Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
#80 - Why daily movement is essential for fat loss
1.1k Plays10 months ago
In today’s episode, I chat about the crucial role that daily movement plays in fat loss!
While diet is key, how does movement fit into the picture? I break down energy balance and explain how the calories you consume versus the calories you burn affect your fat loss goals. I also discuss why daily activity is just as important as what you eat.
Why is it so important to keep moving throughout the day? I cover how even small movements can boost your calorie burn and impact your results. Plus, I touch on basal metabolic rate, strength training, and how digestion itself burns calories.
I also introduce NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), which is the energy you burn through everyday activities. It can be a game-changer for fat loss! I’ll show you how to increase your NEAT and why it’s so effective.
Finally, I share practical tips to add more movement into your routine, from walking more to simple ways to stay active. These strategies can make a big difference in your journey.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with friends who might benefit. For more health tips and updates, follow me on Instagram and TikTok @katehamiltonhealth.
Music by LiQWYD Free download: hypeddit.com/link/xxtopb [http://hypeddit.com/link/xxtopb] Promoted by FreeMusicPromo [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbycji-eySnM3WD8mbxPUSQ] / @freemusicpromo1
Recommended
Transcript
The Role of Energy Balance in Fat Loss
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Kate Hamilton health podcast. This episode is going to be a solo episode and I am going to talk through daily movement and why it is that important for your fat loss journey. So look, let's get straight into it. It all comes down to energy balance. So whether your goal is fat loss, maintenance, or muscle gain, getting the right energy balance for your goal is going to be the most important thing here.
00:00:35
Speaker
Energy balance is basically calories in versus calories out. So calories is not something to be afraid of. Calories are your body's measurement of energy. So your body burns calories every day, just being alive.
00:00:51
Speaker
and you consume calories every day through your food to keep you alive. They are very, very important. And when we have specific goals like fat loss, then we need to change that energy balance and make the calories in slightly less than the calories out so that you lose
Complex Influences on Caloric Intake
00:01:09
Speaker
body fat. If you want to maintain, you want your calories in versus your calories out to remain that balanced the same. And if you want to gain muscle, a little bit more nuanced, but you want the calories in to be higher than the calories out, but that is a little bit more nuanced, like I said, because foods, like macronutrient balance plays a huge part in that and training. So that's a whole other podcast episode. But when we're talking about fat loss in particular in this episode, we are talking about tweaks to this energy balance.
00:01:42
Speaker
So let's talk calories in. What affects calories in? The calories in, first of all, is what we eat. That is the only way we can get calories into our body is by eating. So really, really important. What affects it? Your appetite, your environment.
00:01:58
Speaker
your macro nutrient balance, your food quality, palatability and reward. So kind of what, how tasty something is, whether you see it as a reward or not, and your psychology and your emotions. This just shows how complex the whole idea of reducing your calories is. It's not just calories in versus calories out in the sense that your psychology and emotions play a huge part in your relationship with food. Also, you know if you've got appetite issues, the environment you're in, huge amount of nuances when it comes to to reducing the calories in. But
00:02:37
Speaker
that's just wanted to cover but that that's what calories in is.
Understanding Calorie Expenditure
00:02:41
Speaker
Okay. What affects calories out? Now this is what we're focusing on really for this podcast is the idea of calories out because we're talking about daily movement. So there are four ways that you burn calories basically. And there is your basal metabolic rate, the thermic effect of food, of the food that you eat.
00:03:03
Speaker
non-exercise activity and exercise activity. So there's four things. I'll just repeat that one more time. Basal metabolic rate, the thermic effect of the food that you're eating, non-exercise activity and exercise activity. So we're going to dive into this a little bit more now. So your basal metabolic rate is the measure of the minimum number of calories you must expend to stay alive.
00:03:29
Speaker
And it's surprisingly higher than you think. Okay. So this includes basic bodily functions, such as breathing, heartbeat, and maintaining a normal temperature. Quite often when we look at these calorie calculators and you're given a BMR or a basal metabolic rate, people are like, Oh my God, is that the calories that I have to stick to? It's like, no, they're the calories you need to be alive. The more muscle you have on your frame, the more your BMR will increase.
00:03:54
Speaker
So even though we're talking about daily movement today, don't skip your strength training. Your strength training is to increase this basal metabolic rate over time. The more muscle you have, the more energy your body takes to stay alive every day. So it's a good thing. So next thing then is the thermic effect of food. This is the amount of calories that we burn digesting our food. And this varies drastically from food to food. So this might not be something you know, that some of your food Like it takes energy like you're burning calories digesting food. So this is why good quality food really matters when it comes to fat loss. Protein requires more energy from the body to be broken down. So when you increase the amount of protein you eat,
00:04:38
Speaker
you're burning more calories. So as well as obviously you're eating protein to build more muscle on your body for your basal metabolic rate. Also your body's just using more calories trying to break that protein down. White starchy carbs and sugary processed food don't have the same thermic effect.
