Your body needs the energy to be able to meet the needs of day-to-day life. That energy can be measured in calories and throughout your daily activities you burn calories. As you become more informed about your health and wellness, you’ll be able to easily use tips like these to look and feel great.
There is resting energy expenditure and also the energy cost of physical activities.
Many people only try to get rid of body fat, and that’s fine as far as it goes. But improving how you burn calories is going to help you manage your energy better.
Three Things that Impact How You Burn Calories
The main elements of energy expenditure relate to three things:
- food intake
- body size and composition
- physical activity
Your body is always expending energy, even when you are sleeping or at rest.
Our goal is to find ways to increase the energy expenditure and burn calories at a higher rate.
Your food plays the major role around energy.
The types of food and frequency of eating will impact how your body stores those calories.
Exercise alone cannot deal with calories if you are trying to lose weight. You need a combination of smart meal planning and increased energy expenditure.
Studies have shown that that calories burned walking should not be your only option. Walking is great but if your job involves sitting a lot you need some other stimulus.
How To Increase Energy Expenditure When You Train To Burn Calories
Each person responds to exercise in a different way so it can be hard to compare yourself to others.
But if you want to increase caloric expenditure in your next workout, these tips will be of use to you:
1. Choose Smart Times To Train To Burn More Calories
This is one of those obvious things that often isn’t taken into account. For you to give your best in each workout it is necessary for your body to be rested.
Many coaches advise training first thing in the morning, after getting enough sleep. You will find that your energy will be fresh and you will be able to commit to your exercise intensity.
But sometimes morning are not possible and late afternoon or evenings work better. Find the time that best suits your body.
Do not train when you are exhausted. Training when you are over tired can put too much stress on the body. It also puts you at an increased risk of injuring yourself.
When your body and mind are in a tired state, it can cause your form to be sloppy, leading to risky errors arising.
Also, do not overtrain. Intense physical training, day after day, is not good for your health. You need to incorporate rest and recovery around your goals of physical activity.
2. Vary Your Training Program To Increase Energy Expenditure
Using a variety of high calorie burning exercises is the key to burning more in each workout. Your body gets used to a certain exercise and, over time, it needs less and less energy to carry it out. It can plateau your results.
Variety is what you need to stimulate the body and shed more calories.
You will find that a lot of best fat burning exercises are in simple things like:
- walking
- jogging or running
- cycling
- swimming
- pilates
- weight training
Try changing your activity by combining any number of them in a week.
You can also make your body work hard with new challenges such as including high intensity intervals (HIIT training). Or, you could try running uphill or for longer than usual.
At the gym, add training in circuit or with repetitive series of different exercises. You have many alternatives to have fun with, and new options that make your body burn calories.
3. Combine Cardiovascular Activities With Strength Exercises
If your goal is to lose weight do cardio and strength work in the same session. You can start with aerobic exercises, which is quick to consume available energy and burn calories. Then end with strength exercises (sit-ups, push-ups, plank, and exercises with weight).
This pushes your energy expenditure which will increase the rate of calories burned. Your basal metabolism will demand energy even after the completion of your session.
The best cardio for weight loss in the gym usually utilises machines and equipment.
Get going on the stair climber or use the rower and get your heart rate right up. Then move onto your weights program. Activate your deep muscles and let your body do the rest of the work for you.
4. Diet and Hydration (as well as Supplements to Burn Calories)
What you eat before, during and after training impacts your results. Diet is critical when it comes to an effective outcome for your body and the ability to burn calories efficiently.
Following a balanced diet is something we should all do, for the sake of our health, mental clarity and of course, our body.
Your diet should include a caloric intake that is always in proportion to the exercise you are going to do.
Of course, no matter how many calories you burn when you train, your food intake can disrupt your progress.
Additionally, proper hydration is essential for your health. Drinking water not only makes you last longer training but it also helps you get rid of accumulated fat.
There is a great smart water bottle that ‘reminds’ you to stay hydrated. It’s a great tool to add to your gym bag.
There are also supplements that can help burn calories. These can range from diet pills to protein shakes.
Do your research and find one that works for you if you want extra support to burn calories and reach your goal.
5. Move Whenever You Can
Sometimes the simplest is what works best. Burn calories more in and out of each training session using everyday movement.
You could take brisk walk in nature or climbing stairs instead of using the elevator will help burn calories.
If you cannot make it to the gym, you also find ways to do sessions at home. An example of this would be trying to the 500 calorie workout challenge.
It makes sense to find a version that works for you and try it out for a few weeks whenever you can’t make it to the gym.
Sometimes it may not seem like much, but every little effort adds up to a bigger return in the long run.
The Keys to Burn Calories, Simple But Effective
So, pulling that all together, what do you now know?
You know that as an individual you have to be aware of your own body, the food you consume and the levels of your activity.
Additionally, when you want to burn calories it’s not just about exercise, it’s actually tied to the food you consume.
With that knowledge you can also remember to:
- choose smart times to train, remembering that rest is just as important
- add a variety of exercise to challenge your body
- combine cardio and strength exercises, stimulate your metabolism
- plan what you’re going to eat and drink, consider smart supplements to support your goals
- move your body regularly (set reminders on your phone to get up every hour)
While you don’t want to be totally consumed with calories, it is good to be aware of your body and ways to support it’s health and fitness.
