The holiday season usually brings indulgent treats, bigger meals, tasty drinks, and other sources of calories into our lives. Unfortunately, this can lead to unwanted weight gain or at least derail your weight loss efforts over the past few months.
Ideally, you’d limit your calories over the holiday season, but that’s not always as easy as it sounds. And even if you do succeed at eating healthy during the holidays, you might want to start the new year off with weight loss!
Either way, here are some easy ways to burn more calories after the holidays. And you can keep using them year-round to continue your weight loss or maintenance progress!
Understanding Calorie Burn
Eating around 15% under your BMR is usually as low as most nutritionists consider safe. So, if your BMR (after including your activity level) is 2,000 calories, you can safely eat around 1,700 calories to encourage weight loss.
Easy Ways To Burn More Calories
Exercising will never feel as easy as streaming shows from your bed, but here are some easy ways to burn more calories after the holidays. Ready to get a head start on your summer body?
Drink More Water
Drinking at least eight cups of water each day can increase how many calories you burn without any extra effort. Try to space out your water intake throughout each day and drink more than eight cups if you can.
Setting timers to drink one glass of water every hour might help you stay on top of your intake. Or you could carry a water bottle that holds all your water for the day, so you can quickly see how you’re doing.
Walk More
- Make a habit of taking the stairs instead of the elevator
- Park at the back of the parking lot
- Set a timer on your phone to remind you to get up and move around every 30-60 minutes
- Go for daily walks in the morning or afternoon
- Walk around your home while you’re on your phone (e.g., talking, texting, or scrolling)
Fidget
- Tap your foot
- Bounce or shake your leg
- Play with a fidget toy
- Drum your fingers
- Play with a ring or coin
- Balance on one leg for as long as you can
- Stretch your neck or fingers
- Stand and shift your weight from side to side
- Bounce and twist to music
These small movements add up quickly! For example, one study showed that fidgeting more than doubled the participants’ calorie burn throughout the day.
Work Out For 20 Minutes (or Less) A Day
You’ll complete 13 rounds of 60-second workout intervals followed by 30-second breaks for this workout. It’ll come to a total of 19 minutes and 30 seconds (90 seconds per exercise). As you go, you’ll repeat the following set of four exercises as many times as you can, pausing only to take your 30-second breaks.
- 25 tuck jumps
- 50 high knees
- 25 Russian twists
- 50 mountain climbers
Use the links for each exercise to review the proper form before you begin. Then, set a timer (you can find free interval timer apps on your phone) and get to work! Go as fast as you can while maintaining proper form, and try to exercise through each 60-second period. Then, enjoy your 30-second rest. After 13 rounds (less than 20 minutes), you’re done!
Ready to Boost Your Calorie Burn?
The Kailo Patch is designed to provide pain relief in seconds without oral medication, and scientists theorize that it works by interfering with the electrical system in the body. In addition, a recent clinical study showed that 98% of patients find Kailo “easy to apply” and “convenient” and that 99% of patients felt pain relief within 10 minutes of using the Kailo pain patch.
Disclaimer: Kailo should not be used if you have a pacemaker or are pregnant. Always consult your doctor or health care professional before using Kailo.
