If you want to know how to burn calories fast a good place to start is with understanding your metabolism. Metabolism is the way we convert food to fuel, or calories to energy. We get energy through the food we eat, and we need that energy for everything the body does.
We use energy even when resting. The basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the amount of calories we burn when we breathe, make and repair cells, and circulate blood. It’s the amount of calories we need just to stay alive. BMR accounts for about 60-75 percent of the calories an average person burns. We use the rest of the calories for our daily activities and for digesting our food. A typical woman needs 1200 calories a day for BMR plus 200-400 calories for her daily activities. The more active she is the more calories she will burn in a day.
We gain weight when we consume more calories than our metabolism needs for BMR and daily activities. We store this surplus as fat. If we want to burn more calories we have to boost our metabolism.
Muscles boost the metabolism and the body’s ability to burn fuel (calories). To burn more calories we need a faster metabolism, which we can get by increasing the amount of lean muscle in the body. That’s because muscles need three times more energy than fat; in other words, muscle burns more calories that fat. The ONLY way to boost the metabolic rate is by building muscles through physical activity.
Burn Calories through Exercise
The more time you spend exercising and the more intense the exercise, the more calories you will burn. The combination of cardiovascular exercise and strength training is the best way to increase your metabolism and burn more calories.
Most people require 30 minutes of cardiovascular (also called aerobic) exercise at least five days a week plus strength training two days a week. The body starts burning fat about 15 minutes into the exercise routine; if you quit after 15 or 20 minutes you will not burn fat. That’s why 30 minutes is the minimal amount of time for exercising to burn calories.
A cardio workout is a good way to lose calories quickly. You can burn 100 calories (or more) by running a mile or chopping wood for five minutes. Or, by swimming, playing racquetball, skipping rope, or playing tennis for ten minutes. Or, by skiing down an advanced slope, treading water, or hiking uphill for fifteen minutes. Running five miles at a pace of ten minutes per mile burns up 500 calories, as does bicycling at a moderate pace of 14 miles per hour for one hour.
The actual number of calories you will lose with any activity depends on your current weight; the more you weigh, the more calories you burn in a given amount of time. You can use an online calculator to calculate the calories you burn during a given physical activity.
Weight training (an anaerobic exercise) three times a week for 20 minutes builds muscle, which is a good way to burn calories quickly. For every pound of muscle you add you burn about 50 more calories a day.
Physical activity does not have to be formal, sustained, or athletic to burn calories. Just moving around uses up calories. Jiggling your foot, pacing, getting up and down, fidgeting, doing the dishes—anything other than being sedentary—burns calories. Use the stairs, park in the back of the parking lot, and walk briskly.
Exercising in the morning seems to burn more calories and at a faster rate by keeping your metabolic rate elevated for a good part of the day. A brisk walk in the morning is a good way to start the day.
Eat to Burn Calories
Eating four or five smaller meals a day appears to keep your metabolism going faster than eating three large meals. Metabolism slows a few hours after eating a meal, so if you eat every three of four hours you will keep your metabolism from slowing down. The body simply uses more energy digesting smaller, more frequent meals than by eating the same amount of calories in three meals.
Eat lots of high fiber, low carbohydrate foods like green vegetables. They take longer to digest than many other foods, so you will feel full longer. Plus, they are nutritious and low calorie.
Eat iron rich food such as lean meat, chicken, and soybean products, or take multivitamins. A lack of iron prevents adequate oxygen from getting to the cells of your body, slowing metabolism.
Don’t go hungry, and don’t skip breakfast. If your body thinks you are starving it conserves energy and slows down your metabolism. Dehydration also decreases metabolic rate, so drink plenty of water (eight cups is good) throughout the day. Water also helps make you feel full without adding calories.
More Tips for Quick Calorie Burning
- Sleep seven to nine hours a night. Your metabolism slows if you regularly sleep less than four hours a night. If you are exhausted your body doesn’t have the energy to burn calories. Don’t eat late at night because it could interfere with your sleep.
- Drink coffee or black tea; caffeine appears to raise the rate at which we burn calories.
- Drink green tea; it could boost your metabolism.
- If you think your metabolism is slower than it should be, have your doctor check your thyroid gland.
- Avoid alcohol; it depresses the metabolism.
- Find ways to release stress. Stress appears to stimulate the appetite, depress the metabolism, and increase the storage of fat in the body.
He Who Laughs, Lasts
Here is one final tip on how to burn calories fast: Don’t forget to laugh. Laughing burns 50 calories in 10-15 minutes!