No matter which way you slice it, if you want to lose weight, the basic formula is “more out than in," or burn more calories than you consume on a daily basis. Your method to accomplish this goal may vary. Maybe you replace meals with smoothies, or you work out twice a day, or you count calories for every bite you put in your mouth. One thing is the same for everyone looking to lose weight: the more calories you can burn throughout the day, the more likely you are to see noticeable results.
Looking for the secret to weight loss? Well, here it is: you just have to burn more calories than you consume as often as possible. That’s really the magic behind any popular weight loss program. Whether you add up points, watch your carbs, do insane workouts every day, or all of the above, the goal is to create a constant calorie deficit, which will eventually show up as a smaller number on the scale.
If you’re already working out and watching what you eat, you can still score some bonus calorie burn every day and reach your target weight even faster. Here’s a list of 10 things you can do to burn 300 calories in an hour or less, and you don’t have to go back to the gym, promise! If you do one of these every day, you can lose an extra pound every two weeks!
1. Dance the Night Away
You finally have the ultimate excuse to guilt the crew to go out any night because you can burn 300 calories in just 45 minutes of dancing! In the words of Beyonce, “a little sweat ain’t never hurt nobody!”
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2. Gardening.
Make your mama proud and work that green thumb with an hour of gardening to burn 350 calories. Extra points if you start a vegetable garden to have all the healthy food you need right in your backyard!
3. Hit the Roller Rink
What better reason to dust off your old skates from ’83? It only takes 30 minutes to hit your 300-calorie target with roller skating. You can even burn over 600 calories in an hour, just skating! Just take it easy with the tricks; the falls hurt a little bit more than you might remember!
4. Go Out and Play
If you’ve got kids of your own, you have endless possibilities to have fun while burning calories in no time. Hit the playground for an hour with your kids, or pretend that you’re a kid again and run around with your friends playing tag, hide and seek, or whatever you want.
5. Walk Everywhere
A stroll at a pretty easy pace (3.5 mph) can burn over 300 calories in an hour. So spend some time window shopping, add some walking to your commute to work, or pick 4 times a day to walk for 15 minutes at a time.
6. Bowling Anyone?
Surprisingly an hour of bowling can burn 300 calories. Of course, you can’t sit around for too long between your turn, so be sure to get up and cheer, talk some smack and keep moving throughout the game.
7. Clean House
An hour of moderate cleaning, like scrubbing floors, vacuuming and moving things around the house can add up to over 300 calories torched in under an hour. So check off the chores while you get that much closer to your goal weight.
8. Hop on a Bike
You don’t have to be a serious cyclist to reap the benefits of a bike ride. If you have just a half hour, you can burn 300 calories by riding around at a moderate pace. You can make this a part of your work commute or your vehicle of choice to and from your (healthy) brunch.
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9. Get Sporty
A friendly game of touch football, softball, tennis or basketball can give you more than bragging rights. With just 30 minutes of play, you can knock out just about 300 calories. Don’t turn down the next invite for a friendly game or two!
10. Grocery Shopping
That trip to the grocery store will look even more appealing when you find out that it can give you some extra calorie burn. It takes about an hour of shopping with a cart to hit 300 calories, but it’ll be worth the long lines once you see those pounds fall off!
Sharita Jennings is a health policy attorney and certified group fitness instructor and nutrition specialist. She leads fitness classes in Washington, DC and provides online coaching and tips on her site, GetFitLikeThat.com.
