You really don’t need to go to the gym to build muscle, improve stamina or lose weight. Stretching your body beyond its comfort zone is what it takes to get fit. This can be done at home. But, can you do this fast enough?
How do you burn calories fast at home without equipment?
There are a variety of home exercises you can perform at home with your bodyweight only. They include pushups, pull-ups, calisthenics, running, swimming, skipping rope, plank crawls, leaps and many more. Some of these activities are straightforward and require some getting used to. Others are easy and natural to the body.
Regardless of the regimen, intensity and duration are the two biggest factors that determine the number of calories burned. You must push the limits for as long as possible to burn more calories without equipment at home.
Here’s a rundown of what we will discuss in this article:
- What it takes to burn calories
- The science behind burning calories
- 7 exercises that burn the most calories at home without equipment
- How to burn more calories throughout the day
- How to burn more calories during your next workout
- Frequently asked questions section
What does it take to burn calories?
The simple answer is activity. For anything to happen in your body, energy is needed. Even at rest, your body needs energy for pumping blood, breathing, repairs and brain processes.
When you combine these energy requirements with physical conscious activities like walking, talking and general motion, you get your daily energy requirement.
In men, it’s an average of 2500 calories while its 2000 calories in women.
Any additional physical activities require more energy above the daily requirement. Assuming you are maintaining your daily value, an extra source of energy will be required.
This is where stored body fat comes in. Some days, if not most, you may consume more calories than your body needs. This surplus is converted to fat and stored all over the body for later usage.
When you work out, muscles first utilizes glycogen stored in the carbohydrates you eat. Once this is depleted, it turns to the stored fat. This is how you lose weight!
How many calories do I burn a day
According to the US Department of Health, adult males generally require 2,000-3,000 calories/day while adult women require 1,600-2,400 calories/day to maintain weight.
What exercises burn the most calories at home?
The following are seven best exercises that are simple to perform and burn many calories:
1. Squats
We recommend squats as it’s a perfect activity to work on large leg muscles.
These tissues burn a lot more calories than any other in the body.
The form is important here. Lock your palms in front of your chest Stand straight up, with your legs at a shoulder’s width.
Move down slowly while keeping your chest straight up.
Go all the way until your butt is just about to touch with the back of your legs. Rise slowly and repeat.
2. Skipping Rope
This is a great activity for improving balance, coordination, releasing endorphins and above all, burning calories.
When done consistently at high intensity, skipping rope can burn up to 1,000 calories in an hour. Once you are done, you will feel it for sure!
It’s something you can manage easily from the comfort of your home.
3. Push-ups
Regular Pushups work the back, chest, biceps, and triceps. This means a higher caloric expenditure to sustain the movements.
There are other forms of isolation push-ups that target specific muscles. To perform the ordinary push up, lower your body to the floor with both your arms extended at shoulder’s width.
Lift your body while maintaining a flat level on both the back and underside.
Tighten your core muscles as you slowly but steadily, move up to arm’s length. Come down until your face almost touched the ground.
Then repeat.
4. Seat-ups
Seat-ups engage the core and back muscles to complete movements.
Be sure to maintain proper form. There are several variations of the push-up. At home, you can either have your legs laid flat on the ground or with needs folded up.
For starters, keep your legs lying flat by locking your feet under some weight. Hold your arms across your shoulders.
Use the core muscles to rise to the seating position.
Use your back muscles to lower back down. For maximum impact, avoid touching the floor until you complete all reps in a set.
With enough progress, you may try doing seat-ups with your legs folded up. Maintain the same movements. Raise your head to the knee position. Go back down and repeat.
5. Running
Running engages most muscles in your body: arms, legs, core, and back. This makes running one of the best ways to burn more calories without equipment.
Note that the speed and duration play a key role in determining how many calories you burn.
For instance, when you maintain a speed of 4-5mph, you can burn up to 600calories in an hour.
You may also consider a treadmill if you don’t already own one.
6. Cycling
Cycling is a great way to relax and still shed off some pounds. Large leg muscles especially the quads are stimulated when you cycle.
At home, you could cruise around your neighborhood.
Time to time, try out sloppy terrains for higher intensity. Stationary spin bikes like the Peloton can also be used at home.
7. Swimming
Swimming needs no introduction. You can potentially burn 600 calories within an hour. This is because many muscles are engaged. Maintain short resting intervals in-between laps.
How to burn more calories throughout the day
The following tips can help you burn more calories throughout your day:
Tip#1: Drink plenty of cold water
Water boosts metabolism. This leads to more burned fat. Carry a water bottle whenever possible.
Coldwater helps cool the body. This, in turn, increases the amount of energy expenditure to warm the body.
Tip#2: Chew gum
Chewing gum is beneficial in maintaining peak metabolism. It also helps curb cravings.
This works by tricking your mind that you are actually eating something.
Researchers have found that this can help you consume up to 68 fewer calories. Just be sure to keep it sugar-free.
