Does daily activity help with weight loss?
In this video I’ll be talking about the effectiveness of everyday activity with weight loss, how you can increase your daily activity and the long-term benefits of being active.
Correctly defined, physical activity is all movement that creates energy expenditure (burns calories), whereas exercise is planned, structured physical activity such as a workout session.
In developed countries we live in a society where everything is comfortable for us, comfort may mean different things to different people but for the most part its accessibility, usability, timesaving, and instant results.
Now you can order your ride on apps so you don’t have to hail a taxi by the roadside, you can go take an elevator instead of the stairs, you can make money, have fun, research, or anything you can imagine online instead of going out and playing with a ball, walking to the library or doing a physically demanding job.
In fact, globally, around 23% of adults aged 18 and over were not active enough (men 20% and women 27%) as stated by the world health organization. Also, there is an increase in being less active in high-income countries compared to low-income countries.
I’m not complaining that technology has made life easier, but what’s that doing to our health and fitness? So, does daily activity help with weight loss this is a popular question and there are two answers, one it is effective to be active everyday if you are currently sedentary and two yes it is effective if you combine daily activity with a calorie reduced diet specific for you.
Let us start with the first one if you are currently sedentary and not moving much during the day increasing your daily activity will increase your calorie burn and over time promote weight loss. This increase in movement is a good stimulus for your body and will help you to lose weight, for the best fat burning results aim to be moving around every day and pick up the intensity of your daily activity. Here are 12 ways to get moving more every day.
- Standing rather than sitting on public transport
- walking to work
- taking the stairs instead of using the lift
- getting up and walking around during television commercials
- spending some free time being active rather than watching television
- spending more time doing chores around the house, especially DIY or gardening
- taking walks during lunch breaks
- setting reminders to stand up every 30 minutes when working at a desk
- investing in a standing desk or asking the workplace to provide one
- taking a walk or standing up during coffee or tea breaks
- making excuses to leave the office or move around the building,
- taking phone calls outside and walking around at the same time
The second answer how daily activity combined with a calorie reduced diet can promote weight loss is because your burning calories with your daily activity by introducing a lower calorie diet this will create a calorie deficit, meaning you will burn more calories than you consume which encourages weight loss. To find out how many calories you should be consuming firstly, find out how many calories your body needs at rest this is called BMR – Basal Metabolic Rate.
Let’s say for example your BMR is 1600 calories per day without crash dieting even reducing your calories by 200-400 per day is a great start whilst maintaining your daily activity.
A great example of this is when I was working with Helen, she had little time for herself and often felt tired which made it challenging to add exercise into her routine. So, I started her fitness routine by increasing her physical activity, every weekday Helen started walking 30 minutes to and from work and increased her walk to a brisk walk and then a power walk for the extra calorie burn and cardio benefits.
This worked well because it fitted into her schedule, in addition we made improvements to her diet and within six weeks the combined effect helped her to lose 3.5 kg’s which is half stone, she was delighted.
Last but not least there are long term benefits of daily activity in a study, the objective was to assess the relationship between physical activity and long-term weight gain, over 33 years, women who exercised (following the recommendations given on the study) only gained 3.8kg in that time whilst those who were inactive gained 9.5kg. That’s a big difference and more importantly losing weight can become more challenging as we get older which gives us a good reason to be exercising and moving more sooner rather than later.
To find out more ways to get moving and exercising more have a look at more videos on brigopt.com and if you need support, guidance, and motivation to achieve your fitness goals discover the transformation plan on our website.
Recent Comments