How Can We Burn Calories?

Burning calories is about creating a deficit between what you eat and what your body uses for energy. Your body burns calories at rest, during digestion, and through physical activity. The most reliable way to increase that burn is to move more, build muscle, and eat foods that require more energy to process. There are no shortcuts, but understanding the science behind each method helps you make choices that actually work.

What Does It Mean to Burn Calories?

A calorie is a unit of energy. When you burn calories, your body is converting stored energy into fuel for everything from breathing to running. This process happens constantly. Even when you sleep, your heart, lungs, and brain use energy.

Your total daily energy expenditure has three parts. The largest is your resting metabolic rate, which accounts for about 60 to 75 percent of calories burned. This is the energy your body needs just to keep you alive. The second part is the thermic effect of food, which is the energy used to digest and absorb what you eat. That makes up about 10 percent. The third part is physical activity, both exercise and non-exercise movement. This is the part you have the most control over.

Research published in the journal Obesity Reviews found that people who successfully maintain weight loss tend to combine increased physical activity with dietary changes. Neither alone works as well as both together.

How Can We Burn Calories Through Exercise?

Exercise is the most direct way to increase calorie burn. But not all exercise burns calories at the same rate.

Cardiovascular exercise, like walking, running, cycling, or swimming, burns calories during the activity. A 155-pound person burns roughly 300 calories per hour walking at a moderate pace. Running at 6 miles per hour burns about 700 calories per hour for the same person. The harder you work, the more calories you burn per minute.

Strength training burns fewer calories during the workout itself. However, it has a lasting effect. Building muscle increases your resting metabolic rate because muscle tissue requires more energy to maintain than fat tissue. A study from the American College of Sports Medicine found that resistance training can increase resting metabolic rate by about 7 percent over time.

High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, combines short bursts of intense effort with rest periods. Research shows HIIT can burn more calories in less time compared to steady-state cardio. It also creates something called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. This means your body continues burning calories at an elevated rate for hours after the workout ends.

How Can We Burn Calories Without Exercise?

You do not have to exercise to burn more calories. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, is the energy used for everything except sleeping, eating, and formal exercise. This includes walking to your car, standing while working, fidgeting, and doing housework.

NEAT can vary dramatically between people. A study from the Mayo Clinic found that lean individuals burn about 350 more calories per day through NEAT compared to obese individuals. That difference adds up to roughly 30 pounds per year.

Simple changes increase NEAT significantly. Standing instead of sitting burns about 50 more calories per hour. Walking while on the phone adds up. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator burns about 10 calories per flight. These small actions compound over days and weeks.

Cold exposure also increases calorie burn. When you are cold, your body works to maintain its core temperature. Shivering can increase metabolic rate by up to five times. Some people report that spending time in cooler environments helps with weight management, though strong evidence for long-term effects is limited.

How Can We Burn Calories by Eating?

Eating actually burns calories. The thermic effect of food is the energy required to digest, absorb, and process nutrients. Different foods have different thermic effects.

Protein has the highest thermic effect at roughly 20 to 30 percent. This means if you eat 100 calories of protein, your body uses 20 to 30 of those calories just to process it. Carbohydrates have a thermic effect of about 5 to 10 percent. Fats have the lowest at 0 to 3 percent.

Research from the Journal of Nutrition found that a high-protein diet can increase daily energy expenditure by about 80 to 100 calories compared to a lower-protein diet. This is not a huge number, but it adds up over time.

Spicy foods containing capsaicin, like chili peppers, may slightly increase calorie burn. Some studies suggest capsaicin can raise metabolic rate by about 5 percent for a short period. This effect is modest and temporary. Green tea and caffeine also have small thermogenic effects, but the impact is not large enough to cause significant weight loss on its own.

Eating smaller, more frequent meals does not increase metabolism. This is a common myth. Research shows that meal frequency has no significant effect on total calories burned. What matters is total calorie intake and the types of foods you eat.

What Research on How Can We Burn Calories Actually Shows

The science is clear on what works and what does not. A large body of research confirms that the most effective strategy for burning more calories is a combination of increased physical activity and a diet that supports muscle maintenance.

A 2018 study in JAMA followed over 600 adults and found that those who combined aerobic exercise with resistance training lost more body fat than those who did only one type of exercise. The group that did both lost an average of 3.5 percent more body fat over 12 months.

The CDC reports that adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week for general health. For weight loss, that number often needs to be higher, around 200 to 300 minutes per week.

Sleep also plays a role. Research from the University of Chicago found that sleep-deprived individuals burned about 5 percent fewer calories the next day. Poor sleep disrupts hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.

Stress management matters too. Chronic stress raises cortisol levels, which can lead to increased appetite and fat storage, particularly around the abdomen. Managing stress through activities like meditation or walking can help maintain a healthy metabolic rate.

Common Misconceptions About Burning Calories

Many viral health claims about burning calories are not supported by evidence. Here are a few that you should ignore.

• Drinking ice water does not burn significant calories. The effect is about 5 to 10 calories per glass, which is negligible.
• Detox teas and cleanses do not increase calorie burn. They may cause temporary water loss, but not fat loss.
• Standing desks alone will not cause weight loss. They increase NEAT slightly, but the effect is small without other changes.
• Eating before bed does not automatically store more fat. Total daily calorie intake matters more than timing.
• Supplements claiming to boost metabolism rarely work. Most have no clinical evidence supporting their claims.

The weight loss supplement industry is largely unregulated. As of 2026, there is no clinical evidence that any over-the-counter supplement causes significant, sustained calorie burn. Some people report feeling more energetic with caffeine-based products, but that is not the same as burning more fat.