Avoid the Gym, Lose the Belly

By Travis Stork, M.D.

Can you lose weight without stepping into a gym?

Simple answer: Yes!

Just as I take exception to the idea of dieting, I worry about formal exercise plans, too. They’re great for people who like them, but they also leave out a great number of us who are too intimidated to begin exercising at a gym. Plus, as with diets, if you go on a workout plan, it’s easy to fall off it.

So, fine, avoid them at all costs.

How do you feel about walking around the block with your spouse instead? Could you walk down the hall to talk with a co-worker instead of sending an e-mail? Could you plant a garden, volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, participate in the community cleanup day?

If so, you can take advantage of a neat little weight-loss secret called, well, NEAT: non-exercise activity thermogenesis. It’s essentially a series of small tweaks to your daily life that allows you to ratchet up your calorie burn without engaging in formal exercise.

I know your first thought: Surely just walking around the block isn’t enough to change my body! But you’re wrong. A study from the Mayo Clinic concluded that the difference between being at a healthy weight and being obese can be as little as 100 calories a day. You can do that without coming into contact with the no-neck monsters at the Muscle Palace.

And I promise that every calorie you burn can be fun and rewarding. Think of it as recess, not a workout!

Physical activity—of any kind—helps you stick to a healthy eating plan. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh studied overweight adults and found that one good habit supports the other. The amount of just-plain-movement in your day—walking, doing chores, getting off your duff in general can have a huge impact on the number of calories you burn every day. As much as 2000 calories a day, according to one study. Tap into that advantage, and you’ll never need to visit a gym. Your whole day will be an exercise session, and you’ll burn fat 24/7.

Here are four of the exercise strategies I came up with to turbocharge the PICK 3 food plan. Build one or two into your weekly plan, and see if you don’t work your way up to three or four over the next couple of months.

What do you have to lose? Oh, right, your belly fat. Good point. Better start today.

1 If you love watching TV: Pledge to spend 10 minutes working around the house—light housekeeping, cooking, even vacuuming—for every hour you spend watching TV. The average American watches 5 hours a day; 50 minutes of activity could burn 150 calories!

2 If you love spending time with your family: Spend just 20 minutes a day doing something active with someone you love. It could be as simple as taking a walk, riding bikes, or making whoopee. While you’re building stronger family bonds, you’ll burn an extra 100 calories a day!

3 If you love a change of pace: All you need is one hour a week of “interval training”—a simple workout that involves exercising fast, then exercising slow. Riding a bike in the hills near your house will do it, or simply walking in your neighborhood—picking up the pace when you pass a telephone pole, then backing off when you pass the next one. Commit to 3 times a week for just 20 minutes, and your fat-burning engines will roar!

4 If you love avoiding exercise: Yep, there’s even a plan for that! It’s the magic of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), and it means burning calories without breaking a sweat. You can tap into it simply by adding more activity to everyday activities. Park in the far end of the mall parking lot, stand whenever you talk on the phone, gab with the neighbors on a walk through the neighborhood—look for the opportunities to kick your butt into gear, and soon you’ll have less butt to kick.