If you’ve been wondering how to burn more calories, chances are you’ve tried all sorts of diets, cardio classes, or even cutting back on carbs… only to find your weight hasn’t shifted.
It’s frustrating, isn’t it? You’re eating “healthy,” you’re moving your body, yet your clothes still feel tighter and you don’t feel like yourself anymore.
Here’s the truth: once you hit your 40s and 50s, your body changes. Hormones shift. Stress builds. What used to work in your 20s and 30s simply doesn’t anymore.
The simple fact of it is, once you know what to change, you can start burning more calories, reshaping your body, and feeling confident again, without starving yourself or spending hours on a treadmill.
And, you can burn an extra 300 calories a day without doing any intense exercise at all. Those extra calories are often the difference between your weight creeping up, or steadily coming down.
Why Burning Calories Feels Harder in Menopause
When you were younger, you could cut back on food or add a bit of cardio and the weight would shift. Now it feels like your body is working against you.
This happens because of hormonal changes. Falling oestrogen and progesterone make your body less able to tolerate stress. At the same time, muscle mass naturally declines, which slows your metabolism.
That’s why “eating less and moving more” doesn’t deliver results like it used to.
But that’s not to say there’s no hope, once you know how to work with your body, burning calories becomes easier again.
How to Burn More Calories Without Intense Exercise
You don’t need to punish yourself in the gym. In fact, that can make things worse by over-stressing your body, slowing your metabolism, and causing fat storage around your middle.
Instead, there are simple, low-stress ways to increase the calories you burn each day.
1. Walking More Every Day
One of the most effective ways to burn an extra 300 calories is by simply walking more. You don’t need 10,000 steps a day, that number is arbitrary and was actually created for an early pedometer in a Japanese marketing campaign ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
However, if you currently average only 2,000–3,000 steps, which is very common for women with desk-based jobs, then increasing that to 6,000–8,000 can make a huge difference.
To put this into perspective: walking 1,000 steps burns about 40 calories. So adding just 7,500 steps across the day can easily help you burn 300 calories without feeling like you’re exercising.
And because walking is gentle, it doesn’t spike stress hormones, which means it works with your menopausal body instead of against it.
2. Low Impact Strength Training
Another way to consistently burn more calories is through Low Impact Strength Training, or LIST. Unlike cardio, which only burns calories during the workout, strength training builds lean muscle.
The more lean muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolism, which means you burn more calories all day long, even when you’re sat at your desk or asleep.
Three short LIST sessions per week, 30 to 45 minutes each, is enough to make a real difference. Over time, the combination of extra calories burned in each workout and the rise in your daily metabolism will easily add up to an extra 300 calories per day.
3. Staying Active Around the Edges
It’s often the little things that matter most. Standing up regularly during the day, using the stairs instead of the lift, doing some light housework, or walking while you take a phone call, all of these small activities keep your body moving.
This is what we call NEAT: non-exercise activity thermogenesis.
For women in menopause, NEAT is often the biggest game changer. It burns more calories across the week than formal workouts and is far gentler on your body than high-intensity training.
By adding more small movements into your day, you’ll naturally burn those extra 300 calories without even thinking about it.
“Before I started with Trinity I weighed 21 stone 9 lbs (137.5 kgs and wore a size 22-24. I was not doing any regular exercise and ate for comfort. I struggled to walk up stairs, hills or just be on my feet for too long. I just felt low, unattractive and out of breath most of the time. Trinity offered something different to other diets I had tried. I found time to do the workouts and surprisingly felt much better especially when they started to get easier and I could lift heavier weights. Here I am after 16 weeks with Trinity having lost 2 stone and 10 lbs. I have not given up everything and have eaten out numerous times but I have made better choices and they made me feel proud of myself.”
– Nicki Bunce (46), Trinity Client
Why You Don’t Need Intense Exercise
It’s tempting to think the answer lies in pushing harder. But intense exercise like HIIT, spinning, or long runs often backfires in menopause.
These workouts increase stress on your body, which can trigger what we call the Weight Gain Triangle: increased cravings, more fat storage around your middle, and a slower metabolism.
Cardio has its place as an occasional “sprinkle” if your stress is under control, but it should never be the foundation of your plan. Strength training and walking are far more effective and sustainable.
The Simple Formula for Burning 300 Extra Calories a Day
So how do you put this into practice? It doesn’t have to be complicated. We find that this is what works best for our clients:
- Walk a bit more each day, even just an extra 3,000–4,000 steps makes a big impact.
- Strength train three times a week with LIST workouts you can do at home in 30–45 minutes.
- Stay gently active in between, keep moving, stand up often, and avoid long stretches of sitting.
Do this consistently, and you’ll easily burn an extra 300 calories a day, all without punishing exercise or strict dieting.
Watch How Rachel Lost 5 Stone With Trinity
How Trinity Can Help You
At Trinity Transformation, we’ve helped over 7,000 women like Rachel in their 40s, 50s and 60s lose weight, drop 1–2 dress sizes, and feel confident again, all while working with their bodies, not against them.
Our 97% success rate comes from doing things differently.
Instead of chasing quick fixes or relying on weight-loss jabs, we provide a long-term solution. Our Fit Over 40 programme combines Low Impact Strength Training, tailored nutrition, and 1-1 support from expert coaches who understand the challenges of menopause.
If you’re ready to find out exactly how to burn more calories, lose the stubborn belly fat, and feel like yourself again, then now is the time to act.
Download our free guide or join our free training to see how the Fit Over 40 programme can help you get there.
It’s not too late. With the right approach, you can look and feel better in your 40s, 50s and 60s than you did in your 30s.
