In previous installments of How I Lost Over 100 lbs. & Kept It Off For Over 25+ Years, we have discussed fundamental changes that need to be done to shift from weight gain to weight loss and long-term weight maintenance. You need to hit “rock bottom,” have a paradigm shift, purge toxic sabateurs, surround yourself with supportive people, and proper sleep. We have also discussed exercise. Today in How I Lost Over 100 lbs. & Kept It Off For Over 25+ Years: Part 6 we augment the notion of exercise with subtle and inappreciable movement of the the body throughout the day.
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How I Lost Over 100 lbs. & Kept It Off For Over 25+ Year: Part 6
In Part 3, we discussed the expedience of exercise vis-à-vis weight loss. It is not absolutely necessary to exercise to purge the pounds (it is necessary for improvement of overall health), but it makes it easier. Burning 300 calories while running benefits in either giving you a net 300 calorie loss deficit or give you a “cushion” in the event you ate more that particular day.
Plus exercise accelerates your metabolism. At least for a little while…and it depends on which type of exercise. Studies show that cardiovascular exercise does in fact give you a bump in your metabolic spike for a few hours. Lifting and strength training provides a longer one throughout the day. (That is one of the many reasons why strength training is so crucial.)
So many people who are familiar with this notion will eat their largest meal after exercising. Now I particularly don’t have a problem with this idea, but as we talked about in Part 3 many overcompensate by engorging themselves on food after a workout they perceived to have been more exertive & rigorous than in fact it was.
I would give a slightly more nuanced answer by stating the benefits of working out, either cardio or strength, are accentuated if done in a fasting state. So if you worked out while fasting and make the assumption that you should eat afterwards to get the metabolic bump, I would state the need to maintain the fast supersedes this notion.
In other words, if you worked out in the morning but normally fast until 1:00pm, don’t eat breakfast just to garner the ancillary spike. Eat later in the day. If you workout in the evening during your fasting/compressed eating window, then by all means, eat dinner and get the metabolic spike.
Going back to the main point, the metabolic boost we get from exercise dissipates within a few hours. So to properly lose and maintain the weight, we need to MAKE A CONCERTED EFFORT TO MOVE AND SHOCK THE BODY THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE DAY. It would behoove us to do this to biohack our metabolism and keep it elevated as long as possible. Plus it has the nice ancillary benefit of burning calories throughout the day. How can you do this? Let’s look at some examples that I’ve done.
Morning/Evening Walks; a double biohack.
My Biohacks
I’ve discussed some of these in my Occult Health News episode entitled “11 Non-Exercise Ways To Biohack Your Metabolism.” Many of these are simple, but they do require the mental focus to implement them. Let’s look at a few:
Every 45 minutes take a 5-10 minute brisk walk. For me, I do this between passing periods (I’m a teacher.). I breeze through the hallways chatting with present and former students.
Always take the stairs. And when I mean always, I mean always. Unless you are carrying heavy items. I once worked in an office building that boasted 10 stories. I convinced my office mates twice a day to walk up to the 10th story no matter how slow the “Bataan death March” was by the end.
Park far away. This is actually quite expedient if you don’t want your car to get scratched. No matter the weather. Shivering in cold weather is actually a great biohack! God invented the man who invented umbrellas for a reason.
Check out our Occult Health News episodes on the Benefits of Shivering.
Do calisthenics a few times a day. When you are alone, hit the ground and do a set of push-ups. It takes just 30 seconds. As I mentioned in Part 3, I would do 500 a day. It’s not hard. Do jumping jacks or burpees or yoga stances, whichever you prefer.
Yoga is a great cardio workout that also improves flexibility, breathing, and mindfulness.
Go to the steam room or sauna. Not only is it relaxing or purge you of toxins, but it drastically lowers your chances of dying at a young age or acquiring Alzheimer’s. Click HERE to listen to Occult Health New episode regarding it.
Take a brisk morning walk. Use it as a time to gather your thoughts for your plans for the day, listen to a podcast (I know an informative one.), groove to music, or enjoy the sounds of nature with your dog. You can find the time if you wanted to. When I have my 19-month old, I walk her through the neighborhood so she can see the cats and deers.
Take an evening walk. Who doesn’t love taking a walk under the stars? It not only helps with post-prandial blood sugar and burns calories, but it is a great sleep biohack.
The key with the walks is walk every day. Like the Post Office motto, “Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow…” If it is torrential downpour pass it up, then do calisthenics, but for every other inclement or non-inclement weather do it. God invented the main who invented the coat and cap for a reason. Make no excuses.
I mentioned in the exercise installment, I have likely run, rowed, biked 35,000 miles in my lifetime for weight loss and maintenance. In most years, I walk about 320 nights a year and 260 mornings. If I tabulated that 30 minute walk, it would be dozens of more thousands of miles.
Albert’s Takeaway
You have to get a little obsessed here. You must find time in your day to do these biohacks. You hated your obese lifestyle and you don’t want it to return. For it not to return, you must enact a regiment, not just a diet and exercise one but one for little biohacks as well.
You must make a concerted effort to do these actions throughout the day. Don’t get lazy. Every calorie matters. And look, it’s not like taking these walks and climbing up stairs and doing calisthenics aren’t fun and/or relaxing. Plus they will hone your body and make you look great.
I’ve been asked about double-working out in a day. I’m not a big fan of working out twice a day. Nor am I a big fan of spending 3 hours lifting and then 2 hours of cardio. This type of working out is an unhealthy obsession, and may lead to “manorexia,” orthorexia, body dysmorphia, and other disordered mentality. Just do your one workout a day and do these little biohacks throughout the day.
Click HERE to learn more about Body Dysmorphia.
Click HERE to learn the signs of orthorexia.
The other thing is that these little biohacks don’t take up too much of your time juxtaposed to the 3 hours lifting and 2 hours of cardio. It is difficult to maintain relationships when you are spending an inordinate amount of time in the gym.
My biohacks can be done with a partner. For example taking walks with your spouse is a great way to stay bonded, communicate about your feelings, aspirations, or frustrations, and more. Lack of communication is the death knell of relationships.
Now you don’t have to do all of these. I wanted to enumerate these to jar your creativity and give you a template by which you can come up with your own idea. Just “Shock the Body, Move the Body!”
In review, in How I Lost Over 100 lbs. & Kept It Off For Over 25+ Year: Part 6 we talked easy, actionable ways to burn calories throughout the day. This is important because of another fact. The other reason to constantly move the body throughout the day is because although there are benefits to being sedentary “Couch potato athletes” (those who are sedentary all day aside from their 30 minute cardio workout), it is almost negligible compared to not working out at all.
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Studies have come out the last few years punctuating this fact. It is good to workout once a day, but it simply isn’t enough. We need to be biohacking the body throughout the day as much as we can.
Again, don’t make excuses. Your health is worth it. It might make you a little quirky, but in the name of weight maintenance, it is all about doing things that will keep the weight from returning. And these biohacks are all easy and healthy (unlike purging).
If you need a guru to help you on this journey, Contact Me. Unlike your trainer, I know EXACTLY what you have gone through and I have a better track record than 98% of people who are “experts” in weight loss.
Check out my prices HERE. Also, listen to the Confessions of an Obese Child and Occult Health News podcasts for more biohacking tips. And read my memoir Confessions of an Obese Child (below).