Most of the clients I work with, start with me thinking, that the only way to lose unwanted body fat is to either; drastically drop their calories. or go all out bat sh~t crazy in the gym. ..Sound familiar?
So my first job as a coach is to make their fat-loss journey as simple as I can by giving them a brief overview of how our bodies actually work. And the importance of finding the right approach for them.
Well firstly let me tell you that the amount of calories you actually burn in a single workout are a lot less than you think. In fact the calories you burn is a single workout are minimal in terms of the calories that your body can actually burn across a whole day just simply doing everyday activities. And this information is GOLD if your goal is fat-loss!!
To lose body fat and in turn lose weight on the scales, one of the key things to assess is HOW ACTIVE ARE YOU OVER 24 HOURS!!?
To keep it simple we call this “NEAT” – (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). NEAT basically means all the calories you burn throughout the day doing normal things like walking the dog, going up and down stairs, making tea, housework. Everything you do, right down to how much you fidget uses/burns energy and ENERGY = CALORIES.
So if your main goal is fat-loss then it all comes down to what we refer to as ‘energy balance’. Now you may have heard this term before a million times but it’s really important to try and understand the basics of how the body works so you can achieve the results you are looking for in the most time efficient, and more importantly, enjoyable way possible!
As a coach I really want to make your fat-loss journey as simple and as enjoyable as possible by helping you find the right ‘energy balance’ for you.
- You end up eating even more e,g at weekends, because you have over restricted during the week.
- You end up moving even less over the course of the day because you are too tired.
So my main point for this post…
Is to start working out your energy balance. We are all different from the jobs we do, our body shape and size, our height, social environments and sex
1. Think about how active you currently are during the day; and if (Not very) then think about simple ways you can improve your daily activity levels. E.g Take the stairs instead of the lift, Daily step count (If you are hitting 8-10,000 a day can you get in an extra 200 here and there), instead of having your shopping delivered, can you go shopping this week?
2. Losing body fat isn’t all just about the calories you take in. What other simple ways can you expend more energy doing this week? because trust me the calories you can burn in a single day are much more than what you actually burn in a single workout!!