Transcription
Everyone bangs on about 10,000 steps a day to lose weight. I haven't got time for that, and I'll bet you don't either. I lost 55 lbs, and I didn't do 10,000 steps a day. And to prove that you don't need to, I tested these seven hacks to help you burn the same amount of calories or more in less time. Honestly, some of them are surprisingly brilliant. In fact, one of them is 200 times more effective.
So, first up, 10,000 steps. How long would that even take? Well, for the purposes of this video, I went out and got my 10,000 steps in one go. At a normal walking pace, this took me 96 minutes, and it burnt 252 calories. For most of my clients who want to lose 30 to 50 lb, this is going to be more like 400 to 600 calories. So, there's no denying that 10,000 steps can be really great for weight loss, but an hour and a half walking every day just isn't realistic for most of us with jobs and kids and other responsibilities. Which is why hack number one is a great way to get way more out of the time you do have.
Hack number one is the Japanese walking method. And this one, guys, blew me away at how efficient it was, 'cause I was expecting a little boost to my calorie burn, but I was not expecting double the amount of calories in the same amount of time. So, if you want to give this a go, it's basically just interval training, but make it walking. So you're going to do three minutes of walking fast and 3 minutes of walking slow and just repeat that for 30 minutes. Now, the trick with this one is you still want your slow walks to feel purposeful. We're aiming for like a five out of 10 on this rate of perceived exertion scale. So it's not a stroll, but your fast walking segments, you want to be on like a proper mission, like a little bit out of breath. You want to be more of an eight out of 10 on that RPE scale. Now, don't worry if that feels like a lot, because it's only for three minutes, and then you get to have a bit of a rest in your slow section. And the cool thing about using this rate of perceived exertion is this is adaptable to whatever level of fitness you're at. And as you get fitter, you can still keep it challenging. So, you still get all those benefits. How does this hack score? Well, I'm going to give it a 9 out of 10. Well, actually, maybe even a nine and a half out of 10. And that's mostly because getting a 10 out of 10 is pretty tough for me. But there is something that I would give a 10. You're gonna have to hang around to find out what that is.
So, this one is great for boosting calorie burn on those days where you can get out for a solid 30-minute walk. What about when you want to make your walks work harder towards your fat loss goals? Hack number two is rocking. And rocking is just walking with added weight. Now, you don't need to go out and buy a fancy weighted vest. You can just strap on a backpack with a few weights or water bottles or books, or grab your nearest baby, whatever you have to hand. And because your body is carrying more load, it's going to take more energy, i.e., more calories to move your body through space. Now, obviously, the exact amount of extra calories depends on your body weight and the weight that you're carrying. But according to the internet, a 60 kg me carrying 12 kg Adelene should burn around 20% more calories. So let's put it to the test. And if you've already lost some weight, this hack really comes into its own, because as you lose weight, it costs your body less energy to move you through space on your walks. So by adding a weighted backpack or a weighted vest or a baby, you're able to counter that effect and still see weight loss without cutting your calories. In fact, when I'm working with my clients, one of my main priorities is using hacks like this to keep their calories as high as possible while still losing 5 to 10 lb a month. Click the link in the description or go to bodysmartfitness.com to find out how I can help you lose weight without it having to be miserable.
So, this one really exceeded expectations. I didn't burn 20% more calories, I burnt 40% more calories in 30 minutes. Rating for this one then is an 8 out of 10. It's super easy to do, and for different reasons, it's great at every part of your journey.
