It’s no secret that exercising and eating a nutritious diet are effective ways to help you lose and maintain a healthy weight. However, there are unusual ways to boost your calorie burn throughout the day without hitting the gym.
Although age, sex, height, and weight influence how your body uses calories, activities like cleaning your house, getting enough sleep, chewing gum, and even laughing can contribute to a calorie-burning boost.
1. Cleaning and Doing Chores
Subtle forms of physical activity known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), such as daily housework and chores, can boost your metabolism and burn extra calories.
In addition to helping improve your overall physical health, a deep cleaning session can increase the calories you burn. Some reports suggest that picking up the pace of cleaning may burn around 150 calories per hour in a person who weighs roughly 150 pounds.
A Word From Verywell
Increasing non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) by being a little more active throughout the day can lead to an extra 100 to 200 calories a day, which compounds over the year to help with weight loss or maintenance.
2. Laughing
Sharing a laugh with a friend may do more than make you feel good.
Studies show that chuckling out loud for 10 to 15 minutes could burn up to 40 calories. Researchers theorize that laughing can help reduce cortisol levels, which can help temporarily boost your metabolism and prompt the body to burn additional calories.
3. Chewing Gum
Some evidence shows that the effort and energy it takes to chew gum can help speed up your metabolism. One study found that participants burned more calories when they chewed gum before a meal. Other research suggests that chewing gum may signal your body that you’re feeling full, limiting further calorie intake.
4. Fidgeting
Fidgeting, which describes small movements like tapping your foot or shaking your leg during the day, may contribute to your calorie burn.
When one (or more) of your body parts is in constant motion, you may burn more calories, whether standing or sitting. Some studies found that fidgeting throughout the day may burn up to 10 times more calories than sitting still. In some people, this might equal an extra 350 calories burned daily.
5. Turning the Heat Down
Your body naturally maintains a core temperature. When exposed to a cooler environment, it must work harder to stay warm. Some studies show that this additional energy expenditure might prompt a higher caloric burn overall. More research is necessary to link setting your thermostat to a lower temperature and calorie burn.
6. Drinking Cold Water
Drinking water can temporarily boost metabolism. However, research shows that drinking cold water forces extra energy expenditure, which may further maximize these benefits.
Some evidence reports that this could equal a 40% increase in metabolic rate as your body warms the water you consume to its internal core temperature. However, more research is necessary.
7. Shopping
Occasional retail therapy can also be a helpful way to help increase your calorie burn.
Experts generally recommend that most adults who can should aim for 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day. Because activities like shopping or running errands add to your daily steps, they can also increase calories burned, maybe up to 180 calories per hour, by some estimates.
8. Having Sex
Though the exact number can vary based on session duration, intensity, body composition, age, and more, one study found that a sexual encounter between a heterosexual couple burned about 4 calories per minute for males and 3 calories per minute for females. Based on this estimate, you can burn about 100 calories during a 24-minute sex session.
9. Playing Video Games
Active video gaming involving physical motions like dancing and sports may provide a calorie burn similar to light or moderate exercise, such as walking, skipping, or jogging. These video games help increase daily energy expenditure and may be a helpful tool to promote physical activity, particularly in children.
Note that sedentary video games that aren’t as physically engaging probably wouldn’t have this same calorie-burning effect.
10. Gardening
Various full-body movements are involved in gardening, like pulling weeds, bending over or squatting, raking, shoveling, and repetitive use of heavy tools. Though the exact number of calories burned will vary by activity and person, experts say spending an hour working in the yard qualifies for an effective calorie burn and strengthens upper and lower body muscle groups.
11. Donating Blood
When you donate blood, your body expends energy to create more red blood cells to replace what’s been depleted. Some anecdotal reports suggest that having a pint of blood drawn may temporarily increase the number of calories burned to 650 in some instances. However, official scientific evidence would be required to confirm this claim.
12. Sleeping More
Calories are burned naturally during sleep as the body expends energy to maintain proper function throughout the night. Research suggests that regularly getting the recommended seven to nine hours of good-quality sleep further supports metabolism and regulates appetite hormones. This may ensure you consistently burn as many calories as possible overnight.
13. Drinking Green Tea or Coffee
Drinks that contain caffeine can temporarily boost your body’s metabolic rate. That’s why beverage options like green tea or coffee can help support a small extra daily calorie burn.
One study found that men with obesity who drank multiple cups of green tea burned around 183 more calories daily. Though more evidence is necessary, some research shows that drinks like green tea and coffee contain antioxidants that may promote extra energy expenditure, helping to increase the number of calories burned overall.
Summary
Though various factors impact the number of calories you burn daily, you can incorporate more movement and an extra calorie burn into your routine without completing a traditional workout.
Non-exercise everyday activities like chewing gum, laughing, cleaning the house, doing yard work, and playing video games can add up when it comes to burning calories. A healthcare provider can help answer any questions about your personalized daily calorie needs, especially if you have an underlying health condition.