00:04:55
Speaker
So this is why you feel fuller for longer when you have protein and you feel more cravings so with processed food. Food choices really do matter. So the same is also true. Obviously if the likes of fiber, you know, there's lots of fibers that are not digested, but with those more whole grain carbohydrates, your body works harder to break down and take from them what they need and then leave the rest in the body for fiber, in the digestive system for fiber. So yeah, like I said, food choices matter. I bet you didn't even realize that you were just burning calories by just being alive and actually eating.
00:05:28
Speaker
like That's pretty cool when you think about it. Anyway, look, we'll talk about exercise activity briefly as well. And this is your deliberate exercise, okay? Your workouts, your runs, your sports, your brisk walks, when you're like, I am going out to exercise. They play an important part in your overall health and fitness.
00:05:45
Speaker
Like I said, especially when it comes to, you know, building a bit of muscle, staying stronger as we get older. And then for your heart health, mental health, there's so many benefits to exercising, like deliberate exercise, and we all should be doing it. But for most people.
00:06:00
Speaker
These will be the least amount of calories burned. So the lowest energy expenditure will be from your exercise activity. This is why quite often when people join the gym, they're like, I don't understand. I'm training five days a week and I'm not losing any body fat or I'm gaining weight. Like what's happening. It's like because.
00:06:20
Speaker
It's only only a tiny little percentage of your whole week, of your whole day, and all the other things matter more. The food that you're eating, your daily movement, and just that the health of your body, whip the amount of muscle you have on it and how your metabolism is.
00:06:36
Speaker
so Yes exercise is important but you cannot rely on okay I'm training five days a week now I can eat whatever I want. Cannot out-exercise a bad diet. Anyway let's talk about non-exercise activity thermogenesis which is also known as NEAT. Okay so this is the non-exercise activity that is the last piece of this puzzle and it's a fancy name to describe the calories burned from all the movement to do during the day that is not exercise. And it can make a big difference to your fat loss, a huge difference. So examples of Neat are cooking, shopping, walking, gardening, essentially any day to day activities are going to be. So this is why quite often if you're working with a coach or you'll have seen it online, why people have step goals.
00:07:21
Speaker
is why people do step challenges. Walking and general daily movement are the most underrated tools for fat loss. So like, I'd like to merge this a little bit that yes, planning to go out for a walk for the purpose of exercise is, you know, planned exercise. And you might say, Kate, well, that should be included as exercise activity. Technically, yes. But what I'm trying to push you towards is.
00:07:45
Speaker
doing more walking and increasing your daily movement throughout your day as well as perhaps a a deliberate walk. And I'm going to go through now exactly how much of a difference adding in a daily walk and just increasing your daily movement can actually make.
The Impact of Simple Daily Activities
00:08:01
Speaker
What I'd love you to be able to commit to.
00:08:03
Speaker
is adding in a 30 minute walk every day. So 30 minutes is not a huge amount of time. Now, quite often people will be like, I don't have time to get out for a walk or I don't, you know, this can be broken up. So this could be put into, you know, three, 10 minute walks.
00:08:20
Speaker
30 minutes out of your whole day. It can be in the evening time, it can be the morning time, it can be lunch time. You do not need a rest day from walking. But if you add in a 30-minute walk every day, you could increase your ah calorie expenditure by about 300 calories per day. So you could be burning 300 extra calories every day just by getting 30 minutes of a walk in every day.
00:08:42
Speaker
That's 2,100 calories per week, and that'll make a huge difference over time. So for context, you'd have to spend approximately 60 minutes in the gym lifting weights to expend the same calories as a 30 minute walk. Let's say you do three workouts per week. That's 1200 extra calories per week, which is almost a thousand calories less than if you just walked every day for 30 minutes.
00:09:05
Speaker
Now, like I said, it's really important for other health reasons to be getting your workouts in. I'm not saying we shouldn't be working out, but quite often people will prioritize that first rather than looking at a more pressing issue of the fact that they are not moving at all throughout the day. And I would always, always push clients to get that walk daily walk in place first.
00:09:28
Speaker
It's the most important thing. In an ideal world, you're going to be doing both, lifting weights two to four times per week and walking seven days per week. The way I look at it, your dog needs to be walked every day, so do you. Your body needs to be walked every day, just like your dog needs to be walked every day.
00:09:45
Speaker
If it's not possible to do, like when you get to the stage where you're you're layering in workouts, it's not possible to get a workout and a walk in. And I know for some of us, it is like life is super busy and it can be really, really difficult. But if, you know, you're not cutting yourself and you're genuinely like, I cannot fit this in. I'm nonstop in the car driving my teenagers everywhere. I get it. ah Apply the move my body every day approach.
