Calories Burned

Take six minutes out of today to burn 50 calories without even realizing it. Even if you don't do these all at once, a few minutes of effort adds up to an extra calorie-burning boost throughout your day. Here's how.

1. Jump rope for one minute: If you don't have a jump rope, mimic the movements and remember to keep your feet off the floor when you jump. You'll burn 11 calories per minute.
2. Do high knees for one minute: Lift your knees high and do this quickly for it to be the most effective. You'll burn around six calories.
3. Run up the stairs for one minute. The next time you take a lunch break, use the stairs. Running up the stairs will burn 10 calories a minute for a 120-pound person. If you don't want to run, walking will burn five calories a minute.
4. Do jumping jacks for one minute: Burn eight calories while you jump.
5. Do burpees for one minute: Spice up your workout with one minute of burpees; you'll burn approximately eight calories. Follow along to our one-minute burpee video challenge here!
6. Drop and do one minute of push-ups: At a vigorous pace, you'll burn eight calories.

Total calories burned in six minutes: 51. Repeat any of these one-minute challenges throughout the day and tally up your calorie burn for an effective workout you can fit in almost anywhere!

All calorie counts based on a 130-pound woman unless otherwise noted.

Maxing and relaxing are what vacations are for, but if you spend more time at the all-you-can-eat buffets slurping down rum punch and mai tais like there's no tomorrow, then you'll end up gaining all the weight you worked so hard to lose for this vacation. Here are some ways to cut calories without cutting out any of the fun.

• Take a one-hour bike tour instead of hopping on a bus: 432 calories
• Sip on a margarita on the rocks (153) instead of a rum and Coke (369): 216 calories
• Swim in the pool for 30 minutes instead of relaxing next to it: 297 calories
• Read your racy novel on the hotel's treadmill for 30 minutes instead of sitting on a lounge chair: 122 calories
• Order a three-ounce roasted chicken breast (142) instead of an eight-ounce steak (282): 140 calories
• Go for a casual 45-minute walk along the beach instead of lying on your towel: 149 calories
• Enjoy one glass of red wine (127) instead of splitting the bottle (323): 196 calories
• Snack on sweet potato fries (120) instead of loaded nachos (569): 449 calories
• Split the fried ice cream with your date: 415 calories

All calculations based on a 130-pound woman.

Whether you run on a treadmill and glance at the display, or keep track of your run outside with a GPS, you understand that it's nice to know how many calories you're burning, especially if weight loss is one of your goals.

Here's a nifty chart to let you know what your pace and workout time translates to in calories burned. It can also help you figure out how intensely and how long you need to exercise in order to negate the cupcake you savored at lunch.

*Calculations based on a 130-pound woman

Going for a 30-minute run at a moderate pace of 10 minutes per mile (six mph) burns about 270 calories. What if you only have 20 minutes and you still want to burn the same amount? Below are some ways to do it.

• Pick up the pace: Increase your speed and run much faster at a pace of seven minutes per mile (8.5 mph). You'll burn 261 calories after 20 minutes.
• Add a little incline: If you're on the treadmill, add a five percent incline and run at a pace of nine minutes per mile (6.6 mph) and burn 280 calories.
• Add a steeper incline: Go even steeper with a 10 percent incline and go at a pace of 10 minutes per mile (six mph) and burn 280 calories.
• Add sprinting hill intervals Alternate between running one minute with zero percent incline at a pace of nine minutes per mile (6.6 mph) and one minute with a five percent incline at a pace of eight minutes per mile (7.5 mph) and burn a total of 282 calories.

All calculations are based on a 130-pound woman.

Working out solo can be more convenient, peaceful, and a great time for self-reflection but those reasons won't do anything to increase your calorie burn. If weight loss and toning up is your main goal, here are some reasons you might want to find a group to sweat along with.

Variety: When we exercise alone, we tend to get in a workout rut, doing the same exact biking loop or toning the same muscles in the same old strength-training routine. When you work out with other people, they open your eyes to exciting ways to sweat it out like new routes you can hike, or more effective ways to tone your glutes. Using your muscles in different ways challenges them more, offering you a better burn while also preventing the dreaded workout plateau.

