40 Real Life Ways To Lose 2 Pounds Per Day

Give Me Your Weight in Pounds and a Calculator and I’ll Give You at Least 40 Different Ways to Burn 7000 Calories in One Fell Swoop

Note: this post is sponsored by Burn The Fat. If you’re ready to cut the crap and finally transform your body without some crazy diet or workout program, this book will help. Don’t like reading? Get the audio version. You can read my review on Amazon.com here.

If you’re the kind of person who is willing to go to the extreme to achieve your weight loss goals, then you’ll be glad to know that I’ve compiled a list of activities you can use to burn enough calories to lose two pounds per day. They say it takes 3500 calories to burn a pound, and although we know that the process is not quite that simple, it does give us a good ballpark figure to work with.

So, I headed on over to the handy-dandy “Calories Burned Calculator” at the Burn The Fat Inner Circle. This gives a rough estimate of how many calories you can burn while engaging in a wide variety of physical activities from walking to running, to weightlifting and even disco! There are over 387 different exercises and activities listed in the database, and the formula also accounts for the individuals weight, too. I know. It’s pretty snazzy. Now, obviously, this isn’t going to deliver precise estimates – just a general guess to give us a figure to work with. But there is still some value in looking at the numbers, especially when looking at groups and patterns of numbers, which is what we’ll be doing today.

Now, two pounds would be 7000 calories. So, here are 40 different ways to lose two pounds per day by burning 7000 calories total.

First up, you could run at a 6 minute mile pace for 6 hours. For you non-runners, that is considered a very fast pace for distance running. So, if you’re a bit slower than a Boston marathon qualifier, you can run at a 10 minute mile pace for 9 hours. Or, if you prefer measuring by distance, that’s about two marathon races. For perspective, running one marathon at a 10 minute mile pace will likely only burn about 1 lb worth of calories. Of course, you’ll probably lose quite a bit more water weight, too.

Interestingly enough, only five hours of running on a treadmill (at a 6 minute mile pace) will be needed to hit the same goal. Apparently, treadmills burn slightly more calories than road running, at least according to the calculator (I would think otherwise). Add a 15% incline, and the time drops down to less than 3.5 hours.

And if running just isn’t your thing, you can always just walk at a moderate pace for 20 hours.

If that takes too long, you could always do some backpacking with 10-20 pounds of gear for about 12.5 hours instead.

Now, to switch gears a bit, if you like the idea of getting your face pounded in and your body pummeled, you could try boxing for 7 hours straight. But if you’re just sparring, it’ll take almost twice as long!

Speaking of getting beat up, 9 regulation-length games of tackle football would be enough to burn two pounds worth of calories. Of course, if you’re keeping the bench warm, it’ll take a lot longer.

Now, the difference between sitting and standing is interesting. Get this. Even if you sat for 2 days straight doing some sedentary activity like surfing the net or sewing yourself some new mittens, you’d still be 1000 calories short. But you’d only to have to stand for a day to hit about the same goal. The lesson? Standing burns twice as many calories as sitting. You heard it here, folks!

A day and a half of tai chi will drop the pounds, but only 9 hours of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will hit the same goal.

Now, I would have thought wrestling would have fared better, but according to the calculator, it’ll take nearly 14 hours of wrestling to meet the goal. I guess that’s why all the MMA athletes use jiujitsu. The truth at last!

If you’re not into contact sports and dancing is your thing, then 15 hours of disco ought to do the trick. This is good news because I break into 15-hour jaunts of disco every time I vacuum the house.

You homebodies and homemakers will be happy to know that 14 hours of vacuuming, mopping, or other various household tasks at a moderate effort will all burn 2 lbs worth of calories. Not only will you get a cleaner house, but you’ll also get a leaner body. *drum roll: B’doo, ksh!*

For you outdoorsy types, 14 hours of chopping wood, 15 hours of using a push-mower, or 26 hours of gardening will all burn 2 pounds.

And hey, remember that time you helped so-and-so move all day long? Well, you probably burned enough calories to torch two pounds. And you thought you were doing them a favor!

10 hours of beach volleyball will almost burn two pounds. But truth be told, I know a couple guys who probably burn twice that amount just watching it on the Olympics.

12 hours of either pull-ups, pushups, or situps would do the trick, too.

I can hear the kettlebell gurus now because it’ll only take 7.5 hours to hit your goal, which is a lot less time than most of these other activities. In fact, that’s nearly 1000 calories burned per hour. Of course, most people will be wiped out after their first 10 swings, but I digress.

