As a rule, you need to burn a total of 3,500 calories more than you consume for every 1 pound of weight you want to lose. That means that you need to burn an extra 500 calories a day to lose 1lb of weight a week. This target might seem impossible if you already have a busy lifestyle. You know you need to, but you simply don’t have the time, right? Well, guess what? It’s time to cut the excuses.
The good news is that you don’t need to pound the exercise machines for an hour or two to burn an extra 500 calories a day. You can up your activity levels in alternative ways to reach this goal.
We know that life gets in the way. Let’s face it, we can always find an excuse not to work out, can’t we? Whether you’re stuck in the office or just plain busy, here are some ways you can burn an extra 500 calories a day in less time.
Burn an 500 Extra Calories a Day in One Minute
If you want to burn an extra 500 calories a day, there are some things you can do besides spending two hours on the treadmill just looking at the clock. Tony Horton, a fitness guru and founder of a number of best-selling fitness programs suggests the “1 times 10” trick. This involves doing one minute of an activity that raises your heart rate, ten times per day.
Doing this every hour from the time of waking up means you can burn that extra 500 calories by the time evening falls! Try doing one minute of jumping jacks at your desk, or doing walking lunges from room to room, or even taking the stairs instead of the lift.
Drink More, More Often
Opt for a smaller water bottle, and make sure the water is as cold as you can stand! By choosing a smaller water bottle, you’ll be forced to get up and refill it more often. You can even take a little detour on your way to refilling it, squeezing in an extra few steps on the way.
Additionally, drinking ice-cold water actually burns more calories than room temperature water! This is because your body exerts more energy to warm the water to body temperature once it is ingested, and also helps to metabolise glycogen in your body.
HIIT Your Workout
Swap out your cardio session for a HIIT session. HIIT stands for “high intensity interval training” which is a combination of bursts of all-out energy exertion, with small periods of rest in between. A 30 minute HIIT session will burn upwards of 400 calories. This is because it combines strength training with cardio, encouraging you to work at your peak training level in small bursts. This, in turn, increases your heart rate and your calorie burn.
Get Swinging
No, not that kind of swinging! We’re talking kettlebells! A kettlebell workout is a highly efficient way of combining a strength and cardio workout in one. Just ten minutes a day, three times a week will get you seeing results. Don’t make the mistake of thinking they will be an easy ten minutes though. Done correctly, you’ll finish off feeling as though you’ve done an hour!
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