Doesn’t sound like a lot, I know.
But this is a game changer.
Gaining weight is easy and fun. Losing weight is hard and miserable. Knowing how to burn calories can make a huge difference in a year.,
If you can do at least one of these ways to burn 150 calories every day, you’ll save yourself 1050 calories every week.
That’s over a pound every month you WON’T gain.
If you do TWO of these things every day and burn off 300 calories. Well, now honey.
Now you’re on another level.
That’s two and a half pounds you could lose. That’s almost 29 lbs every year.
Don’t sleep on the 150 calories a day. It sounds small but it’s got some mighty power.
So then, how do you get your power back, after a night of drinking (or day, I don’t judge)?
5 real life ways to burn off 150 calories, without changing anything about your day
WALKING
If you’re a fast walker or even just a medium-fast walker, it will take you about 30-40 minutes to burn off 150 calories. Think 2 miles in half an hour.
If you’re like me and like the casual stroll, it’ll be at least 50 minutes before those 150 come off.
Which either way you rather, you won’t have to turn your world upside down to make this happen. Stroll to the movies with some friends, double time it to the post office on your lunch break.
STAIRS
Do 15 minutes worth of stairs during your day and you’ll squeeze out another 150 calories.
It doesn’t have to be you running stairs for 15 minutes straight like you’re in a Nike ad. It can be you spending 5 minutes three times a day, doing a few flights here and there.
You might be closer to hitting those 15 minutes than you think.
Do you live in a walk up? Could you take the stairs to work on the 3rd floor? Do you take an escalator that runs side-by-side to the stairs, but should really take those stairs?
Nothing else has to change in your day for you to get those 15 minute of stairs tucked into your day.
150 calories. Easy.
CLEANING
Clean your apartment, shovel your driveway, vacuum, iron, scrub the tub. It all counts.
If you save all your ironing or vacuuming for the same day, and the whole thing takes you an hour, you’ve just burned 150 calories.
Scrub your bathroom or floors or windows for 30 minutes, and you’ve just burned 150 calories.
Shoveling snow for 15-20 minutes gets you 150 calories.
You’re going to do these things anyway. Might as well do them a little more intentionally and get the credit for them.
“EXERCISE”
If you don’t already have a workout routine, dedicated exercise is definitely recommended.
But here we’re going to talk about how to make 150 calories disappear without joining a gym. Like at your desk. Like with squats.
11 minutes of squats at your desk isn’t going to get you sweating, but it will burn 150 calories. Here are more ways to get moving at work, if squats aren’t your thing.
If you like yoga, 30 minutes will get you pretty close to that 150 calories.
If you like to ride a bike, a 20 minute casual ride will get you over 150 calories. More if you go faster, more if you go uphill.
NOT MOVING
In case you didn’t know, we burn calories by simply being alive and living. Our bodies are complex machines that use energy to keep us doing important things like breathing, digesting, balancing and thinking.
It’s for this reason that if we don’t eat, we lose weight. Because our bodies need energy to get us through the day to day. Calories are that energy.
That being said, you burn 150 calories just by sleeping for 2 and a half hours.
You’ll burn that same number watching TV for about 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Reading will burn calories even faster and you’ll hit that 150 mark after reading for an hour and 45 minutes.
Clearly, reading is the all-around champ. You don’t just burn more calories, you get smarter too.
If you push yourself just a little bit more and STAND, you’ll burn 20-50 more calories than if you were sitting.
That means for the 2.5 hours it might take you to burn 150 calories while watching a movie, you can bump that up to 200-250 if you stood through the whole thing.
Just saying.
JUST TO BE CLEAR
Obviously, none of these things work if you’re eating Chinese food and drinking a 6-pack at the same time.
The idea is to keep everything else the same, or even make everything else a little better.
A clean diet. Moderate drinking. Eating our sometimes foods only sometimes, and snacking in a way that complements (not destroys) our daily food choices.
If you need a little more inspiration on polishing up some of these areas so burning your 150 calories a day really counts, start with these popular posts:
- How to nail your portion sizes
- How to add veggies to anything (so you can eat what you want)
- The ultimate 5 minute TV workout
- Snack better with this one essential hack
If you’re looking for an easy place to start, pick one of these things and do it every day.
Keep your day in check, and burning 150 calories with these small hacks can make a big difference in your weight goals by the end of the year.
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Talk soon. xxoo