Micro Workouts: Little Efforts, Big Outcomes 

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“When faced with a choice, I’m going to pick the one that results in me moving.”

Have you ever wanted to lose weight but felt overwhelmed by the lifestyle changes you needed to make? 

Doing the right exercises, following the perfect diet, taking the right supplements, and timing your meals feels too much. Plus, that can’t be sustainable for a newbie, can it?

Fortunately, there is a way to do it without making drastic changes. Let’s review the best low-effort tactics for kick starting weight loss.

First: The Objective

Let’s clear this up immediately because there is a lot of confusion and misinformation surrounding weight loss.

Contrary to what many people say, weight loss is not about doing a special diet, taking the right fat burner, or doing a specific combination of exercises. 

At its core, it’s about creating a calorie deficit––burning more calories than you eat. Doing so forces your body to break down fat (and sometimes muscle) for energy, causing you to lose weight.

The neat thing is that you can create a calorie deficit in countless ways, which is where our minimalistic approach comes in.

Micro Workouts: Little Efforts, Big Outcomes

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about working out for weight loss? If it’s long, grueling cardio sessions or gym workouts, don’t worry––that’s not the only way. 

Micro workouts are an alternative that’s gained popularity in recent years. While we don’t believe in 60-second workouts, modifying these a bit to last 10-15 minutes can be quite beneficial.

It would provide a good stimulus to help you hold onto muscle and lose mostly fat, burn some calories, and get you more invested in the process, leading to other positive changes (which we’ll discuss next).

That said, for a 10-15-minute workout to work, it needs to be intense and somewhat uncomfortable. In other words, you can’t walk on an incline or jog leisurely and expect anything. 

An example of a quick, efficient, and effective workout is the 7-minute routine. It consists of: 

The goal is to do each movement for 30 seconds at a tempo you can sustain, take 10 seconds to recover, and jump to the next movement. One round takes approximately seven minutes and trains your whole body.

The Power of N.E.A.T.

NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and refers to all the calories you burn through physical activity outside of structured exercise time. So, having a scheduled gym session doesn’t count, but things that do count include:

• Walking up flights of stairs
• Carrying groceries
• Playing with your kids
• Going for a walk in the park

Essentially, any activity during the day counts. 

While most people only focus on calories burned through cardio or weight training, boosting your NEAT with small additions can make a huge difference. 

This article suggests that highly active people can burn over a thousand extra calories daily, while a low NEAT is typically associated with obesity. 

So, find ways to move more, such as by walking or cycling instead of driving your car, taking the stairs instead of an elevator, and going for an evening walk instead of watching TV.

It’s not about making a detailed plan of how and when to move during the day but about developing a mindset of, “When faced with a choice, I’m going to pick the one that results in me moving.”

So, the next time you’re waiting for the elevator, ask yourself, “Can I take the stairs instead?”

Mindful Eating

Eating for weight loss typically means going on a diet, but what if there was a better, more sustainable way? This is: mindful eating.
While it might sound like just another gimmick, the approach has a lot of validity. Instead of going on an unsustainable diet, the goal is to change your eating habits gradually. This may not lead to huge immediate results like with crash dieting, but it sets you up for long-term success.

The best part? You don’t have to change that much right away.

Ways to be more mindful when eating include:

• Avoid distractions like watching TV or scrolling through social media
• Chew each bite and savor your meal instead of rushing
• Use smaller plates to trick yourself into feeling like there’s more food
• Pause halfway through the meal to assess how full you are
• Before going for seconds, wait five minutes to see if you still feel as hungry
• Portion snacks into bowls and plates; avoid eating directly from the package
• Record what you eat in a notebook or note-taking app

A Look at Hydration

Proper hydration is crucial for good health, digestion, and hunger management. Also, the feeling of thirst can sometimes be mistaken for hunger, causing people to overeat. 

To avoid such a possibility, drink enough liquids throughout the day (the standards are up to 3.7 liters for men and 2.7 liters for women), preferably water, tea, and juice. Fruits and veggies with a high water content (like apples, watermelon, cucumber, and tomato) also count toward that. Research suggests that drinking a glass of two 20-30 minutes before a meal can help manage appetite and naturally control calorie intake.

Hydration must also include electrolyte replacement. If you drink too much water without balanced electrolytes, you may lose essential electrolytes from your body such as magnesium, potassium and sodium. In particular, if you are a coffee or tea drinker, you may lose more electrolytes. These electrolytes are essential for all bodily functions, but it is even more important to replace them if you are engaged in regular exercise. We can recommend natural electrolyte drinks such as no sugar added coconut water, but to have a full replacement you may consider commercial but natural electrolyte replacement drinks. We should prefer drinks without unnatural food dyes or additives. For example, you may want to avoid neon color commercially available electrolyte drinks. One product that is all natural with good electrolyte replacement potential is below for your consideration. 

Ultima Replenisher, Daily Electrolyte Drink Mix

Sleep More, Weigh Less

Though most people don’t realize it, sleeping more can have a profound positive impact on weight loss, body composition, and the ability to maintain the results in the long run.

First, adequate sleep is directly linked to superior fat loss. Sleeping enough allows the body to burn fat more effectively for energy and spare muscle. In contrast, sleep deprivation affects metabolic processes and increases the risk of muscle loss.

Second, good sleep is beneficial for appetite regulation and hunger control. Sleeping fewer than the recommended seven hours per night is linked to higher ghrelin (a hormone associated with hunger), overeating, and food cravings, particularly for foods rich in sugar, salt, and fats.

Third, sleep is directly linked to impulse control. Poor sleep increases the risk of impulsive behavior (e.g., chasing instant gratification instead of working toward a long-term goal), which is not ideal when combined with increased hunger and cravings.

So, the simple solution is to aim for at least seven hours of sleep per night.

Conclusion

Weight loss can be as simple or as complex as you want. The truth is, there are plenty of tactics you can use, but it’s important to consider which ones are sustainable.

We are creatures of habit, so large and sudden changes are typically not a good idea. A far better option is to go slow, make small changes, and gradually expand positive h