How To Burn Calories Without Exercise

Being the hater of working out that you are, I know you’ve wondered how to burn calories without exercise. Or, as far-fetched as it is, you love working out but want to know if there’s a way to burn calories outside of the gym.

Well, you’ll be happy to hear that you sure can.

In fact, you already have your problem solved.

See, you burn calories every second of the day by simply existing!

Brain activity, cell growth, blood circulation, and other vital life processes require energy, all of which account for your basal metabolic rate (BMR). You also burn calories by consuming certain things via what’s known as the thermic effect of food (TEF).¹

For the most part, while BMR accounts for about 70 percent of your daily calorie burn, it’s out of your control. And at about 10 percent of your daily calorie burn, the thermic effect of food isn’t going to make that much of a difference.²

Now, before you get crestfallen at that news, you’ll be happy to hear that you can burn significantly more calories without exercise another way.

BMR burns calories, but you can’t control the amount, for the most part. And the amount of calories burned by way of TEF isn’t going to make or break your diet.

So how can you burn more calories in addition to BMR and TEF without having to work out?

The answer is through non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT.³ As the name sort of implies, NEAT is the amount of calories you burn via physical activity. Also, as the name sort of implies, this physical activity is the kind that doesn’t fall under strenuous work or intentional exercise.⁴ In other words, it’s everyday movement, which can add up to the burning of a shitload of calories per day.

How much?

Ummmm…a SHITLOAD, like I just said!!!

But how much is a shitload?!

Oh, your demanding ass is demanding specifics?

Well, depending on the activity, an hour of intentional exercise burns about 300-350 calories for every 100 lbs of body weight. On the other hand, activities that aren’t actually work or exercise only burn a measly 100-150 calories an hour. Yeah, pretty measly. That is, until you consider that the sum of those activities can result in an extra 850 calories, if not more.⁵

As for what you can do…

TAKE THE STAIRS

I know, you looooooove elevator music and can’t get enough of it. That’s why you go out of your way to take the elevator rather than the stairs. Yeah, the stairs that are usually closer to you and could get you to the floor you’re going to much, much faster than the amount of time it takes to walk to the elevator, wait forever for it, and push the button to close the door as you pretend not to see someone running towards it.⁶

But hey, there’s that sweet, sweet elevator music!

So who can fucking blame you?!?!

While I admire your musical taste and the depths you’re willing to go for it, you really should take the stairs more often so your life isn’t as sedentary as it is!⁷

PARK FURTHER AWAY

What if I told you that you could park a couple of yards away where a ton of empty spaces are. After parking, you could then walk those couple of yards to the entrance of wherever you’re going. Yeah, you could do that instead of, I don’t know, dropping your passengers off and then circling around the parking lot for minutes on end until a really close spot becomes available!

By parking farther, not only will you get a little more exercise into your day but you’ll also stop burning gas and wasting time while looking for the optimal spot. Most importantly, it’ll save you from mowing down pedestrians as you have your head turned to the side looking for spaces rather than to the road ahead!⁸

DO HOUSEWORK

The clothes that you still haven’t folded and ironed after washing them weeks ago. Those dirty socks and draws in the corner of your bedroom that have the laundry calling their name. Your unmade bed. That overgrown lawn. The grimy ass bathtub by that even grimier toilet. The front door entryway with shoe prints on top of shoe prints. The wall-to-wall carpeting with bits of food, dead skin cells, and mounds of insect feces. The dust that’s EVERYWHERE!!!

Burn calories by cleaning your house regularly instead of waiting for the extremely rare occasion that you have company over!⁹

PLAY WITH YOUR KIDS

Did I write play with your kids?

I know, you could do more exciting adult shit like locking yourself in your bedroom and crying about how much money those little buggers are costing you and where the fuck you’re going to get it from, but suck it up and pretend to have a good time playing with those little bundles of joy!¹⁰

OTHER EXAMPLES:

• Bike or walk to work if you live within 5 miles of your employer

• Exit the bus or train a few stops from where you’re going and walk the rest of the way

• Get up and go wherever your coworker is to tell them what you were about to send them in an email¹¹

• Remove a wastebasket from your immediate vicinity so you have to get up every time you have to throw something away

• Pace rather than sit while talking on the phone

• Nod your head, head bang, play the air guitar, or dance while listening to music¹²

• Walk to a far removed part of the building to use the bathroom at work¹³

If you want to burn calories without exercise, now you can stop wondering how.

What you have to do is increase your NEAT.

In fact, in addition to wondering how to burn calories without exercising, you were wondering a few other things. One was why you can just look at food and gain weight, if not why you’re putting so much effort into your diet and workout plan but progress is excruciatingly sloooooooow.

The other was why your friend, relative, or co-worker who eats anything they want and exercises very little, if at all, doesn’t pack on the pounds.

Oh, you weren’t wondering that?!

…

SHUT UP!!!

Of course, you were!

And because you were, you probably thought your friend, relative, or co-worker’s inability to gain weight and your amazing ability to put it on or not lose it came down to a difference in your metabolisms, huh?

While your medical opinion as an endocrinologist is highly respected, it’s wrong!

Hormone problems and a crappy metabolism are not what’s separating you from this person you secretly hate.¹⁴

So what is?

*facepalm*

Your NEAT is!

The differing NEAT between the two of you is what’s separating you from this person you secretly hate!!!¹⁵

Yup, they more than likely do a lot of small things throughout the day that contribute to them having a high NEAT, thus burning a shitload of calories. This, in possible addition to footnote #15, is why this person you secretly hate doesn’t gain weight, as calorie intake is the prime determinant of weight management and this person who eats “anything” they want and who doesn’t exercise is ultimately creating a calorie deficit.

If you yourself haven’t reduced your calorie intake, using more body language when you talk isn’t going to do shit because you’ll still be at a caloric surplus.

If, however, you’ve already reduced your caloric intake, then increasing your NEAT can help with the creation of a larger deficit and peel the pounds away even faster, whether or not that’s in conjunction with regular intentional exercise.

So be more active in your daily life and you too can become someone people secretly hate!

Glossary: caloric deficit, calories, diet, exercise, gym, metabolism, moderation, work out

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer in San Diego. He has been lifting weights for +25 years and training clients in the gym and online for about half of that time. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys long walks and leaving buildings crushed and entire city blocks decimated in his wake.