The Most Overlooked Piece of Healthy Body Composition

You want to look and feel amazing.

So you hit the gym 3x a week and bust your ass lifting weights doing CrossFit.
You are dieting and eating healthy. Prepping food, eating protein, veggies, etc.

You get on the scale only to see that nothing has changed. You are frustrated and want to give up (in fact 96% will.)

But you are perhaps missing the most important and vital piece of it all....

Leisure movement throughout the day.

That's right, walking.

Research shows some interesting things with this.

Out of the changeable parts of the metabolism that affects calories burned, NEAT (non-exercise associated thermogenesis) has the biggest impact on calories burned throughout the day. In fact, out of the 30% you can affect with lifestyle, 15% are from being active outside of your workouts and diet.

That's 50% of overall changeable calories!!

I see it all the time where people are exercising and eating right but spending 10-12 hours in front of a screen at work, in the car driving from appointment to appointment, etc.

This is keeping them stuck and perhaps you reading this.

NEAT is so affective because it does a couple of other things very well that are so important for your metabolic health.

Health Maintenance: Continuous movement has been shown to have a significant impact on overall health, potentially reducing the risk of diseases like diabetes and heart disease more effectively than a short burst of intense exercise once a day.

Metabolic Function: Regular movement plays a crucial role in weight management and metabolic health. It can help maintain a healthy weight and improve your metabolism even outside of structured workouts.

As for the right amount of daily movement, aiming for 10,000 steps has become a well-accepted goal, which is about the equivalent of walking roughly 5 miles. These constant, low-intensity activities add up and may contrast favorably against the stress and hunger signals that can be associated with more intense exercise regimens. This is why NEAT is so beneficial outside of calories burned, it also curbs appetite and hunger in a healthy way (unlike many medications available to suppress appetite)

At the same time if you are moving less than that then anything more will be helpful. The goal isn't to get to 10,000 overnight, but doing more than you are is the first step. Get accustomed to going from 2,000 to 4,000 and once that feels normal, adjust up from there.

Sitting continuously for long periods––over 90 minutes at a stretch––is something to avoid. Try to break up long bouts of sitting with brief activity to keep your metabolism engaged and your body healthy. 

Remember, your metabolism doesn't care what is convenient, it only cares about what it responds to and sitting long stretches of the day are equivalent to metabolic death.

All of this is not to say that exercise or food don't matter. It is simply to illustrate the importance and large role that movement throughout the day plays in overall health and body composition.

People fight me on this perhaps more than anything else I work them on. They all know that diet and exercise will be factors but the stress managing, hunger reducing benefits of walking or movement throughout the day are not something that is in their radar. 

You must get around that mindset if you want to ultimately be part of the 4% success rate of dieters long term.

Managing your time and schedule are also among the most important factors when making more time for movement. If this is something you need more support with or guidance around, you can always schedule a call or fill out an application below. 

Cheers to a great week!