Burning 800 calories per day from physical activity or exercise may seem to be a daunting task; however, if you break it down into manageable pieces it may not be as difficult as it seems. This amount of exercise or physical activity can have a significant impact on maintaining a healthy weight. The benefits of a healthy body size are a reduced risk for colon cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.
Step 1
Burn 500 calories a day through aerobic exercise. This can be done by performing roughly 30 minutes of jogging at 8.6 mph, 60 minutes of jogging at 5 mph, 50 minutes of playing basketball, 60 minutes of swimming laps, or just over 100 minutes of walking at 3.5 mph according to Harvard Health. These values are based on a 155 lb. person.
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Step 2
Add extra non-structured physical activity to part of your routine to burn 100 more calories than you normally do. Non-structured physical activity can include taking the stairs instead of an elevator or parking your car further away from your destination and walking the extra distance. These small changes can add up and can account for up to 350 additional calories burned between the highly active and "coach potatoes" groups according to Dr. Sheri Colberg-Ochs in "The Benefits of Unstructured Physical Activity"
Step 3
Fidget more throughout the day to burn at least 100 more calories. Fidgeting is random movement of the limbs, such as tapping a foot or hand from a seated or standing position. Even watching TV, cooking and sitting reading for an hour each, can burn up to 326 calories in total.
Tip
The majority of your 800 calories should come from exercise; however, if you have been highly inactive you should start by first adding more unstructured physical activity and fidgeting.
Warning
Although the additional calories from unstructured physical activity and fidgeting can be high, they are much harder to measure than exercise and you should keep that in mind when trying to reach the 800 calories burned. Always consult your doctor before changing your exercise program.
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