Not all exercise happens at the gym. There are plenty of ways that you can increase how many calories you are burning by simply becoming more active in the daily tasks that you are already engaged in. After weight loss program, finding ways to be more active without looking for formal workouts can help you reach your daily activity goals.
How to Accumulate Activity
Here is a fun fact about weight loss and exercise: you don’t need to do your entire workout at once for it to help you achieve results. That’s right. Working out for 5 to 10 minutes at a time is perfectly acceptable, as long as it gets your heart rate up and keeps you active.
Accumulating activity throughout the day is a great way to improve your physical fitness level without having to completely change your lifestyle. In fact, experts find that when you find ways to accumulate activity into your routine throughout the day and combine that with 30 minutes of purposeful activity, you are putting yourself in the best possible position for enhanced health and weight loss benefits.
There are plenty of ways that you can increase your daily activity level. Using a pedometer or activating a pedometer or fitness tracker on your smartphone can help you keep track of how many miles you are walking every day. All of those quick walks to the copy machine or fitting in a short walk while at work can add up fast when you consider how many steps you are able to add in even a 10-minute walking period.
Make it Fun!
Getting involved in games that encourage you to walk around will help a lot too. This includes participating in things like geocaching, which encourages you to go on “treasure hunts” in your neighborhood. The hit phone game Pokémon Go was huge a few years ago and is still a great way to get outside and collect extra steps.
Adding steps to your workday is a great start, but it doesn’t stop there. Once you get home, get off the couch and think about how you can become more active while watching your evening TV. Try using light hand weights or resistance bands during commercials, or take time to walk the dog around the block before dinner. Even small attempts like these can make a huge difference in helping you incorporate activity into your daily schedule.