Tip#3: Take every opportunity to stay active
Whenever possible, do all manual chores by yourself: cutting grass, cleaning the house, repairs, etc. You should also take the stairs more often. These “small” activities cumulatively burn more calories.
Tip#4: Maintain cold ambient temperatures
Brown fat is the body’s source of heat. Staying under cooler conditions increases activity in the liver to produce more heat. This translates to higher caloric expenditure.
How to burn more calories during your next home workout
The following are universal tips you can apply to burn the most calories on your workout:
Start your training session with a burst.
This ensures that you maintain a high heart rate to keep you pumped up for the session.
Push your limits
Do all your sets to the point of failure. This allows your body to burn the most calories possible. You can also cut your resting intervals by using supersets. A good way to do this would be by interchanging between upper and lower body workouts.
Full-body workouts
Engaging more muscles means a higher energy requirement. This translates to higher efficiency as you burn more calories in a short time.
How to lose weight without exercise
It’s possible to lose weight without working out. The trick is to limit how much fat gets accumulated in your body. The following are four techniques to do that:
i) Eating habits
While sticking to a diet is not a requirement for weight loss, observing the quantity of food you take in certainly is.
The body requires a specific amount of caloric intake every day to stay alive and maintain current weight.
To shed some pounds, you need to be at a caloric deficit, simple! On the other side, to put on some weight, you need to be at a caloric surplus.
Losing weight without exercise requires you to consume less than your body needs. The following are some quick tips to limit your food intake:
ii) Eat Slowly
Pay attention to every bite and crush food to the finest consistency.
This can significantly reduce your food intake. Remember to minimize electronic destruction as well.
It will help you to pay attention to how much you are consuming.
iii) Consume More Protein
Proteins are dense foods. They help enhance the feeling of fullness and reduce hunger.
One study showed that eating 15% more proteins may help individuals to cut 441 calories from their daily meals. This is equivalent to a loss of 11 pounds in 12 weeks.
iv) Avoid Junk Food
Fast foods pack a high caloric density. They are also high in carbohydrates and low in fiber.
Consequently, they cause a spike in blood sugar once digested.
This translates to disproportionate weight gains. I’m not ruling out cheat days though!
v) Increase Fiber in your Meals
Fiber can be found in fruits and vegetables. Throwing in at least one of those into all your meals can help you feel fuller. This allows you to eat fewer calories and still feel great. They also offer more benefits than you could imagine. Better digestion, anti-oxidations, vitamins, and minerals are some of them.
vi) Sleep More
When you are sleepy, you tend to eat more.
According to a DR. Marie Pierre, a research associate at the New York Obesity Research Center, sleep deprivation leads to an increase in the production of ghrelin.
This is the hormone that stimulates appetite. What’s worse is that the brain’s rewards system produces a good feeling after eating.
This leads to more production of ghrelin and the cycle continues.
vii) Water
We will not begin discussing the endless benefits of always staying hydrated. However, taking water before meals can potentially reduce hunger.
This leads to eating less, thus, a caloric deficit. Remember to replace sugary drinks with water for better results.
viii) Mental Health Awareness
It all starts in the mind, everything! Take some time to think about why and what you want to achieve in losing weight.
Be honest with yourself and set rules.
This is mostly in line with your eating habits. Picture how great you will look after say, 3 months of cautious eating.
This way, you will reduce the odds of backsliding into irresponsible feasting.
ix) Avoid Stress
The best way to combat stress is by dealing with it as it comes. Stress is linked with the increase in the production of cortisol which disrupts the appetite-regulating homeostasis in the body.
In some people, this leads to unnecessary food craving that is hard to satisfy.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
#Can I lose weight by walking 30 minutes every day?
Absolutely! Your height, weight, speed, and distance of walking are the biggest factors that determine how many calories you burn.
For instance, a 180-pound person burns 100 calories while a 120-pound individual burns 65 calories. For more personalized figures, use this calorie burned-walking calculator.
#Can we lose 1kg in 1 day?
There is no physically safe way to lose 1 kg of body fat in a day.
This is because to lose that much weight requires you to burn 7,700 calories. With the daily caloric requirement ranging from 1,600-3,000, you may need to starve and still burn 4,700 more calories.
This is next to impossible and risky, to say the least.
#Is it possible to burn 1,000 calories in 1 hour?
Yes. By jumping rope at high speed with short resting periods. A sprint interval can also burn the same amount of calories in less time.
#Can 15-minute workouts work?
Yes. To get the most out of your short time, practice high-intensity training during your 15-minute session. While you may not be able to maintain peak activity for the entire 15 minutes, you can slot in very brief resting periods, typically in seconds. This applies to all workouts.
#Does running reduce belly fat?
Yes. But not only belly fat. You see, the body burns fat all over the body regardless of which exercise you do. Spot reduction is a novel concept.
Bottom Line
There is no magic bullet for weight loss. No miracle supplements for idle fat-burning exists. The foundation remains to be strict dieting, dedication, and consistency with your fitness schedule.