Busy schedules and tight deadlines, topped with extra work, school, and family commitments make getting a good workout at the gym difficult, especially when you’re on the go. While the desire to lose weight and boost your metabolism is always there, finding the time to increase your fat-burning potential may not. Although you are unable to change the amount of calories it takes to keep your brain and body healthy, you can help your body by burning extra calories, shaping up, and getting healthy without working out.

“Eating frequently throughout the day can help keep your metabolism up — aim to eat every 3-4 hours,” Alissa Rumsey, registered dietician and certified strength and conditioning coach, and Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics told Medical Daily in an email. Moderate eating, without creating too large of a calorie or energy deficit, can effectively rev up your metabolism. To boost your fat-burning potential, adopt these five every day habits, without the exercise.

1. Don’t Skip Breakfast

It may be time to reconsider hitting the snooze button and make some breakfast to quick-start your metabolism. Eating a healthy breakfast helps in weight management, helping curb unhealthy cravings before lunch. In order to keep your metabolism at optimal speed, it is necessary to eat regular, frequent meals, including breakfast, which can increase your resting metabolism by up to 10 percent, says the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center.

Moreover, a 2011 study published in The Journal of Nutrition found the effects of eating breakfast on energy intake and the responses to food affect the body’s metabolism. Healthy male participants who skipped breakfast showed metabolic and hormonal differences in their responses to foods consumed later in the morning, including a difference in their appetite compared to their breakfast-eating counterparts. Starting the day with breakfast helps start thermogenesis — the metabolic process of digesting and transporting food.

2. Drink Green Tea And/Or Coffee

Green tea has long been associated with weight loss, and even viewed as a “superfood” because it is calorie-free, and loaded with antioxidants that help speed up our metabolism. A 2006 study published in the journal Physiology and Behavior found the effect of ingestion of green tea extract accompanied with a low-energy diet led to weight loss, showing an increase in metabolic rate. The hot beverage promotes fat oxidation and has thermogenic properties, meaning it promotes calories burned by digesting and absorbing. It also turns off a compound called PPAR — known to turn on fat cells. Dr. Jennifer Burns, a physician in St. Petersburg, Fla. told Medical Daily. “Green tea prevents some of these PPAR's from turning on thus a decrease in fat cell production,” Burns said.

If green tea isn’t literally your cup of tea, the good news is drinking coffee mirrors the same effect as its healthier counterpart. The caffeinated morning beverage is absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly, speeding up your heart rate and giving you a metabolic boost. Caffeine in coffee stimulates the metabolic rate of drinkers during the three hours after caffeine ingestion, according to a 1980 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. This effect was both seen in healthy and obese individuals, but it was accompanied by greater oxidation of fat in healthy participants.

3. Spice Up Your Menu

The consumption of spicy foods is known to raise the body temperature and trigger the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for producing sweat while eating these foods. While raising your body temperature, hot sauce can speed up your metabolism in increments by up to 20 percent. This increase in the body’s metabolism can last for as long as 30 minutes, making spicy meals a temporary fat-burning solution. Capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers, is known has been shown to affect appetite and energy intake. A 2009 study published in the Clinical Nutrition found while it did not affect possible treatment-induced energy intake, it did affect appetite by supporting negative energy balance. Bioactive ingredients, such as capsaicin, can reduce energy intake, and may aid weight loss by keeping you feeling fuller longer, therefore suppressing hunger.

4. Walking For 5 Minutes

This low-impact but popular heart activity can help boost your metabolism, depending on how much effort is put. The higher the speed, endurance, and inclination, the more you can increase your metabolism. Walking increases the demand for energy, which actually increases your metabolism.

“Walking for five minutes a day or jogging in your house for five minutes, or while you are cooking or watching TV you can move your body and do something to get metabolism up,” Burns said. It’s best to walk several times per week to effectively increase your basal metabolic rate — how fast your metabolism works while the body is resting. While walking five minutes a day may not yield the same benefits as walking for an hour, it will still help rev up your metabolism.

5. Laugh

Laughter is known to be the best medicine, and one of the most fun ways to speed up your metabolism. Laughing may go a long way as just 10 minutes of laughter per day can actually burn energy. A 2007 study published in the International Journal of Obesity found genuine voiced laughter causes a 10 to 20 percent increase in energy expenditure and heart rate above resting values. In other words, 10 to 15 minutes of laughter could lead to a fast fat-burning metabolism.

These five exercise-free every day habits will help rev up your metabolism while ensuring you stay healthy.