a lot of hidden calories in coffee and coffee drinks, so most experts advise staying away from coffee when dieting. Also, I would just like to know where you found these exact numbers, such as standing burns 500, cooking burns 100, etc.
Very informative Hub. Thank for writing.
This was helpful! I learned a lot, and will use some of your tips. Thank you!
Thanks so much! I've been trying to burn more calories and it's pretty exciting to know that I'm well on my way: I take a brisk walk with my dog every day. There's no elevator at work, so I have no choice but to take the stairs. Plus I'm on my feet for most of the day.
Really Cool and Easy to follow suggestions. Voted Up
Voted up and useful. I hate to vacuum. Glad to know there is some use for it :)
Lisa
useful hub.voted up
Tips are really useful for us. I think you can use Spirulina. It is also good. Here in the United States, fill are vindicatory turn to see the true health benefits of Spirulina or conservationist foods much as Spirulina. Nonetheless, in countries like Japan, the upbeat benefits of Spirulina are shaft recognised and Spirulina and additional vegetable foods achieve up a large allocation of their fast.
Voted up too!!!!
Great tips and very useful. I will be putting some of this in practice beginning today. I am 5'9" 270lbs and diabetic type 2. So any help I can get certainly is appreciated when I find it. Thank you for this wonderful hub.
Thank you for all your comments everyone. Etower036, I hope this helps you a bit with your diabetes. Vechiclereg, thanks for suggesting Spirulina. I've heard of it but don't know too much about it. I will definitely look into it. Meccahowe, I've done a lot of research for this article. Coffee has no calories, as long as you don't add sugar or cream, which I noted. As for where my research came from, mostly from WebMD, Myfitnesspal, ediets and various health books.
the effortless word really got caught my attention since i really want to lose weight but i'm kinda lazy so i think your hub is really helpful.
Thank you for sharing all of this great information.
this is a great hub...it's always nice to have fresh ideas for burning a few extra calories. another one that i didn't see on the list or in the comments (unless i missed it, which actually wouldn't surprise me much...lol) is sitting at your desk on an exercise ball instead of a chair. it takes work to keep your balance on one of those things, plus, you tend to move more because it's "funner" than a chair - thus, burning extra calories. i read that somewhere once (don't remember where) but it seemed like such a fun idea i couldn't help but try it and loved it! voted up and useful! blessings...
An inspirational hub with some great tips!
Great hub, I especially like no. 20. I've also got an incentive to get some housework done too.
Thanks for the tips. I'm just getting started on the weight loss journey, and I've got a long way to go, so it's encouraging to find some additional ways to burn calories.
IT WILL BE AN EXCEPTIONAL SUGGESTION THAT TRY TO FOLLOW A CELEBRITY FIGURE AND FASHION ICON WHOM YOU LIKE MOST!!!!
Some great advice on this hub! Thanks for sharing. Voted up!
Yep I enjoy this hub to. A lot the things on the list I already do it's nice to see it in print thanks.
Really nice...currently I am facing the same situation hope this would help me a lot. Thanks for sharing. Cheers
I like all the tips you have given here to lose those unwanted pounds. Especially the dance idea. Cleaning too, as one doesn't realize how much energy you burn to do it. : ) Voted up and useful!
Wow, nice job. I'm definitely sharing this! Very useful.
Probably one of the funnest ways I've read on how you can lose weight, and they sound effective too!
Might I also suggest taking up a martial art or joining a sports team/club?
Just something else to do add on that list, but then again if we think hard enough we could prob make this list endless!
I didn't realize fidgeting burned so many calories! I know really skinny people that are fidgeters so that explains alot. Guess I better start practicing. Thanks for the tips.
It's good to know cooking your own food can burn calories. I enjoy cooking, now I can enjoy it even more. Good hub, voted up and interesting.
Don't even need to go to the gym if we are able to routinely follow these activities.
Great job Victoria. May l add that, it will be great on your attitude to always feel great about yourself even with that weight on!!!
Great ideas. I eat well but need to burn more calories . Thanks for your thoughtful ideas
These are really good ideas, I do some of them but can easily try the rest, great info, thanks!
Great suggestions. The big eye opener was how many calories that can be burned by fidgeting.
Most kids have a hard time sitting still and yet that's exactly what we require them to do during most school hours. Hmmm...maybe that has something to do with the growing obesity rate in our children?
very nice guide
thanks for guiding
I am dieting now and lost 27 lbs since December and I can always used advice on burning and losing fat and calories! Thank you!
I am trying to lose the excess weight I gained since having my kids a few years ago. By the time the kiddos are in bed at night I am either too tired to go to the gym or don't want to power walk in the dark. I like the tips you gave in this article about burning calories doing everyday things. One tip I a going to take advantage of immediately is standing when reading. I love to read at night as a way to relax and exercise my mind after a day with toddlers.
These are really some great ideas! I voted up!
Cool Ideas !!
Very interesting ideas. Thanks I like the last one.
Great hub... I should try some of your ways. May be they will help me out in reducing my weight... :D
yes bhargvi sharma, you are right.
VERY INTERESTING TIPS I WILL TRY THIS....
If you drink the same coffee that has lowered my blood sugar 83 points you will also burn more fat while doing these great exercise tips. https://spbirnie.bfreesystems.com
I drink green tea every morning and I can feel it when I don 't good hub.
Just realized that I always burn calories everyday upon going to work through brisk walking because I'm always in a hurry to catch the time not to be late on the bio-metrics.:) Thanks for sharing this hub.
Wear a 50 lb. suit of armor throughout your day. They're a hit at business meetings.
Not keeping sweets around is key, out of site out of mind. Sometimes I'll make a smoothie in the evenings (with no added sugar, I use stevia instead). That will curb my "sweet tooth".
As a nervous and jittery person, I can at least take comfort in knowing that these unpleasant aspects of myself are at least burning some calories. Diet and exercise, you are not alone!
I speak for all fatties when I say this....Thank you dear. I weigh 273 and according to the standards of my job I need to be 235, luckily I am 6'7. I am willing to put your advice into practice to see a difference.
Very interesting! I constantly fidget and bounce my leg, out of habit and I just feel the need to always be moving. Who knew that it'd help me in the long run?? Nice hub!
I love this hub. I'm planning to write a hub on weight loss and I will refer to this and link to it, if I may. Great ideas. Who'd have thought just drinking cold water and preparing your own food burns so many calories?
I think most of this falls under Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). There's a name for everyone these days..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenesis
BBC Horizon's episode on 'The Truth About Exercise' has some info on it. Great article btw :)
Great, informative and very useful hub! I follow many of the described recommendations and they really help.
really nice now while I laugh like crazy(what I always do) I can proudly say I am burning calories :) thanks
Gr8 hub...loads of useful practical information...!!!
Appreciate the advice. I already do some of these, but the truth is it doesn't matter how active you are if you don't have general good health practices. Due to my amount of soda intake, I still steadily gain weight (as opposed to when I was younger and could live off the stuff) no matter how active I am. Because of my diet, I would literally have to be doing heart pumping exercises for a good couple of hours a day in order to lose weight. However, implementing these is a great way to at least plateau for some of us.
Oh Lord, I am the fidgety-est. I'll remember to tell people this when they tell me I need to relax.
I can't relax. I gotta go, go, go, go, go!
Great hub. I've upvoted!
Well thought out hub! and great advice for those of us Chained to our desks!
Really interesting! Great job!
great HUB, doable tips.
shesacraftymom Level 2 Commenter 4 months ago
Wow! I'm a fidgeter...good news for me! :-) Great suggestions! Voted up and useful.