How to Burn 500 Calories a Day

Did you know that in order to lose one pound that equates to 3,500 calories? It is pretty harsh, but if you break it down into achievable blocks you can make it far less daunting. If you could burn say 500 calories a day while not taking too many more in, then you could conceivably achieve that in around 10 days (accounting for the extra calories you will be eating). That is really not so bad, and if you keep this up you could lose around five pounds in fifty days ?that is under two months. And once you know how to lose five hundred calories a day you will always have the option of doing more and burning 1,000 or even 1,500. So how do you do that exactly?

We all know basically how to burn calories ?running, swimming, jumping, and any kind of CV really is a great way to get the body working and looking around for handy fat cells which can be burned for fuel. This works as after just under two minutes the body runs out of its supply of ATP which is freely available in the body. ATP stands for 慉ndenosine Triphosphate?and is considered the 慹nergy currency?of life ?providing energy in the form of powerful bonds that bind three individual phosphate molecules together and unleash a powerful force when broken as a result. At this point the body then needs to find energy elsewhere and starts looking to stores of carbs and fats stored in our bodies cells. These are then broken down into glucose and glycogen and finally ATP by oxygen and carried to wherever they are needed in the body. This is called the aerobic system; hence the term 慳erobic exercise?

So one way to burn 500 calories a day is to simply exercise until your body has had to look for that much energy. You can get calorie counters that will tell you precisely how many calories you have burned during exercise and that take other factors such as your weight into consideration. However, assuming this is for a 130 pound woman, the below suggestions will roughly burn 500 calories:

Running 5 miles

Rowing vigorously for 1 hour

Cycling 15 miles

Swimming laps for 1 hour

So all of these will burn 500 calories if you do them daily. However there will not always be time for this and you might have been hoping for a quick and easy answer. Unfortunately there is no 憇ilver bullet?when it comes to weight loss, and the only techniques that will work are those that require effort. Fortunately though there are some little ways you can burn extra calories without really putting in any effort. For one, you should weight lift and build muscle. This might not sound easier, but in actual fact you will at least be sitting down with periods of rest in between so it is not quite as taxing on your fitness levels as say running. The reason it is such a good way to burn calories however is not the exercise itself (which will burn about 500 calories an hour for vigorous exercise), but what comes after. You see working out has profound effects on the body, triggering a series of physical and chemical changes. For example, after a heavy workout the body will produce growth hormone which has many positive effects ?including weight loss. More impressively, simply having muscle will burn calories as the body needs to work to maintain them. This means that someone with a good musculature will burn extra calories simply from sitting still or sleeping and in significant amounts ?every pound of muscle burns around 38 calories a day. That means that if you had ten pounds of muscle, you could burn 380 calories without doing anything that day. Furthermore, after working out your body will benefit from a 憄ost workout metabolism lift?as your body begins working in overdrive to repair muscle and wounds etc. Do your workout daily then and you can expect to burn 500 calories from the exercise itself, plus say 200 for the muscle you have acquired, and then an extra 100 from extra metabolic activity and growth hormone. An hour of weight lifting the can burn around 800 calories a day, which combined with the toning benefits of a little muscle can make it one of the most effective ways to change your physique. A trick here is to do squats, as these work the legs (the largest muscle groups and so the ones that will burn the most calories) and also trigger even more growth hormone than other movements.

There are other little tips and tricks you can use throughout the day to burn calories too. For example simply fidgeting, bouncing you leg up and down under the table for example (which can be a sign of restless leg syndrome) can be a good way to burn calories without exerting yourself too much and might be as high as 300 a day if you do it excessively. Similarly doing little things different throughout the day can add to your overall calorie count, such as taking the stairs instead of the lift or walking to work rather than going by car. Even thinking can burn calories so if you do a cross word puzzle or ask yourself maths questions throughout the day you might be able to burn an extra few calories ?every little bit helps!

 

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