Friendly competition: If you've ever gotten a taste of rivalry, either from a team sport or seeing if you can do more push-ups than some stranger you see at the gym, you know it's a powerful fuel that can make you work more intensely than you could alone. You can compete openly with a buddy, like seeing who can sprint the fastest to the telephone pole, or you can pick a random person in your Body Pump class and see if you can do more squats than them. Pushing yourself gets your heart pumping faster, your muscles working harder, and in turn burns more calories.

Longer workouts: We've all been on a solo run with the incessant thought, "I just want to be done!" When you're on your own, it's easy to hop off the treadmill whenever you want, but when you're chugging along with other people, throwing in the towel doesn't seem like an option (you wouldn't want to give up in front of everyone!). You're not only more likely to do a full workout when exercising with others, but if they're really serious, you're bound to work out even longer than you would on your own, burning more calories.

Excitement about working out: Solo workouts can get lonely (even with Macklemore pumping in your ear), making you bored and not as energetic to give it your all (or to give it at all). Finding others to sweat with can breathe new life into your workouts because nothing beats the power of working out in a group. You feed off everyone's strength and energy, which inspires you to push harder, and you have fun doing it. And you remember that feeling, which inspires you to slip on that sports bra again and again. You'll end up burning more calories per workout, and if you're motivated to work out more often, you'll in turn burn more calories per week.

There are tons of ways to burn more calories when running, but if swimming is your go-to form of cardio, here are ways to burn more calories in the pool.

• Choose full-body strokes: Both butterfly and the crawl stroke burn 297 calories per 30 minutes (based on a 130-pound woman). They burn slightly more than the breaststroke (270), and more still than the backstroke (216).
• Include speed intervals: Picking up the pace will burn more calories, so include speed intervals, say every third or fifth lap, where you're pushing harder than during the other laps.
• Isolate muscle groups: Grab a kickboard or a pool noodle and do fast-paced kicking laps, or head to deeper water to tread. Not only will making your lower body do all the work not only will tone your core, butt, and legs, but also, it's a heart-pumping way to amp the calorie burn. To target the upper body, use one of these ankle bands that holds your feet together, so instead of kicking, you have to use your arms to propel your body forward.

See more swimming tips after the break!

Take a shower, walk your dog, and check your email — all things you can do in 15 minutes. But you can also burn a decent amount of calories, so being short on time is no excuse to miss a workout. Get the most calorie-burning bang for your buck with these intense workouts that torch the most calories.

For comparison purposes, a 15-minute walk at a 20-minute-per-mile pace burns 50 calories. As you can see, the workouts below can burn more than twice as many calories, so it's a good reason to pick up the pace, even when your time is limited.

Biking at a pace of 14 to 16 mph: 135
Elliptical: 122
High-impact aerobics: 95
Indoor cycling class: 103
Jumping rope: 165
Swimming (crawl): 148
Running at a pace of 10 minutes per mile: 135
Rock climbing: 164
Rowing machine, vigorous: 115
Vinyasa yoga: 67

All calculations are based on a 130-pound woman.

While working out, sometimes all you can think in those last five minutes is, "Can I be done already?" While five minutes might not seem like a lot, check out this chart to see how many calories you can burn in that short amount of time. It might even give you the extra push you need to go five minutes longer than you planned.

Keep reading to find out the calories burned when running, swimming, or walking for five minutes.

You were so good this week by bringing healthy lunches to work and hitting the gym every day — of course you deserve to let loose on the weekend. But if you're not careful, you could end up consuming more calories than you saved this week, sabotaging all your hard work. Here are three ways to shave off 1,500 calories from your weekend adventures.

• Sip on this: Celebrating with some drinks? Forget ordering high-calorie beverages like rum and coke (369 calories) or a mai tai (260), and go for a drink that's around 100 calories such as a light beer, glass of wine, wine spritzer, or made-from-scratch mojito.
  Calories saved: 100 to 200 per drink
• Skip the enormous brunch: A huge morning meal with friends is one of the most fun things to do on the weekend, but inhale a huge plate complete with a belgian waffle (590 calories), scrambled eggs (143), bacon (138), and hash browns (207), and you're looking at over 1,000 calories. Go ahead and enjoy your favorite brunch foods, just take smaller portions.
  Calories saved: 300 to 700
• Sweat it out longer: Since you have a little extra time while off from work, why not do a longer workout? A 90-minute run, a three-hour yoga workshop, or a mini triathlon at the gym burns over 800 calories.
  Calories saved: 800