Scroll through Instagram and you’ll be given the impression the only way to progress towards your body composition goal is to go ‘beast-mode’ twice a day and train your thumbs with a minimum of 30 hashtags alluding to how ‘hardcore’ you are.

But the truth is, and a lot of social media stars would rather you didn’t know this- you’re going to burn a larger amount of calories in the 23 hours outside of training, than the 1 hour you spend in the gym.

So, with that in mind, how about we take a look at a few ways of making your time outside of training even more efficient at working towards your goals.

Because losing weight comes down to a fairly simple equation- you need to be burning a larger amount of calories than you’re consuming (although that’s not the only factor- hit this link to see why).

Therefore we’re able to burn more calories over a 24 hour period, even if it’s just from getting up and walking to the printer instead of wheeling ourselves there on our fancy desk chair!

We should 100% take advantage of whatever extra movement we can get in- that doesn’t cross the line from “Hey, have you noticed Jake walks to the cafe instead of drives now?” to “Hey, why is Jake literally sprinting from the fax machine to the water cooler twelve times a day?”.

‘Easy’ Method To Losing More Fat Number One

Ban The Escalators & Lift

Of all of the lazy modern era inventions for able bodied persons, the apparatus we’ve created to avoid climbing stairs might just be the most ludicrous.

As we touched upon- moving burns calories- every time you’re actively avoiding physical activity? You’re making a choice to not work towards your goals.

Now some of you might look at this rule and scoff at it, thinking about your ground floor office and bungalow home.

Some of you however, are shuddering at the thought of climbing the stairs every day to your 20th floor working space.

If you fall into the former group, that just means you’ll have to take method number 4 a little more seriously (don’t worry, we’ll get to that 😉 ).

If you fall into the latter- you can, if necessary, ease yourself into it, perhaps by taking the lift up to 5 floors below your office’s level, and slowly increasing the distance you climb every day.

Climbing stairs is a fantastic, relatively low impact way of stimulating your quads, hamstrings and glutes- the largest group of muscles in your body.

And what happens when we’re asking the largest selection of muscles in your body to suddenly start moving more throughout the day?

Fat-loss people, that’s what happens.

So work, apartment blocks, shopping malls, wherever you are- anything other than taking the stairs is cheating yourself out of calories burnt, and moving you away from hitting your goal.

‘Easy’ Method To Losing More Fat Number Two

Hydrate!

The amount of conversations I’ve had as a coach that go something like this is astounding:

Gym Member (GM): Hi, can you recommend me a fat-burner, looking to get shredded for a holiday.

Me: Sure I’ll be able to help- but firstly, how much water are you drinking?

GM: Um, I suppose…. half a litre a day?

Me: Alright sweet, increase that to 3 litres a day- you’ve got your ‘fat-burner’ and you’ve saved yourself some money.

GM: *Nods, and goes to buy the fat-burner with the shiniest label anyways*

So, here’s the deal- Dehydration causes your body to dramatically decrease in performance, energy and functionality, and increases your chance of overeating.

The decrease in performance means fewer calories will be burnt when you do train, the decrease in energy makes you waaaaaay more likely to ignore method number one and never take the stairs, and the chance of overeating is obviously going to sabotage our entire topic of conversation here- increasing your calories burnt in relation to calories consumed.

Introducing this one, simple rule and nothing else has kick-started fat-loss for numerous clients, and could do the same for you:

Buy a BPA free, one litre bottle of water. Drink the entire bottle, and refill at least 3 times throughout the day.

Notice you’ll feel more energy, have an elevated metabolic rate and most probably feel fewer hunger cravings- more calories torched and fewer eaten? That’s pretty much the magic formula for weight loss; and it didn’t cost you 50 quid to get from your local supplement store!

‘Easy’ Method To Losing More Fat Number Three

Utilise High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

I know, I know, I told you this article was about ways to burn more calories outside of the gym, and here I am telling you to train.

BUT, I’m suggesting this method of training because it’s going to increase the amount of calories you’ll burn after you finish the session and carry on with your normal non-sweating day.

HIIT training refers to completing an exercise for a set amount of time or reps to fatigue the muscle and elevate your heart rate. You’ll follow this with a rest period, allowing the muscles a rest, and bringing the heart rate down- before repeating the sequence for a certain amount of sets of time.

The method of spiking and controlling your heart rate has been proven highly effective at elevating your metabolic rate for long periods of time after you finish training- up to 48 hours in fact.

So if you’re keen to increase calories burnt throughout the day, what you do in the gym can have a huge impact- if you’d like a HIIT session to get started with, check out this blog.

‘Easy’ Method To Losing More Fat Number Four

Set A ‘Get Up And Move’ Alarm

This is especially relevant to those of us working in sedentary, office based jobs.

If we put posture to one side (another big reason sitting for long periods of time is terrible for you) and look only at calories burnt; remaining seated for 8 hours a day save for walking to the loo is playing havoc with your fat loss attempts.

Asking your body to get lean for a holiday, hitting the gym, and then remaining in the same position for an entire day burning minimum calories is seriously shortchanging the results you could be getting.

So, here’s what I’d like you to do.

Set a ‘Get up and move’ alarm to repeat every 20-45 minutes (depending on how often you can justify having a quick wander away from your desk).

This might mean a quick lap of the office, and walk to the break room (but avoiding any sugary treats residing in there!), walking down and up the stairs a couple of times, or strolling to to the local cafe to grab a green tea.

As mentioned in method one- if you aren’t frequently faced with stairs in your day to day life, it’s even more important you pay attention to this technique to burning a larger amount of calories per day.

I’ve even had one client who now refuses to have a phone call sitting down- preferring instead to wander around their office, or up and down the stairs should they be on their mobile.

This method helped them kickstart their fat-loss again after a plateau- and is one I’d highly advise you adopt if you’re serious about your weight loss.

‘Easy’ Method To Losing More Fat Number Five

Set An Appointment With A Coach (Or Training Buddy)

Ok, ok, I’ve done it again- I’ve mentioned the gym in an article about turning calories outside of it.

BUT, this one doesn’t discuss the actual training details of the practice- it simply brings to attention the benefits of becoming accountable to another person.

As we touched upon within our HIIT method- training will successfully boost your metabolic rate and cause you to burn more calories after you leave the gym.

But how can we make sure you actually get to your training sessions?

It’s a hell of a lot easier to avoid driving to a workout after work if you’re motivating yourself.

If, however, you have a coach or training buddy waiting for you, that you’ll be letting down if you don’t show up?

That might just provide the motivation you need to forgo driving straight home and slump in front of Netflix, and instead will encourage you to get the the gym and have your training session.

Setting the appointment is the easy part- do that, and you’re much more likely to attend, than if you were tackling your training alone.

Here are some other things that might get you (and keep you) motivated.

Believe us when we say we completely understand how difficult weight loss can be. The Luke Bremner Fitness team have worked with hundreds of clients who initially found weight loss difficult challenging, as you may be now.

If you are currently struggling to lose weight and are unsure where you’re going wrong, perhaps we can help. We appreciate losing weight and improving your health can be overwhelming and confusing. By breaking it down in to simple, actionable steps that are achieveable, we can help, just like we have with the hundreds of clients we’ve worked with – many of whom you can read about here.

To find our more about our nutrition coaching, programmes and how we can help you achieve your goals, you can book in for your complimentary consultation.

>> You can apply for your consultation here.