23 Hours

How often do I need to train to lose weight?

A question which I’m sure most fitness professionals get asked, to which annoyingly you’ll probably here “it depends”.

It really does depend on a lot of factors.

• How much time you have to train
• How much you’re eating
• How you want your physique to change
• How active you are outside of that time in the gym

Today, we’re talking about the last point (pun not intended).

The truth is, if you go hard and go home to sit on the sofa for the rest of the day – I hate to break it to you but you may end up burning less than on a non gym day.

SHOCK HORROR!

The point is, we burn calories living and going about our daily activities. So, the more we move, the more we gain in terms of daily expenditure (TDEE).

Obviously in those hours you want those golden 7-8 hours of sleep, a few hours of sitting down eating as well as being at work as obviously we all need to earn a living!

So, you’re wondering how on earth do you fit it in…

• Be that person who walks up the escalator.
• Leave a little earlier to walk to the station rather than catch the bus there last minute, or get off a few extra stops early.
• Shun public transport altogether in favour of a bike, either your own or one of Boris’.
• Go shopping – have you seen how many steps you clock up while hiking along the high street?
• Set a reminder to get up from your desk every hour – maybe even use this as a reminder to fill up our water glass or do the tea round too.
• Go for a walk outside on your lunch break – this is also great for clearing the mind.
• Not one for the extra 23 hours outside the gym, but increasing muscle mass through weight training will increase your metabolism.

With the above in mind, aim to be more naturally active in everyday life and result will come without you even realising it. In short, clock up an average of 10,000 steps a day (if this seems way out of touch, try starting at 7,000 and slowly increase as it comes more naturally to you).

Keep moving,

Point x