10 Super Simple and Scientifically Proven Ways to Increase Your Daily Caloric Burn

Calories play a big role in the way we categorize the food we eat, and how much we burn helps us choose what workouts we do.

Sometimes, we just want to burn more calories and fat in easy, simple ways that don’t require a ton of exercise or effort.

Check out these 10 simple and scientifically proven tips to quickly burn more calories and increase your metabolism.

10 easy ways to increase your caloric burn. How to burn more calories in a day.

What are calories?

Calories = energy. Our gut absorbs the micro and macronutrients from the food and drinks we consume to fuel our heart, lungs, muscles, brain, body temperature etc.

If we consume the same number of daily calories that we burn, we stay at roughly the same weight. If we burn more than we consume, we lose weight, and if we consume more than we burn, we gain weight.

We gain and lose weight based on calorie consumption because our bodies translate calories into energy. If we don’t use the energy, we store it as fat. If we use more energy, our bodies tap into those fat reserves and burn them to energize us.

So, if we burn more calories than we consume, we will burn excess fat.

1. Choose to stand more and sit less

Standing burns 20%-30% more calories per hour than sitting.

Any and all physical exercise burns calories. Anything we do to activate our muscles, brains, heart, or lungs or changes to our body temperature will turn on our metabolism and get our bodies converting calories to energy and burning fat.

Whether you work from home or in an office, consider getting a standing desk to increase the time you spend standing every day.

If you have a smartwatch or smartphone, activating your daily reminders to stand is an easy way to get on your feet more often without relying solely on your memory.

The switch from sitting to standing may seem arduous at first, and it’s important to rest when you need to, but as your body gets stronger, you’ll feel the urge to sit back down less frequently, and you’ll be burning calories in an easy way.

2. Take the stairs over the elevator

You can burn extra calories by simply choosing the stairs instead of the elevator.

Walking upstairs can burn between 530 - 830 calories per hour, and going downstairs can burn 175 - 275 calories per hour. The range in the calorie burn accounts for different body weights, ages, and fitness levels.

Next time you see an option for an escalator or a staircase, do yourself a simple favor and take the stairs! It doesn’t matter how slow or fast you go; taking the stairs is a simple exercise that boosts your metabolism and burns fat and calories.

3. Host game nights instead of dinner parties

When we have friends over, it’s often centered around eating and drinking together. Put that newly consumed energy to work and burn some calories at your next party with games and activities! How playing games can help you lose weight

Remember how much fun going to a birthday party or playdate was when you were a kid? You were almost always playing games.

Whether it's an indoor round of twister, charades, foosball, musical chairs, or an outdoor game of tag, bocce, or horseshoes, games aren’t just for kids' parties - adults love them too.

There are so many different types of games that you can alter for skill and ability level, and number of participants.

Playing games will burn calories with physical activity, but it’ll also get you laughing. Laughing can burn between 10 - 40 calories in just 15 mins!

4. Park farther away

We burn about 0.04 calories per step we take.

Any chance we get to increase our step count will increase our calorie burn and make us healthier in the long run.

A study of more than 18,000 women averaging around 72 years of age showed that the ones who walked just 4,400 steps per day were 41% less likely to die than the ones who took 2,700 steps per day.

Challenging yourself to park a few spots further from your destination will increase that step count, which can really help up your steps over time.

5. Drink water with ice

If you drink a glass of ice water instead of a glass of room-temperature water, you will burn 8 calories.

It doesn’t seem like much, but studies show that drinking water increases your metabolism and results in burning calories without exercise.

Drinking water increases caloric burn, so you might as well enjoy that cold glass of water!

6. Get better quality sleep

The effects of sleep deprivation are widespread and very serious. Studies on obesity are revealing that a lack of sleep can mess with our metabolism. Why sleep is important for weight loss

When we sleep, our metabolism drops by about 15%, allowing our bodies to recover from the day's effort. Our bodies also recover hormonally during sleep. Our blood glucose levels (the amount of sugar in your blood) and cortisol levels (stress hormone) ebb and flow while we go through the different types of sleep.

Studies show that just one night of poor sleep can put our blood glucose levels out of whack, causing high and low blood sugar levels when we’re awake that affect how we physically feel and the foods we crave. The less regulated your blood glucose level is, the more likely you are to crave things that are high in calories and filled with sugar.

7. Drink matcha green tea powder daily

There are so many positive effects of drinking green tea, including weight loss!

Matcha is a type of green tea that has high levels of antioxidants and catechins. Matcha has all the positive effects of coffee with none of the negative side effects.

A 2013 medical study testing a randomized group of people with type 2 diabetes showed that participants who drank 4 cups of green tea daily lost weight and had healthier blood sugar levels.

Matcha green tea kicks on our metabolism and is a quick, delicious way to increase the calories you burn.

New to matcha? Try our Organic matcha, ceremonial matcha set, or our ceremonial grade sampler

8. Walk when talking on the phone or at work

A great way to get on your feet, take more steps, and burn more calories is to get up and walk around whenever you’re on the phone.

Chatting on the phone with friends, family, or even work colleagues is a perfect way to distract yourself from realizing how much you’re exercising!

Some phone calls are shorter than we expect, and some are longer - if you stick to getting on your feet and walking around every time you pick up the phone, the number of steps you take will add up, and you’ll burn more calories the easy way.

9. Turn down the thermostat at home

Did you know that we have different types of fat in our bodies?

How temperature affects metabolism

White fat typically stores extra energy, and too much of it can lead to obesity. Brown fat burns energy to help regulate body temperature. When exposed to cold settings, our white fat cells become brown fat cells and burn calories to keep us warm.

Studies show that consistently being exposed to moderately cold temperatures, e.g. for 10 hours a night, will increase brown fat by 42% and can increase your metabolism by 10%.

There’s no need to shiver; turning down the temp to 66 degrees Fahrenheit while you sleep is the ultimate lazy way to burn calories.

10. Stress less often with healthy daily rituals

When we’re stressed, our bodies feel all types of negative side effects. One of which is an increase in the stress hormone cortisol.

The release of cortisol in response to stress can cause us to feel both hungry and like couch potatoes. When we’re eating more and exercising less, we’re doing the exact opposite of burning calories.

Lowering your stress level is a surefire way to burn extra calories and feel your best. Committing to more healthy daily rituals is also a great way to alleviate stress and boost caloric burn.

Bottom line

There are hard ways to burn calories and easy ways to burn calories. Incorporating one or more of our 10 super simple, healthy, and scientifically proven ways to burn calories into your daily routine is a great way to stay healthy and meet your weight and wellness goals. Whatever road you choose to take, we applaud you!