On the other hand, it would take 11 hours of “Heavy Muscle Conditioning Exercise” to burn 7000 kcals.

And hey, good news. If your local health club has aerobics classes all day long, and you arrive for the first class by 5am, then you’ll still be able to get out in time for dinner.

And I’ve got good news for you hackey sack champions, too. You can burn two pounds in less than 24 hours! The same goes for ping pong, too.

And can I just say that I find it hilarious that “butchering animals” is on the list of physical activities? Really? But hey, personally, I like squeezing that in between my strength training and intervals – even though it’s not technically exercise. In all seriousness, I took a chicken “processing” workshop a few weeks ago. I learned a lot. True story.

For those interested in “Heavy Cycling,” as opposed to light or moderate cycling, then 11 hours will give you the results you’re looking for. As will just eight hours of rock climbing.

10 hours of basketball or 13 hours of wheelchair-basketball will deliver around 7000 calories burned.

I’m glad to see that ultimate frisbee is included on the list and will only take 12 hours to hit our goal.

15 hours of “playing with kids” will also burn 7000 calories. My only question to them is, “have you played with my kids?”

And by the way, I am SO glad that bowling is included in the list of activities because we might have a winner here. The reason why is because, according to the calculator, you physically cannot burn 7000 calories in a 24 hour period while bowling. In fact, the last time I bowled for a 24 hour extravaganza, it’s likely that I only burned 5670 calories the whole time.

Golfing with a power cart fared even worse. But if you carried your own clubs and golfed for 24 hours straight, you’d almost hit 7000 calories burned.

But get this. Even bowling and golfing pale in comparison to playing croquet. In fact, a whopping 34 hours of croquet will be needed to burn 7000 calories. If we disregard the activity of sitting, I think we might actually have a winner here.

Closing Thoughts

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Well, if you are, then you probably noticed how long it would actually take to burn two pounds worth of calories. You probably also noticed that pretty much everything on this list is kinda-sorta-basically IMPOSSIBLE. I mean, who do you know that would actually play croquet for 34 hours straight?

Suffice to say, losing two pounds per day just isn’t feasible. Heck, even losing one pound per day isn’t feasible for practically anyone. And if you thought it was, then I hope this gives you some perspective.

Note: to play the devil’s advocate, I’ve witnessed a few people come very close to losing 1 lb per day over short time periods by using a very aggressive, regimented, multi-faceted fat loss system. However, these people were almost always obese or morbidly obese, and lost not only fat weight, but muscle weight, too. And did I mention it was a highly-concerted effort? Needless to say, this kind of progress is possible for some people who are willing to go the distance, but certainly not typical for most people. And it’s certainly not easy!

Of course, there are some exceptions. Some people do go backpacking for a full day, or run ultra-marathons, or help their friend move for 12+ hours. Sure. It happens. But nobody in their right mind would do this stuff for the sake of burning some calories. We go backpacking because we enjoy it. We run an ultra-marathon because we want a challenge. We help our friends move because that’s what friends do. Get it?

So, find something physically active that you simply enjoy doing, that you would do just because. Do something challenging. And look for those opportunities to integrate physical activity into your day to day life. Be that person who can always be counted on to lend a helping hand during a friend’s move or work day. And get this. You’ll find that you’ll make leaps and bounds in your health and fitness as a result of making physical activity a habit that you seek to practice at every opportunity because it’s your identity.

Final Words

Now, if fat loss is one of your goals, then it’s time for a big dose of reality because most people who are tuned into their fat loss process can expect to lose about 1-2 lbs of fat per week. That’s considered a good ballpark amount for healthy, sustainable, and natural fat loss that has the potential to be permanent. And that’s what you want, right? NATURAL and PERMANENT fat loss.

And just between you and me, if fat loss is on your “to do list,” then there’s no better place to make it happen than at the Burn The Fat Inner Circle. I’ve been on staff there since 2006 and have literally witnessed thousands of people from all walks of life completely and totally transform their bodies and their lives. And that’s what a real body transformation takes: a lifestyle transformation. It’s easier said than done, but fortunately, it won’t be quite as hard as a 24-hour hackey sack extravaganza would be.

You can learn more about permanent and natural fat loss from the definitive guide here.

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CST Coach, CST-KS
Health-First Fitness Coach

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