I have no time for exercise in my busy schedule so how can I possibly lose weight?

I have no time for exercise in my busy schedule so how can I possibly lose weight?

Can I lose weight while not exercising?

Well yes, of course you can. But will it be just fat? Most likely not. It will very likely entail muscle loss, water loss along with some fat loss. This is too big a cost in my opinion. A number on the weighing scale is not worth loss of muscle mass by my estimation. We need to do everything in our power to retain muscle mass, especially as as we age.

This is our metabolic engine.

We cannot afford to downsize in this area as we age.

Sitting is the new smoking!

Lots of us sit all day. And I mean ALL day! We are in the car, in the office, on the sofa. This is literally killing us. It is going to shorten our lives and what’s more, it’s going to lessen the quality of our lives as we age. Our body is designed for movement. We are kinetic beings. When we choose to sit all day we stagnate. We conserve energy. We fatten! Yes, we deposit fat-stores in the mid-section – as visceral fat – the most dangerous form of fat that impacts our metabolic health directly.

If I go to the gym am I OK?

No, going to the gym a couple of times per week will not undo the bad that sitting has impacted your body all day and all week. This is a shocking realization for most people I find. We have been led to believe that exercise will keep us healthy. That’s simply not true. Yes exercise is important for health and weight management, but forty minutes three times per week will not undo the possible twenty still hours you’ve spent PER DAY, EVERY DAY, ALL WEEK long! Driving, at the desk, on your screens, you have been stock still and it has impacted your health.

So what can I do?

MOVE. Of course you need to be in the car and at the desk long hours every day. This is essential to your livelihood. It’s not an optional extra. But when you are on a job, at a viewing, in the office, at home, MOVE. Quite simply, when you take a phone call, pace. When you need to catch up with a colleague ask them to stroll with you. When you are wanting to clear your mind and think something through, potter, stroll and move your body. In the ideal world you would move your body every hour with a reminder, perhaps, on your phone, to do so.

Movement is different to exercise.

I always make the distinction between movement and exercise. Movement is the stuff of steps. We all know that ten thousand is a good number to aim for EVERY DAY. This is different to any exercise goal you may have. A movement goal is to get you habituated to moving your body again. You did this as a toddler! You just need to remember what that felt like! Stop stagnating. Move at every opportunity. Get up and out to get a cup of tea. Drink more water. Go to the loo more often! Walk. Every time you’re on the phone, pace. Conduct standing meetings. Park further away from your destination ON PURPOSE. Just CLOCK UP THE STEPS. Look for opportunities to walk. Do the opposite to what you are currently doing! Stop conserving energy, spend it. These are new habits. But if you do them consistently they will stick, like any other habit you’ve formed.
 

I wear heels, the weather is bad, I’ve no time.

I can’t deny that it’s bothersome to change habits. But look at what has changed in your lifetime already. If you were given a pill to take that would melt fat and make you fit you’d happily consider it. We don’t like discomfort. Who does? But any small discomfort now will offset pretty major debilitation later on in life. This sounds dramatic. But seriously, we are at high risk of diabetes, elevated cholesterol and elevated blood pressure when we sit all day and move very little. This predicts a bleak future. Those populations who live the longest on the planet are those who move most. They do NOT stagnate. They garden, potter, stroll. They don’t necessarily wear gym gear or even go to a gym, they simply move. We tend not to, when working a sedentary job. We are busy, have never been busier in our lives, perhaps, but WE ARE SEDENTARY.

This needs to change.

If not, we lose muscle, with the result that our metabolism and mobility suffer. It is not a pretty future picture is it?

Surely diet is more important for fat loss?

Fat loss comes from restricting calories, certainly. That is the very simple science of it. However, our body is very smart. If you consistently restrict calories and don’t really change how much you move, then your body acclimatizes and re-calibrates. What I mean here is that your metabolism slows, ever so slightly, on consistent calorie restriction. Then, over time, the weight-loss stops and stasis sets in again (our body loves stasis, that is, stability). This can be very deflating.

What do I now need to do to lose weight? Eat less?

Well, yes, that might also work, but you are likely now losing muscle tissue as well as fat. This is not good.

Muscle is the source of our metabolic rate.

The more muscle we have, the higher our metabolism, the less muscle, the lower the metabolism. This is why an elderly person can survive on very few calories per day. They have lost lots of muscle mass and they don’t spend much energy. This leads to infirmity. Then, quite often, illness. Surely we want more?

How we can avoid such an outcome is by keeping our energy high, that is, our metabolism. How do we do that? We move. All day, every day. ‘Use it or lose it’ has never been more pertinent than here. Move every waking hour of your day. After a long car journey, move. Walk. Potter. Stretch.
Of course, schedule exercise also into your busy day. I find that paying for a specific class, one that you love, works best here. Commit for no more than six weeks and commit fully. Then, reconsider. Did that work for me? Would I like to repeat it? If so, then commit. For only SIX WEEKS at a time (the psychology of exercise kicks in here). I find, also, that early morning works best for most of us.

Up & out. Then, off to work.

This a great way of prioritizing your needs in the day. Perhaps it’s just on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday that you have a class. That’s plenty. Every other day you are now prioritizing movement. You are clocking ten thousand steps and the fat loss is just that; FAT LOSS.
Well done you!