YOU’VE set yourself a goal to lose weight and know that starting a new exercise regime is going to help you achieve it.
But instead of setting a daily alarm for 6am and heading off for a gruelling hour-and-a-half session, you might want to consider a lie in instead.
GettyGo on, put your feet up – exercising less could help you meet your weight loss and fitness goals faster[/caption]
Experts have found that setting people smaller exercise targets with fewer sessions a week and shorter workout times is helping them lose weight and reach their goals more effectively.
Sounds too good to be true? Celebrity personal trainer to Frankie Bridge, Ryan Thomas, Lucy Mecklenburgh and Susanna Reid, Cecilia Harris says you better believe it.
The fitness expert, who founded fitness app RWL has spent the last 30 years training clients and says the minute she reduces their workout schedule and shows them the power of shorter home workouts, she sees their results skyrocket.
Cecilia says: “When we want to lose weight, exercise is an incredibly helpful and healthy tool to help us achieve just that.
“To lose weight we have to create what is called a ‘calorie deficit’ – we have to use more energy than we consume in food and drink.
“When we move our bodies we use up energy and when we workout, we use up larger amounts of calories, helping us achieve that calorie deficit we need to burn fat.
“I’ve spent my career helping people get healthier and fitter with exercise, but what might surprise you is that I don’t spend my time trying to convince people to workout as much as possible – in fact, I usually have to convince them to workout less.
“It all comes down to one thing – consistency.
“To lose weight or get fitter you need to make exercise a regular thing in your life, and to keep exercise up long term, you need to be realistic rather than overly optimistic and this usually involves lowering your expectations.
“If you try and workout every day, or for really long periods of time, the chances are you will give up pretty quickly.
“Set a target to workout less – three times a week, or 20 minutes per session – and you are way more likely to do it and do it well.”
Cecilia explains why cutting down your weekly exercise could be the route to upping your weight loss success…
YOU’RE MORE LIKELY TO DO IT
Everyday? Five times a week?
When we set ourselves a goal to lose weight or get fit, many of us are guilty of planning to exercise way more often than we can realistically manage.
Cecilia says: “You start off trying to workout everyday, or for an hour every session, only to eventually fail because it’s too overwhelming and difficult to fit into your busy life.
“But instead of choosing to skip one session and return to your plans the next day, most people decide to just give up on the whole week.
“Or the whole thing altogether.
“That’s because our minds like to convince us there is ‘no point’ in carrying on with a healthy exercise routine because it’s too hard.
“The truth is, it’s only too hard because you are trying to do too much.
“All of my celeb clients are far more consistent when they workout two or three times a week than if they try to workout any more than that.
“Plan to exercise way less than you think you have to and you’ll be way more likely to actually do it – and way less likely to give up on the whole idea.”
YOU’RE LESS LIKELY TO OVEREAT
Cecilia says: “Your body is a pretty amazing thing. It knows that when you use up energy, you need to replace it.
“If you’re more active, your body will respond with hunger.
“If you are trying to achieve a calorie deficit, you are usually trying to control your appetite by doing things like reducing portion sizes or reducing snacking.
“Studies show that too much exercise can increase your appetite so much that you gain weight, rather than lose it so it’s important to find the right balance.
“If you are working out everyday without rest, or training for an hour or more, you are seriously increasing your need to refuel and your hunger after exercise is more likely to be much more extreme and difficult to control.
“Working out for 25 minutes two or three times a week makes you more likely to choose healthier foods and healthier portions than working out for longer more often which increases your chances of reaching for high calorie foods and big portions.”
YOU’RE LESS LIKELY TO GET INJURED
Cecilia says: “Exercise is a great way to build muscle and the more muscle we have, the more calories we burn day-to-day.
“To grow muscles, we need first to exercise and then to rest in order for them to recover and grow.
“You probably know that feeling you get the day after you exercise, a dull, aching sensation in your muscles.
“This is a sign you did the hard work and your muscles are recovering.
“If you keep exercising, rather than giving yourself time to rest, then your muscles don’t get the chance to build.
“You will keep getting sorer and sorer and more and more fatigued and eventually your body will likely get injured – stopping you from doing any exercise at all.
“Exercising less, and using the days in-between to go for walks or recover, stops you from feeling so tired that you give up and quit exercise all together.”
YOU’RE LESS LIKELY TO SEE IT AS A CHORE
Cecilia says: “The biggest reason people give for not exercising is “not having enough time.”
“We are all so busy with our day-to-day lives that we struggle to put aside time to move our bodies and this can seriously impact our health and weight.
“When people decide ‘now is the time I’m going to start exercise’, the biggest mistake I see them make is trying to plan too many workouts into their week.
“It quickly becomes a chore that they have to fit on to their ‘to do’ list and quickly see it as a negative in your day rather than a positive.
“Planning to do fewer workouts a week, for a smaller length of time helps you break up the exercise and actually look forward to the days you move your body.
“Realising that exercise is a positive thing to fit into your week seriously increases your motivation, and this increase in motivation is what is going to keep you going long term.”