Weight Loss Without the Gym: Is it Possible?
Yes, you read that correctly: you don’t need the gym to lose weight.
In my coaching opinion, we need to move away from the mindset that we burn calories in the gym and instead focus on approaching the gym with a ‘performance-based’ mindset. Gyms provide the necessary equipment to strengthen and shape your body and optimize cardiovascular performance.
But for those of you with a fat loss or weight loss goal, you may wonder how this can be achieved without a training facility.
Simply put, fat loss can be attained through nutrition and energy output. While energy output does include exercise in the gym, it extends to much broader aspects of your lifestyle as well.
For the purpose of this article, I want to introduce you to two important terms:
- NEAT
- NENAT
What Do These Terms Mean?
- NEAT refers to Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.
- NENAT refers to Non-Exercise Non-Activity Thermogenesis.
Your body utilizes energy throughout the day via thermogenesis. This is not limited to just training sessions. When you consider that planned exercise activity accounts for maybe 3-5 hours of our week, the remaining 165 hours need attention as well.
Let’s face it: 3 hours of activity won’t be sufficient if you spend the rest of the time seated. This is where NEAT and NENAT come in.
NEAT vs. NENAT
- NEAT is any form of activity that isn’t planned exercise – the most common example is your daily step count.
- NENAT can be thought of as your body’s natural movements throughout the day: things like fidgeting or sitting upright.
Why Should You Care About This?
Here’s an interesting fact: as you lose body fat and weight, there’s less of you, which means your body requires less energy. As a result, the goalposts for calories in and energy out constantly shift.
In fact, Rosenbaum et al. found that activity expenditure can reduce by nearly 400 calories for individuals who have already lost 10% of their body weight.
So, if you weighed 80kg and lost 8kg, you can probably expect to burn 400 fewer calories per day!
Understanding this process of the human body, called Adaptive Thermogenesis, explains why many people hit a plateau in their transformation.
To add to this, your body experiences decreased satiety, meaning increased hunger. This is partly because of lower body fat levels (less stored energy).
Moreover, your body’s NENAT will decrease, and unless you actively manage it, so will your NEAT. Essentially, your body is downregulating its activity to conserve energy.
What Can We Do About This?
Now that we know the body will naturally downregulate overall activity, we need to counteract this and continue to establish a calorie deficit to support fat loss.
This is where daily steps come in!
The Power of Daily Steps
Setting a step goal each day is a simple yet often undervalued tool for fat loss. It can help offset the natural adaptations the body makes as it sheds weight.
This step goal should be progressive and matched to your lifestyle. For instance, a 20,000-step target for a single day might not be realistic for most people, so it should be adjusted accordingly.
Can’t I Just Do More Cardio?
Yes, you can!
At some point, especially if your goals are ambitious, you may need to include additional cardiovascular training. However, this should be based on your individual circumstances and what’s realistic for you across your week.
But, cardio should not be used to simply replace steps. Research shows that steps do not have as negative an impact on appetite compared to cardio. This is likely due to the more intense nature of cardio.
Conclusion
- Weight loss/fat loss can be achieved without a gym.
- A gym should be seen as a place to strengthen and improve performance.
- As you lose weight, your body will adapt; we must find ways to increase energy expenditure.
- Increasing your daily step count can be a very effective tool to support energy expenditure.
- Cardiovascular exercise may be necessary but should not be prioritized for body composition until a realistic step count has been met.
