It’s not easy to lose fat.
If it were easy we’d all be walking around lean and ripped right?
Let’s be honest, nobody truly wants to be overweight, but the challenge of dropping body-fat can seem daunting.
Especially if you’re someone with a busy schedule – it might seem impossible to get more results or break through a plateau.
Lack of extra time to workout more, prepare more meals, or get educated on how to effectively lose your love handles can be a big problem.
So what can you do?
In this article I want to help you become aware of 3 Ways you can start dropping fat right now – without more workouts being added, hours of cardio or crazy diet plans.
The 3 Things are NEAT, Intermittent Fasting, and Strength Training.
Let’s talk about each one.
If it were easy we’d all be walking around lean and ripped right?
Let’s be honest, nobody truly wants to be overweight, but the challenge of dropping body-fat can seem daunting.
Especially if you’re someone with a busy schedule – it might seem impossible to get more results or break through a plateau.
Lack of extra time to workout more, prepare more meals, or get educated on how to effectively lose your love handles can be a big problem.
So what can you do?
In this article I want to help you become aware of 3 Ways you can start dropping fat right now – without more workouts being added, hours of cardio or crazy diet plans.
The 3 Things are NEAT, Intermittent Fasting, and Strength Training.
Let’s talk about each one.
1. NEAT
NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. This refers to all the daily activity that you do outside the gym which burns calories. So if you sit at a desk all day, commute in your car and then sit in front of the TV for a couple hours at night your NEAT will be pretty low.
However, if you work as a UPS delivery person and you’re constantly walking, jumping in and out of your truck and hauling packages around all day – your NEAT will be way higher and your total calories burned for the day will be higher than someone who sits at a computer all day.
So how can you use NEAT to your advantage?
It’s quite simple really.
You can start being more active doing the things you’d normally do.
For example, if you’re someone who sits at a desk all day – you can set up a standing desk and do more work standing up. Standing up burns about 100 calories more than sitting down per hour which can have a huge impact over the course of a day.
The quickest way to increase your NEAT is to walk more. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park further away from the grocery store. Walk to the store if possible. Instead of sitting on the couch and talking to you spouse – go for a walk together and talk. Take your kids on walks.
You can also purposely move more. You can set a reminder every hour to spend 5 minutes moving around. Take phone calls standing up while you pace around. It might seem silly now, but once you start doing it – it becomes a very effective habit.
These little shifts in routine can really add up over time. A few extra hundred calories burned each day can do wonders for fat loss.
100 extra calories burned today might seem low, but that’s 700 calories per week and 2800 calories per month. Do that for 12 months and you’re looking at 6-8 extra lbs of fat loss! That’s crazy results from doing normal things a bit more actively.
Plus this means you don’t have to find extra time for more cardio or more weight training sessions. Just a few small changes in HOW you do your normal routine will have a huge impact on your total calories burned.
However, if you work as a UPS delivery person and you’re constantly walking, jumping in and out of your truck and hauling packages around all day – your NEAT will be way higher and your total calories burned for the day will be higher than someone who sits at a computer all day.
So how can you use NEAT to your advantage?
It’s quite simple really.
You can start being more active doing the things you’d normally do.
For example, if you’re someone who sits at a desk all day – you can set up a standing desk and do more work standing up. Standing up burns about 100 calories more than sitting down per hour which can have a huge impact over the course of a day.
The quickest way to increase your NEAT is to walk more. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park further away from the grocery store. Walk to the store if possible. Instead of sitting on the couch and talking to you spouse – go for a walk together and talk. Take your kids on walks.
You can also purposely move more. You can set a reminder every hour to spend 5 minutes moving around. Take phone calls standing up while you pace around. It might seem silly now, but once you start doing it – it becomes a very effective habit.
These little shifts in routine can really add up over time. A few extra hundred calories burned each day can do wonders for fat loss.
100 extra calories burned today might seem low, but that’s 700 calories per week and 2800 calories per month. Do that for 12 months and you’re looking at 6-8 extra lbs of fat loss! That’s crazy results from doing normal things a bit more actively.
Plus this means you don’t have to find extra time for more cardio or more weight training sessions. Just a few small changes in HOW you do your normal routine will have a huge impact on your total calories burned.
For most busy people – improving your NEAT will have the biggest impact on your health and fitness progress
-Josiah
One word of caution about NEAT…
Working out TOO hard can cause your NEAT to go down.
Think about it….
If you’re super sore and tired after crazy workouts you’re less likely to be more active the rest of the day.
Don’t try and kill yourself every single workout – not only does it tax your Central Nervous System and hinder recovery and muscle growth, but it can zap your energy and cause you to have much less NEAT the rest of the day.
Working out TOO hard can cause your NEAT to go down.
Think about it….
If you’re super sore and tired after crazy workouts you’re less likely to be more active the rest of the day.
Don’t try and kill yourself every single workout – not only does it tax your Central Nervous System and hinder recovery and muscle growth, but it can zap your energy and cause you to have much less NEAT the rest of the day.
2. Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting has taken on some major popularity the past few years and for good reason.
If you don’t know what Intermittent Fasting is – you can check out this article here that breaks it down in more detail.
