It’s the basic premise of how to stay thin: burn off more calories than you take in.

This is relatively simple to achieve, of course, if you go to the gym daily and make it a habit of snacking on only celery sticks and carrots. But what if you’re human and sometimes don’t have time for a long workout and instead dive headfirst into a fat burger and fries for lunch?

There’s hope for you, too, because there are a number of easy ways to burn calories that you can sneak into your day. Do a couple and you’ll be off to a good start. Do them all and you might even start to shed some pounds without even trying …

10 Easy Ways to Burn Calories

10. Park in the Far Away Spots

It’s the law of numbers: the more steps you take in a day, the more calories you’ll burn. You know this, so why are you still hunting for the closest parking spots?

9. Take the Stairs

Skip the elevator or escalator, and view those stairs like they’re your very own stair-stepper machine, without a pricey gym membership. Depending on your weight, you’ll burn anywhere from 4 to 6 calories a minute walking up and down the stairs. Take the stairs briskly and you’ll burn off even more.

8. Clean Your House More Often — And Wear Ankle Weights When You Do

Scrubbing floors, vacuuming, and even washing dishes by hand all take up a considerable amount of energy. In just 15 minutes of mopping, you’ll burn more than 40 calories. Add on 30 minutes of vacuuming and you’ll have burned 120 calories or more, and have a clean house to boot.

7. Stay Hydrated With Cold Water

Even mild dehydration can slow down your metabolism, and the rate at which you burn calories. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day is therefore crucial to burning calories; even the act of utilizing the water you drink may burn up to 100 calories a day. And if you drink the water cold you’ll burn off about 9 more calories than you would when drinking it room temperature.

6. Drink Coffee or Black Tea

Not to excess, of course, but research suggests that the stimulatory effects of caffeine may boost your calorie-burning potential. Not only does the caffeine boost your energy, which means you’re likely to move around more, but it also may lead to metabolic changes that increase the number of calories you burn.

5. Eat Your Meals More Frequently

Your body burns calories when it digests food, so by eating smaller amounts frequently throughout the day, it’s suggested that you can actually boost the number of calories burned compared to eating three larger meals a day.

4. Play With Your Kids and Grandkids

A game of hide-and-seek, hopscotch, tag, or playing catch will make even more calories disappear and, depending on the activity, may burn as much as a moderate workout.

3. Dance

Crank up the music and start boogieing. Dancing for just 30 minutes can burn off around 200 calories, and you’ll probably burn off some serious stress while you’re at it.

2. Change Your Position and Fidget Often

The more you purposely move your body around, such as changing posture, standing up, stretching your arms, fidgeting, etc., the more calories you’ll burn. This so-called non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) can burn hundreds of extra calories a day. One trick to get yourself moving more is to set a timer and make sure you’re moving for at least 5 minutes out of each hour.

1. Work Out for 4 Minutes

In just four minutes you can burn up to 879 extra calories a day, just by doing the 4-Minute NO Excuse Workout. That’s right … in the time it took you to read this article, you could have already been done!