This next one barely feels like effort, and it actually became my favorite hack of all of these because it makes getting your steps in just feel so good. Hack number three is walking to the right music. Now, this one might be maybe the least scientific or at least obvious one on the list, but I'm really intrigued, 'cause I know how much difference a great playlist makes to my workouts. Entrainment is basically your body's tendency to sync its movement to a rhythmic beat. And here's the really cool bit. Research shows that perceived effort is much lower when your movement is in sync with the music you're listening to. Meaning you work harder without feeling like it. And you therefore burn more calories, which is the whole point of this entire video. Yeah, I want to dance with somebody. If you have a music streaming app like Spotify, this is really simple to implement, because there are readymade playlists to different BPMs. For a purposeful brisk walk, hitting that effort level of a six to seven, you want to aim for music around 100 to 120 BPM. So, scores on the doors, I got 23% more steps in 30 minutes versus my baseline. But the calorie burn increase is what really blew me away. Just like the Japanese walking, I burned double the amount of calories in the same time. So, my score for this one is actually going to be a crazy high 9 out of 10 because it's super easy. It doesn't require any extra thinking or effort, really. I can implement it every single day, and I'm going to. And you know what? It wasn't a huge increase in calorie burn, but it transformed my walk. Like, it felt so much more purposeful, less effort, and I just had this whole feel-good vibe going on. So, this one's a keeper.
But if you want to properly crank up the calories per minute, there is one that beats them all. Well, on paper, anyway. Hack number four is uphill walking. And according to the internet, this one should be the best walking hack out there by far. Apparently, I can burn over 100% more calories in the same amount of time. But we all know you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. With a little further digging, the actual science shows an increase of 30 to 70%. Still impressive. So, let's go and try it out. And this is actually a lot harder than you might think. My calves are on fire. Can definitely feel my hamstrings and my glutes working. So, I'll take that as a bonus, and my heart rate has got pretty high, too. It's actually pretty hard work. So, clearly this is harder. It needs a lot more effort, and is therefore going to burn a lot more calories. So although I was skeptical of that internet stat of 100% more calories, turns out with my experiment at least, I burned 211% more calories just by walking up a hill. I say "just by walking up a hill," but it's not exactly going for a nice little bimble. It definitely feels like work. And the whole point of walking for fat loss is that it's easy and it's sustainable and it can fit in with your everyday life. The minute it starts feeling grueling or like a punishment, it's going to turn into a workout that you dread, and you're not going to be consistent. And consistency is the key when it comes to sustainable weight loss. So, I'd say if you do live near a hill and you like a bit of a challenge, do it occasionally. I'm going to come up here once a week because I did actually quite enjoy it, and definitely efficient use of my time, and I don't have much time. So, score for this one, I'm going to give it a 9 out of 10 for effectiveness, but actually a real-life score of a 7 out of 10 because most people aren't coming out to hike up a hill every single day. However, if you can integrate 10, 15 minutes here and there on an incline, on a treadmill, or on your walking pad, then this is a great way to boost the effectiveness of your walking and get quicker results in less time.
But we all know there are those days where that just isn't going to happen. And that is where this next one comes in. It only takes 10 minutes, and the benefits go way beyond the calorie burn. Hack number six is walking after meals. You don't even have to leave the house. 10 minutes of walking up and down the garden is fine. Or if you've got a walking pad, you could jump on that. Now, I know what you're thinking. This isn't going to get me 10,000 steps. And you're right. But the reason this is on my list isn't about the calories you burn. It's about what the walk does to the calories that you've just eaten. When you eat, your blood sugar rises, and your body releases insulin to deal with it. Insulin's job is to shuttle that glucose out of your bloodstream and into your cells. But insulin also signals your body to store fat. So the higher and longer that blood sugar spike is, the more insulin you have hanging around, and the more your body is in fat storage mode from that meal. But when you walk straight after eating, your muscles start pulling glucose out of your bloodstream, which means your blood sugar doesn't spike as high in the first place, and it settles down quicker. So, you have less of a spike, less insulin, and less fat storage from that meal. One study found that walking for as little as 2 to 5 minutes after eating reduced blood sugar spikes by up to 20% compared to just sitting down. 2 to 5 minutes is less time than it takes me to load the dishwasher. Plus, when your blood sugar is stable, your cravings are too. So, that urgent craving that strikes as soon as you sit on the sofa can often be thanks to a blood sugar crash. But by keeping the spike smaller after meals, those cravings become much easier to manage. So, even though I only got 982 steps and burnt 31 calories, I'm still going to give this one a 7 out of 10 because it has saved me 2 to 300 calories of mindlessly sweeping leftovers or a dessert that I didn't even really want. The benefit here is really in the damage control, and it works in a subtle way, just like this next one, which you don't need to carve out loads of time for either.
