Consume more calories
You’re in the fat loss phase, and you’re looking for ways to lose weight faster. You’ve got your diet on point, so you’re thinking of increasing the cardio amount during workouts. But there’s only so much cardio you can do before feeling burned out and requiring a massive amount of food to satiate the resulting hunger. So you start eating more… Yet that defeats the whole purpose of weight loss, because you need to be in a calorie deficit if you want to melt that fat away. On the other hand, starving yourself by not eating enough calories creates all sort of problems, with the biggest being a higher probability of quitting altogether. Not to mention the terrible mood you’ll be in. There must be some other way…
And there is…
Increase your calorie expenditure during non-exercise activities. What does that mean? You need to find ways to burn more calories during day-to-day activities, when you’re not at the gym, when you’re not actively exercising. Is that even possible? Of course, in fact there are multiple ways to do it.
Low effort way to increase calorie consumption and lose weight
Probably the easiest way is to just… walk. Yes, that’s right, just walk. That’s it. Increase your daily step count and you increase your daily calorie consumption. Since walking is way easier than a full-blown cardio workout, you’ll feel less burned out and you will require considerably less food. Does that mean you can stop working out and just walk? Not so fast! Think of extra walking as supplementing your current workout plan. The objective here is to increase the amount of calories you consume daily. Any step you can take towards that, particularly if it’s low-effort, helps you reach your dream weight faster. As with anything in life where you’re seeking progress, it needs to be measurable somehow. How do you measure walking, anyway?
First step is to start tracking the total amount of steps you take each and every day. Most phones already have a step tracker app pre-installed, which is a good start. But unless you carry the phone absolutely everywhere you go, the number of steps might be off, sometimes way off depending on where you keep it or how you hold it. Ideally, look for a fitness band or watch instead. It doesn’t need to be top-of-the-line, you just need to see how many steps you take daily. Seeing how many steps you take helps motivate you to keep reaching that daily step goal each day, by seeing a glimpse of your current status.
Get started
Now that you have a basic idea of how many steps you already take daily, what to aim for? What’s the amount of steps needed for the best fatloss results? Ideally, you should aim for somewhere around 10,000 steps per day. If that is too big of a jump from your current amount, if for example you take less than 1,000 steps per day, first try aiming for 5,000 steps per day and slowly increase the goal after it becomes comfortable. Make sure you don’t increase the amount too much, because otherwise your daily walking transforms into an actual workout. On the other hand, if you’re already at 10,000 or above, add a few more extra steps each day.
What if it’s too hot or too cold outside for walking? If you have a treadmill, use it to reach that daily step goal. Don’t have a treadmill handy? Just walk around the house. People vastly underestimate how quick all those steps add up. At first, it might seem silly to just walk laps around your house, but remember that it’s a proven method of increasing your daily calorie consumption and thus losing weight.
Caution when trying to lose weight
Of course, keep in mind that to lose weight, you’re always aiming for a caloric deficit. That means eating fewer calories than you consume through exercise and non-exercise activity. Incorporating walking in your day and getting those extra steps does not mean you should counter-balance it with more food and thus more calories. Be mindful of your calorie consumption and make sure you’re not eating more than you should.