While shorter fasts (12-16 hours) haven’t shown a huge increase in fat loss over standard nutrition schedules – having an eating schedule can help tremendously when it comes to sticking to a nutrition plan.
For a lot of people trying to lose weight while balancing busy schedule – having the ability to eat more food at lunch and dinner is huge for lifestyle purposes.
Eating breakfast slows a lot of people down both physically and mentally and it can become harder to get things done in the morning.
Plus, for some, when you eat first thing in the day your appetite can skyrocket causing you to fall off your nutrition plan the rest of the day.
Thus, intermittent fasting, when used properly, can have a tremendous impact on fat loss. Especially over the long-term.
Longer fasts (24-48 hours) have shown some increase in fat loss in certain studies. Just be careful before attempting longer fasts and be sure to have your doctor clear you prior to attempting a longer fast.
If you don’t know what Intermittent Fasting is – you can check out this article here that breaks it down in more detail.
While shorter fasts (12-16 hours) haven’t shown a huge increase in fat loss over standard nutrition schedules – having an eating schedule can help tremendously when it comes to sticking to a nutrition plan.
For a lot of people trying to lose weight while balancing busy schedule – having the ability to eat more food at lunch and dinner is huge for lifestyle purposes.
Eating breakfast slows a lot of people down both physically and mentally and it can become harder to get things done in the morning.
Plus, for some, when you eat first thing in the day your appetite can skyrocket causing you to fall off your nutrition plan the rest of the day.
Thus, intermittent fasting, when used properly, can have a tremendous impact on fat loss. Especially over the long-term.
Longer fasts (24-48 hours) have shown some increase in fat loss in certain studies. Just be careful before attempting longer fasts and be sure to have your doctor clear you prior to attempting a longer fast.
Fasting is an excellent tool to help you stick with an eating schedule and boost your energy and mental focus!”
3. Strength Training
Getting strong has never really gone hand in hand with fat loss.
I get it.
Being lean and losing weight doesn’t mesh well with getting big and strong. They sound like polar opposites.
But here’s the deal…
Getting strong can directly impact fat loss.
See when you lift heavier weights your body responds by holding onto more muscle to support your heavier training.
More muscle = higher metabolism. Higher metabolism = more food needed to maintain your weight. More food needed = easier time losing fat.
Now, a lot of you reading this will say “But I don’t want to look like a powerlifter…I don’t want to get big and bulky”
Well slow down sparky.
If you naturally gained a ton of muscle and size overnight you probably wouldn’t be reading this. And, here’s the deal. If your nutrition is on point and you’re eating less calories than you’re burning each day – you won’t bulk up. I pink promise.
Plus, its VERY hard to look like a powerlifter unless you eat, train and live like a powerlifter for a very long time.
I suggest including phases of strength training while you go through a fat loss phase OR at least including workouts in your routine that involve lifting heavier weights in the big 4 exercises (bench, squat, deadlift and overhead press).
This will help optimize your hormones (testosterone, growth hormone, etc.) which play a huge part in fat loss and overall energy. Plus, you’ll hold onto muscle tissue as you burn bodyfat which will make you look super toned and fit once you’re as lean as you want to be.
Finally, it’s pretty cool to be strong. I mean, let’s face it…being “functional” is a term people throw around a lot these days, but what’s more functional than being able to move heavy things around?
I get it.
Being lean and losing weight doesn’t mesh well with getting big and strong. They sound like polar opposites.
But here’s the deal…
Getting strong can directly impact fat loss.
See when you lift heavier weights your body responds by holding onto more muscle to support your heavier training.
More muscle = higher metabolism. Higher metabolism = more food needed to maintain your weight. More food needed = easier time losing fat.
Now, a lot of you reading this will say “But I don’t want to look like a powerlifter…I don’t want to get big and bulky”
Well slow down sparky.
If you naturally gained a ton of muscle and size overnight you probably wouldn’t be reading this. And, here’s the deal. If your nutrition is on point and you’re eating less calories than you’re burning each day – you won’t bulk up. I pink promise.
Plus, its VERY hard to look like a powerlifter unless you eat, train and live like a powerlifter for a very long time.
I suggest including phases of strength training while you go through a fat loss phase OR at least including workouts in your routine that involve lifting heavier weights in the big 4 exercises (bench, squat, deadlift and overhead press).
This will help optimize your hormones (testosterone, growth hormone, etc.) which play a huge part in fat loss and overall energy. Plus, you’ll hold onto muscle tissue as you burn bodyfat which will make you look super toned and fit once you’re as lean as you want to be.
Finally, it’s pretty cool to be strong. I mean, let’s face it…being “functional” is a term people throw around a lot these days, but what’s more functional than being able to move heavy things around?
Being strong and lean is VERY possible – it might seem like a magical Unicorn that you can never find – but trust me – it’s very possible”
Now you have 3 Ways to Burn More Fat Now – without adding additional workouts or crazy diet plans.
If you need further help – check out the Inner Circle – you can test drive it for 7 Days Absolutely FREE by clicking here.
If you need further help – check out the Inner Circle – you can test drive it for 7 Days Absolutely FREE by clicking here.
