5 Ways to Burn Calories (That Aren’t All About Exercise)

We all know that if we want to lose weight than we have to burn off more calories than we take in. It’s a simple equation that most of us can understand. Getting ourselves to actually do the work necessary to burn calories isn’t always quite so easy though. A lot of people find it difficult because they think that it means that they have to exercise every day. It’s definitely important to get enough exercise if you want to burn calories to lose weight. However, that’s not the only thing that you should be doing to burn calories. Believe it or not, there are a lot of other things that you can do to burn calories other than just your standard trip to the gym.

Here are five great ways to burn calories on a daily basis:

1. Eat to Burn Calories.

You already know that you have to eat properly if you want to lose weight. But were you aware of the fact that there are a lot of foods that you can eat that will actually assist you in burning more calories? If you eat smart, you can burn more calories even as you take calories in to get energy. What a great concept. Some of the tips that you’ll want to follow if you’re going to eat to burn calories include:

• Eat often but make the meals small ones. There are some experts who believe that eating frequently assists you in burning more calories than you would burn if you ate the same amount of food in just one or two sittings. The reason for this is that you are working your digestive system every time that you eat. Those experts say that each time you start a meal, you burn up some calories by igniting your digestive system. If you only eat once or twice per day then you only burn those calories once or twice. If you eat five or six times per day then you’ll burn more calories. The trick is to make sure that you keep your meals small so that you aren’t taking in more calories while you do this.

• Eat breakfast. You want to get started right away with those digestion burning calories. You shouldn’t skip breakfast for a number of reasons anyway. Doing so is definitely linked to weight gain with a few different causes to blame. Think about this when you’re trying to burn calories each day.

• Eat protein. The body has to work harder to digest protein than to digest other foods. This means that you’re burning more calories when you eat it. Choose protein that’s as low in calories as possible to get the most benefit.

• Burn some calories to get your meal. It’s the little things that we do all day long that help us to burn more calories. If you order your food as a delivery meal then you’re not burning as many calories as you would if you went to get your food. If you get a pre-made sandwich instead of walking around the kitchen to make your own sandwich then you’re not burning as many calories as you could. Think about how to burn calories while you’re getting food and eating it.

2. Drink to Burn Calories

It isn’t just the food that we take in that can help us with burning more calories. If we choose the right drinks then they can also act as calorie-burners. There are two really important drinks that we want to get used to having daily if we’re going to drink to burn calories: water and tea.

Water is really important for our bodies and for weight loss. The body works to absorb and use water and it’s burning calories the whole time that you do that. Most people don’t drink enough liquid at all. You should increase your liquid intake to help burn calories throughout the day. The liquid you choose should be water since this helps you to burn those calories without taking in new calories. With all of the other benefits water has for your body, this is really a win-win situation.

When water just isn’t going to satisfy you then your next best choice for a beverage is green tea. Green tea has been shown to have calorie-burning properties. When you drink green tea, you burn more calories than you take in. If you don’t like green tea then you can also burn calories by drinking caffeinated black tea. However, green tea is a better choice. Remember that you lose out on the calorie-burning benefits of tea if you add milk or sweeteners to it.

3. Chew Gum

You might not think that you would burn a lot of calories just by chewing gum. However, that extra action for your mouth can end up resulting in a lot of calories burned if you’re chewing gum all day every day. You’ll want to choose no-calorie gum to get the benefits of burning those calories. And you’ll want to discuss this with your dentist since chewing gum all day may be bad for some people’s teeth. It’s a neat little trick to add to your repertoire of burning calories though.

4. Move Quickly and Often

Ultimately you’re going to need to move to really burn some calories. Get in the habit of doing all of your daily activities with just a bit more speed and energy than you usually do and you’ll find yourself burning off more calories than you did in the past. Simply speeding up your walking pace is a good start. Do your house chores with intensity instead of doing them in the lazy manner that you’re probably accustomed to. By working this type of non-exercise exercise into your daily routine, you’re naturally going to burn a lot of calories without feeling like you’re doing too much work.

5. Exercise

Finally, there is the thing that will burn the most calories and that’s exercise. What you should do is to make sure that you choose forms of exercise that you truly enjoy. This will allow you to do them often in order to burn calories while still enjoying each day.

Note: See links for resources used when researching this article.