Many people will tell you that losing weight is simply a numbers game. Burn more calories than you consume, and you lose weight. Yippee. It’s actually not quite that straightforward (or easy), as there are a number of other variables that need to be considered, such as hormone levels, slowed metabolism (which is often a drawback of a reduced-calorie diet and weight loss), circadian rhythms, the effort you put in, and body weight. Want to burn 100 calories, for example? A 250-pound person heads out for a 30-minute walk, s/he would burn around 200 calories. A 150-pound person, on the other hand, would burn 117 calories in that same 30-minute walk—over 40% fewer calories for the same amount of time.

At the end of the day, though, calories do count. Diet, of course, is a major factor. On one hand, we need to make sure we get the nutrients; on the other hand, we need to do so without loading up on unnecessary calories. But the other part of the equation is how many calories you’re burning per day. Are you ready to burn 100 calories quickly? Great! Here are 20 ways you can do just that.

Just a note…to keep this as simple as possible, we’re looking at the average calories burned per activity for someone who weighs 150 pounds. You may burn more, or less, than 100. Be that as it may, if you add a few of these activities into your day, you’ll be tipping the scales, pun intended, in your favor to burn an extra 100, 200, or even 500 calories!

20 Easy Ways to Burn 100 Calories

At Home:

1. Prepare a Meal: Spend 34 minutes in the kitchen dicing, stirring, and making a delicious home-cooked meal, and you’ll burn an average of 100 calories.
2. Clean Up: Turn on some tunes and take time to tidy up. In just the 30 minutes it takes to clean house, you’ll burn right around 100 calories.
3. Dig In: To your garden, that is. Whether you’re weeding, planting, digging, or harvesting, you’ll burn right around 100 calories per 25 minutes, and you’ll get to enjoy being outside and growing your own healthy eats and floral arrangements as a bonus.
4. Mind Your Lawn: Manicure your lawn for just 20 minutes, and you will burn 100 calories.
5. Let it Snow: Shoveling snow is another great calorie burner—torch 100 calories in just 15 minutes.

At Play:

1. Dance, Baby: In just 20 minutes of shaking it off—whether at the club or in your living room—you can burn 100 calories. Plus, it’s a lot of fun.
2. Take a Hike: Enjoy the great outdoors and burn 100 calories in a mere 15 minutes.
3. Hit the Ice: Want to enjoy the winter weather a bit more? Try ice skating. All it takes is 18 minutes to burn off the first 100 calories, and you’ll likely want to keep sliding along the ice.
4. Hello Recess: Whether it’s a busy day at home or the office, there’s always time to have more fun. A short 10- to 15-minute break to move your body can be a great way to refocus, be more productive, and burn 100 calories to boot. Grab a friend or co-worker to play some hoops, jump some rope, or just play tag with your favorite little one.
5. Relax and Read: Like to spend your leisure time with a favorite book, magazine, or the BioTrust blog? Great! You’ll burn off 100 calories in just over an hour while keeping your mind tuned up and learning.

At Work:

1. Use Your Brain: One hour of focus at your desk can burn 100 calories. Just remember to take regular breaks to stand and stretch to enhance productivity and focus—and burn even more calories.
2. Stand Up: Along those lines, you’ll burn even more calories when you stand—instead of sit—to work. For every 10 minutes of standing, you’ll burn an extra 10 to 20 calories. You can break up your time standing throughout the day or do it all at once to easily burn an extra 100 calories.
3. Take a Walk…ing Meeting: In a short 15-minute meeting, you and your co-worker(s) can easily burn off 100 calories, especially if you pick up the pace.
4. Take the Stairs: In just 10 minutes, you can burn 100 calories while helping shape your legs and bootie to boot.
5. Set the Pace: Spend a great deal of your day on the phone? Get a wireless headset or take advantage of speakerphone and pace as you talk. A 35-minute call will speed by as your burn up to 100 calories.

At the Gym:

1. Stretch It Out: With even a gentle yoga session, you can burn an extra 100 calories in just 30 minutes.
2. Jump: No time for a full workout but still want to get your heart pumping and your body sweating? Pull out the jump rope. In just 7 minutes, you can torch 100 calories.
3. Enjoy Some Class: During just the first 10 to 15 minutes of your cardio dance class, you’ll burn off 100 calories, and the average class can last 30 to 90 minutes.
4. Press, Pull, Lift: With just 15 minutes of weight training, you can burn 100 calories, get stronger, and help reshape your body. Of course, building muscle means burning more calories throughout the day—even as you rest!
5. Dive In: Swimming is an often overlooked low-impact exercise that can burn serious calories and help tone muscles. Depending on your effort, you can burn 100 calories between 8 and 27 minutes.

It doesn’t matter if you’re home, at work, at the gym, or on the run. There are easy ways to increase your calorie-burning metabolism. And don’t forget this NEAT little trick: NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which accounts for the calories you burn during non-scheduled exercise activities, from fidgeting to standing and stretching to so much more. Researchers, for example, have found that overweight people tend to sit for about 2.5 more hours each day than lean folks. And this can account for up to 500 extra calories burned per day.

What will you do to boost your metabolism today? Set your goal, the time, and the place, and burn 100 extra calories (or more!)