Few people are completely satisfied with their own appearance and their body. If you ask anyone whether they would change anything about themselves, then most people would answer yes. One of the biggest complaints that most people have about their bodies is that they are too fat, or have too much weight.

Distribution of Weight

The human body is an amazing piece of machinery. Humans are designed to be able to store excess energy and then use it during times of famine. This is an excellent design idea when we were hunters and gatherers. This meant that humans could eat as much as possible, and any energy which wasn’t needed at that time could be stored as fat.

However, this is no longer a helpful trait. These days we don’t hunt, or gather anything. We live off food from grocery stores and convenience shops. People who like eating food will find this is a problem because they will pile on the pounds. As there are no longer any lean periods, people simply don’t lose the weight.

As everyone’s body works slightly differently, this excess weight will be stored in different places. Quite often this fat will be stored around your waist, however, the fat can also be stored around the buttocks or legs. This can make you much more conscious of your appearance and can damage your self-confidence.

Doing Exercises to Lose Weight

People who want to lose weight will often turn to cardio exercises. Cardiovascular exercises do not train any muscles in particular. Instead, they train your heart by making it beat faster. This will strengthen your heart and also increase the rate at which you are using energy. Some people will spend a very long time doing these cardio exercises, but not actually lose any weight.

This problem is caused because people do not actually adjust their diet accordingly. Simply doing cardio exercises will not necessarily solve the problem. You will really need to consume less calories while doing your cardio exercises so that you can lose weight.

Almost everyone assumes that simply doing cardiovascular exercises will guarantee that they will lose weight, however, this simply isn’t always the case. As with everything else in life, there are no guarantees. Training for a couple of hours a day does not actually mean that you will lose any fat or weight.

Doing cardio exercises will make you hungrier and if you give into your cravings, then you will find it impossible to lose any weight. You really need to control your calorie intake so that you can lose weight as quickly as possible.

Athletes, such as cyclists can burn thousands of calories every day. However, these won’t lose weight simply because they are compensating for this calorie consumption by eating more. You need to create a calorie deficit by eating fewer calories than you are consuming. This will force your body to convert the energy stored in fat back into calories.

NEAT

Everyone also needs to realise that they are losing weight all the time they are physically active. You will lose weight all the time, including when you are not formally working out. When you walk, move, eat, chew or even just fidgeting in your seat you are using energy. The amount of energy you use for these movements may by tiny, but they really do mount up. Some studies have suggested that people who cannot sit still and always fidget actually always stay thinner.

Most people always ignore these little changes and movements. Actually, although these are very small amounts of energy, they really can add up. Some studies have shown that in active individuals the ‘NEAT’ expenditure can be as high as 50%. The problem is that due to most people living a sedentary lifestyle it can be as low as 15%. This difference can make it very difficult to lose weight.

Everyone needs to eat less and get more physical exercise if they want to lose weight. It doesn’t matter whether the exercise is in formal sessions or not. Simply getting off the bus a stop earlier, or parking further away from the office will help you to get a little bit of extra exercise which can help to turn your life around.

Lifestyle Changes

The best thing about using NEAT is that it involves changing your lifestyle. If done properly this should mean that you don’t risk putting the weight back on because you have changed your behaviour. As long as you can stay motivated then you should be able to continue exploiting NEAT and getting as much as you can out of your daily activity.

Motivation

If you spent months exercising only to find that you aren’t losing any weight, then it can be very depressing. It can actually make you feel like you don’t want to do any exercise anymore because it simply isn’t working. The most common reason for this is because you are eating more food to reduce the calorie deficit, this is not something that you should be doing.

Anyone trying to lose weight will need to eat less and get more physical activity.

Just Dieting

If you have read this article up to this point then you may assume that simply dieting and reducing the amount of calories you eat is a good way to lose weight. Actually, this is a very bad way to lose weight. While you may burn fat, you will also lose a lot of muscle mass which is not something that anyone will want to do.

Simply dieting without exercising can actually damage your health. You don’t want to be skinny, but instead you will want to lose weight and tone your muscles at the same time. This will strengthen your body and make it much healthier.

The best way to lose weight is to become more active in your whole life. Don’t just rely on formal exercise sessions, but instead concentrate on NEAT. It’s a good idea to get yourself a pedometer so that you can keep track of just how many steps you do every day. It should also be possible to increase the number of steps you do each day with ease.

While NEAT is important, it doesn’t mean that you should stop doing other types of exercise at the same time. By making lifestyle changes to increase your normal energy consumption, and doing another form of exercise, you should be able to speed up weight loss. Also remember not to consume more food than you need.