Get In Shape Without the Gym

Exercises to Burn Fat and Calories

You don’t have to officially be in a ‘gym‘ to burn calories and lose weight. All means of ‘physical exertion’ or ‘physical activity’ in general – burns calories (energy). This means voluntary movements such as walking, talking, brushing your hair and teeth, (or sex) and involuntary movements such as breathing and the heart pumping blood throughout the body and even sleep – all burns calories. It’s like gas in a car, every second that engine is spinning, gas is being consumed – conversely – every physical move you make, calories are being spent; most folks just aren’t aware of this. If you love to be in the gym to burn calories and enjoy performing the various exercises associated with it, then you should be good – but – if you’re one of those millions of people that are intimidated of a gym for one reason or another, listen up. There are a multitude of various exercises that can be performed in your own community or even your own house that will permit you to burn those extra calories even though you’re not in a gym.

If you’ve ever walked your dog, washed your car by hand in your own drive way, mowed your lawn, raked leaves, vacuumed your carpet, washed dishes, or a million other things around your home (or office), guess what – you’ve burned calories in the process and you weren’t at a gym or engaged in a ‘formal’ workout. We’ve heard time and time again that even 30 minutes of moderate walking or even exercise at least 4 times a week can work wonders for your overall health. Walking or running with ankle weights, weight packs (usually worn like a vest), hand held weights, or even bottles of water, can step up your game. Carrying more weight while performing these activities – burns more calories as it stresses the muscles more which utilizes more calories during the process.

Tips: From a nutritional perspective, I’ve already discussed things like putting the reduced fat sauces and dressings on the side instead of smothered on top of your favorite dish to save you some calories. As far as ‘physical exertion’ goes – try some of these tips and incorporate them into your daily lifestyle.

When out and about, instead of always taking the elevator, take the stairs. If it’s 100 stories to where you need to go, take the elevator to the 90th floor, or even the 95th floor, and take the stairs the remainder of the way up. These calories expenditures will accumulate over a short period of time and loosen those jeans up really quick. Instead of driving the quarter of a mile to the store or cafe for lunch, try walking, or even brisk walking if you need to step up your game. If it’s too hot to walk outside, walk inside. Grocery stores and shopping malls provide and large air conditioned facility to do this in; just be careful of the bakery section at the stores or your favorite food outlet if your preference is the mall.

Long story short, if you’re storing weight in unwanted areas, this is your body’s way of communicating with you. It’s trying to tell you that you need to exercise more and ‘spend some calories’ or cut back on your daily consumption of calories, or perhaps a little bit of both. My point in this article is to make sure you not only burn calories but you actually enjoy the process, it makes things easier and enhances the quality of life. If you don’t enjoy the process of burning calories, you won’t look forward to it and you won’t commit to staying active for life and everything slows down from there. There are thousands of ways to burn calories, find one form that you like (and benefit from) and stay consistent with it.

Source: Get In Shape Without the Gym