Bumping up your NEAT. NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, which is just a very long-winded way of saying the calories you burn from everything that isn't a workout. Technically, this one isn't really like a specific hack that you go out and do in one go. It's more of a mindset shift about your entire day. So, today I'm going to make all these NEAT-friendly choices and show you just how much they can add up. Starting with nursery drop-off, I parked at the far end of the road. I got 200 steps at drop-off, and I did it again at pick-up. So that's 400 steps extra over my day. Then on the way home, I needed to pick up some milk. So I parked as far away as possible. 160 steps. I'm working from home today, so I've been going to the upstairs bathroom instead of the downstairs toilet, which is 80 steps each time. Doesn't sound like much, but I've been four times today. So that's 320 extra. Then we spent some time playing in the street this afternoon. Adeline is in this phase where she just loves being pushed up and down and watching her brother play. So, we did this for 10 minutes, and I got 400 steps. When I did the laundry, I sorted it out downstairs, but took each person to their room separately, and I got four trips instead of one. So, that's 200 extra steps. And then finally, post-bedtime pick-up. Everything has to go back to its rightful home, especially if that's in another room. And that one backed up 600 steps. On their own, each of these feels like nothing. But these little choices, multiple times across a day, really added up. I got an extra 2,000 steps that I didn't even have to schedule, because the whole point of boosting your NEAT is that you don't need to find extra time. It is a great way to speed up your weight loss without having to schedule anything extra. So on that basis, I'm going to score it a 6 out of 10 because it's so easy to do. I got those 2,000 extra steps over my day, and it doesn't rank up as many steps or impact calorie burn as much, but it is a really quick win that everyone can implement straight away. Free steps for almost zero effort.
This next one though, I had very high hopes for, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Hack number seven is walking whilst you work. Okay, so the first thing I've realized is I can't actually walk at a decent pace and think at the same time. It's like my legs have to slow down, or my brain has to slow down. And don't even get me started on trying to type on this thing. This feels a lot like patting my head and rubbing my tummy at the same time. And I'm just not built that way. However, at a bit more of a sensible pace, I can definitely do this on a Zoom call, or at a push when I'm just reviewing data or doing some research. And in a 40-minute Zoom call, I racked up 2,400 steps, which is definitely better than if I was just sat on my bum. I do only have one call a day, so I think for me the benefit of this hack is limited. But if you have many more calls, where your colleagues aren't going to mind you bobbing up and down a little bit, or your brain actually works at the same time as your legs, then you might find this much more helpful. If you're only going to be using it during your working day, I'd probably give it like a five out of 10. However, if like most of my clients, you pick this up and you take it and park it in front of your TV of an evening and they catch up on their favorite shows while getting their steps in, which is immensely helpful if it's too hot or too cold to get out for a walk, or you need childcare and can't leave the house. So, in that situation, I'm going to rank the walking pad as an 8 out of 10.
And it could even help you nail my little bonus hack, which is finding your ultimate combo. And this is the walking hack that can truly get a 10 out of 10 in my book. I'm talking uphill Japanese walking after dinner carrying a baby. Obviously, that might be a little bit insane, but you really can layer two or three of these hacks together and get a great extra boost. You walk on an incline during a Zoom call, or you could carry a backpack or a kid for your post-dinner walks, or maybe a paced playlist for your Japanese walking that switches between like 80 BPM and 120 BPM, so you can just follow the beat and enjoy the tunes. I'd love to know which combo you'll try to make burning more calories feel easier. Let me know in the comments.
But let's not forget that calorie burn is only half the picture when it comes to fat loss. The other half is about managing your calorie intake. And that doesn't have to mean being on a sad diet. You're going to want to watch this video next, because I'll explain exactly how to plan out your meals and your week to hit your goals without feeling deprived.