WELLBEING - Prioritise “Accidental Exercise” Instead!

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Summary - 

Have you ever got the guilts because you missed a workout or weren’t able to make it to the gym? In this episode, you’ll discover the one concept that has single-handedly changed my life and the way I think about exercise. 

Things I Mention - 

  • Why focussing on the calories burnt during a workout could be jeopardising your health & fitness goals

  • How it’s possible for a person to do the same workout and eat the same amount of calories as you but continue to lose weight while you plateau

  • Why I’m a big advocate of the 10k steps per day initiative and how it can help you

PLUS, I explain something  that is often overlooked when you decide to put yourself into a calorie deficit. 

Links & Helpful Resources - 

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I am excited about this episode because it’s something I’m really passionate about and know that it can help so many of you especially if you’re prone to feeling the guilts when you miss a workout or find yourself unable to make it to the gym. Understanding this concept alone has single-handedly changed my life so let’s get stuck into it … 

You may or may not have heard the word ‘NEAT’ thrown around when chatting about health & wellbeing. NEAT is an acronym which stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It sounds daunting I know but really it’s just a term used to describe the calories that we burn outside of our ‘actual’ workout - think of it as a way to describe any accidental exercise that you do throughout the day such as walking, fidgeting, cleaning the house, making the bed, getting up to change the channel, mowing the lawn, gardening, taking the stairs etc. 

As a society, we are becoming more sedentary than ever before but did you know that highly active people burn up to three times more energy during the day than sedentary people? This is usually why your exercise buddy who does the same workout as you and eats roughly the same amount of calories per day as you, continues to lose weight while you plateau. 

When someone wants to lose weight, their first thought might be to join a gym and smash out anywhere from 3-6 workouts per week, which is all well and good however just shifting your mindset and attention to simply living a more active lifestyle can actually burn a significantly higher amount of calories than your average workout. We don't burn nearly as many calories as we think we do when we workout. 

Those of you who follow me on Instagram, will know that I’m a big fan of the 10k steps per day initiative. I’m always aiming to increase my daily step count where possible. Of course, there are days when I don't quite hit the 10k mark but it is something that’s always on my mind and something I aim to do. I’m all for implementing healthy habits & routines and walking sits right at the top of that list so having a walk scheduled in as if it were a meeting or an appt. that I wouldn’t cancel helps to make walking more of a consistent thing - something that will become a healthy habit as the weeks go on. You’ll be surprised at how a walk (regardless of how long) then creates a ripple effect that encourages you to be more active throughout the day. 

This accidental exercise has substantial positive effects, not only on fat loss initially but maintaining it long-term too. Some of my favourite healthy habits to increase NEAT are - 

  • Taking the stairs instead of using the lift 

  • Parking in the furthest car park

  • Standing on public transport

  • Walking around when talking on the phone

  • Stretching whilst watching tv

And lastly, I want to point this one out, just to make you aware of it moving forward. If losing body fat is your goal, when a decision has been made to pop yourself into a calorie deficit, it’s not uncommon to subconsciously decrease your NEAT habits/ accidental exercise. The more you restrict someone’s calories, the less active their lifestyle is likely to become. So if a calorie deficit is something you know you need to do, in order to reach a specific health goal, then just being mindful of this is going to make you a lot more successful than any previous attempts at fat loss. It’s natural for the human body to want to preserve energy during a calorie deficit, to fidget less, to sit on the couch more, to skip making the bed but by simply understanding that this is likely to happen, you can push through knowing it’s just a common cause & effect that you now have complete control over.

So having said this, can you look for a few more opportunities throughout the day to increase your NEAT?

Elisha CasagrandeFEEL BE LOOK, Brisbane Health Coach, Womens Confidence, Self Care, NEAT, Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, Accidental Exercise