In order to effectively lose or maintain weight, you must typically reduce your calorie intake and/or improve your ability to burn off the calories in your diet. To burn off excess calories, you will need to increase your body's energy consumption by increasing your level of physical activity. You can increase your activity level with a variety of simple options that you can adapt to your everyday routine.
Simple Routine Modifications
Any extra amount of physical activity you engage in will help you burn calories, according to MayoClinic.com. If for any reason you don't want to increase your activity with standard exercises, you can get significant calorie-burning benefits simply by modifying your everyday routine. Potential options here include using stairs instead of elevators or escalators, purposefully parking farther away from stores or your place of work, washing your car, gardening, cutting your grass, or doing extra amounts of housework.
Simple Aerobics
You can also burn off calories by participating in simple aerobic exercises such as walking, swimming or cycling. Typically, you will need to get at least 30 minutes of this type of exercise a minimum of four days per week. However, you can simplify this requirement by breaking your daily exercise sessions into 10-minute segments that you can fit into your schedule at your own convenience. If you need to lose a lot of weight, be aware that you may need to increase your exercise level to meet your goal.
Building Your Muscles
You can improve your body's calorie-burning efficiency by increasing the size of your muscles, MayoClinic.com reports. This is true because muscle tissue needs a relatively high amount of calories to function properly, and if you don't increase the amount of food you eat, building your muscle mass gives your body an easy way to get rid of stored calories. If you lift weights or perform other muscle-building exercises regularly, you can eventually burn an extra 7 to 10 calories per day for each pound of lean muscle in your body. To gain the calorie-burning benefits of muscle building, you will typically need to work out for only roughly 30 minutes two or three times a week.
Considerations
You can also simplify weight control by combining calorie-burning activities with dietary modifications. For example, losing a single pound requires a 3,500-calorie decrease over the course of a single week. If you cut out excess calories in your diet, you can lower the amount of these calories you need to burn off through physical activity. However, don't lower your calorie intake so much that you deprive yourself of essential food nutrients. Typically, men need at least 1,500 calories per day, while women need at least 1,200 calories. Consult your doctor before you begin any type of calorie-burning or calorie control program.
References
- Medline Plus: Tips for Losing Weight; October 2009
- MayoClinic.com: Metabolism and Weight Loss; How You Burn Calories; October 2009
- MayoClinic.com: Strength Training; Getting Stronger, Leaner, Healthier; June 2010
- American Council on Exercise: How Can I Get Rid of Belly Fat?; Jessica Matthews; April 2010
- SpineUniverse: Strength Training for Weight Loss Success; Deborah L. Mullen, C.S.C.S.; March 2010
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