00:10:10
Speaker
So you might be like, oh okay, I'm going to that gym class today. I'm nonstop in the car and at the desk the rest of the time, there is no time. Grant. Okay, you've moved your body today. However, in an ideal world, like I said, I would like to see those 30 minutes in place seven days a week and then layer in the workouts.
Increasing NEAT and Consistency
00:10:30
Speaker
that would be my thoughts so as well then as obviously that 30 minute daily walk that i'm dying for you to get started with here are other ways that you can increase your neat activity your daily movement okay so like i said go for a walk get a standing desk these are becoming much more popular now because your body burns more calories just by standing than by sitting. And like you burn more calories sitting than you do by lying down. So getting a standing desk, like, you know, if you're working for eight hours, ah you know, it's going to make a huge difference. I don't have the actual numbers, but it'll make a huge difference throughout the week. Housework. Housework is exercise. Gardening also exercise. Playing with pets or kids.
00:11:08
Speaker
walk places instead of drive. So like I quite often, I'm a bit lost actually in the summer, but when my kids are in school, I walk up and down the hill in my village, up to the school. I walk my six-year-old to school every morning and I walk home and then I walk back up to collect them and I walk home. And that actually clocks me up then with my other movement. And I spent a lot of time at at a desk, but like with all my other bits of movement around the place, it clocks me up about 12,000 steps a day.
00:11:33
Speaker
And I haven't had to go for a purposeful walk. I put that into my schedule that I walk into school. That is my walk. So two birds, one stone. If you're not close to where your kids go to school or where you work or whatever, if you're not walking distance, park further away and walk make it a walk. Like I'm trying out this new gym at the minute and I'm really enjoying it. But the parking, you have to like pay for parking. I ended up paying like three euro for parking yesterday. Now I think there's another car park I can use, which is only a euro, which isn't as bad, but I'm like, there's a free car park. I'd say 10 minutes away. I'm like, do you know what? I could get a little, get a few more steps in there. I'll park in the free car park, get my steps in, walk into the gym. Like it's between five and 10 minute walk. It's not far. And then between five and 10 minutes back to the car afterwards, but that's going to be an extra bit of movement. So I'm going to do that when I can take more trips up the stairs. This is another huge one.
00:12:25
Speaker
If you have a downstairs toilet, go to the upstairs toilet when you need to go. If you have to bring in your laundry upstairs, do more trips, take smaller amounts. Don't do the lazy man's load. Take it in small amounts and up and down the stairs with your stuff. It really does add up. And there are, if you go on YouTube, there are different, you can actually do walking workouts as well. So, you know, if you're stuck at home with small kids and you can't get out,
00:12:48
Speaker
Or, you know, you don't have access access to the gym, it's lashing rain, but you're, you're, you really want to keep going with this daily movement. If you search walking workouts, there's like literally kind of step workouts that you can do that. It's not like high intensity workouts. It's literally just for the purpose to get your steps in. This was actually something my clients taught me. I don't know the name of the workouts that they use, but yeah, I just think that's amazing. And finally, okay. i How I'm going to finish this is with this question.
00:13:18
Speaker
This is the question I want you to ask yourself every single day. Write it on a piece of paper and keep it beside your bed, put it on your fridge, put it as your screensaver in your phone. I don't care as long as it's somewhere that you can see it. And I want you to read it every single day. How can I move my body today?
00:13:40
Speaker
It's that simple. How can I move my body today? And you will be absolutely amazed the difference that that will make over time. Like I said, 30 minutes a day, seven days a week will be 2,100 extra calories burned every week. So obviously I'm all about the holistic approach. Nutrition matters. Calories in matter. Resistance training matters. But if you're like, where do I even start?
00:14:09
Speaker
This is where you start, get moving every single day. It doesn't need to be fast. There's nothing, I quite often get new clients coming in that are like, Oh, like, do I need to walk five and try to walk five K? But you know, something like ah maybe sometimes it's seven K, but I'm like, I don't care that bed the distance. It is the act of being someone who walks every day, whether it is for 10 minutes or 30 minutes. And you know, you just have to be realistic with yourself working towards 30 minutes, seven days a week.
00:14:37
Speaker
at your pace, at a pace that works for you. Okay.
Commitment to Daily Movement and Engagement
00:14:40
Speaker
I hope you found that helpful. And as always, if you did, please do share it in your WhatsApp groups, share it on your stories, tag me if you're sharing it on your stories. And if you aren't already, I would love if you would just hit subscribe to the podcast to make sure you're following the podcast. but It really makes that much of a difference. And if you have any thoughts, reflections at all on what I've been saying, would love to hear it in the comments. You can comment below on.
00:15:07
Speaker
the episode and I would appreciate that so much and thank you so much and I will chat to you the next day.