The Value of Incidental Exercise for Weight Loss

By Elly McGuinness

‘Incidental exercise’ is the type of movement that fits into your life without it being a planned exercise session. It’s the type of exercise, or movement you get just from going about daily activities. This could include taking the stairs, or walking to the corner shop.

From a weight-loss perspective, calories expended during incidental physical activity are not necessarily significant. However, I’ve never really been an advocate of the calories in versus calories out equation anyway! Irrespective of calories burned, by gradually increasing the amount of incidental activity you do in your day, you can still experience an added contribution to your fat-burning ability.

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Although the calories burned during incidental exercise may not be overly significant, your body’s systems ‘fire up’ every time you get up and move. Your body is encouraged to work more efficiently, and you will feel more energized from having gotten out of your chair!

This extra energy transfers over to having more motivation to get on and do your planned exercise sessions, as well as anything else you need to do in your day.

By adding to your ‘incidental exercise’ levels you begin to act more like a healthy, active person. It will be likely that you’ll make food choices to support your goal of burning fat, and your body will feel better if it hasn’t been cramped up in a chair for hours on end.

It will become a habit

‘Incidental exercise’ may seem like a big effort to incorporate into your life. However, once you are doing it, it’ll become a habit, just like brushing your teeth is (well I hope that brushing your teeth is a habit)! You will do it unconsciously, without any planning or preparation. Before you know it, you’ll be leading a more active lifestyle.

So overall, the value of ‘incidental exercise’ is more about assisting you to make more healthy choices rather than burning large numbers of calories. It’s about helping your body to function effectively, including burning fat instead of storing it.

The best exercise to lose weight is always the one you will enjoy enough to repeat often enough to get a result! Fitness for weight loss can come in many forms. Similarly, some types of incidental exercise aren’t going to be as enjoyable or appealing to one person as they are to another. So let’s take a look at some of the ‘incidental exercise’ ideas you could consider adopting. Then you can choose what resonates with you.

Examples of ‘incidental exercise’

  • Park a few blocks along from where you work, and walk the last part. You may just find that you arrive with more energy, in clearer head space, and feeling more positive.
  • If you use public transport, get off a few stops earlier
  • Do ten squats above your chair every time you get up to go to the bathroom or get a drink (of water!).  You might get a few sideways glances from your colleagues but if you can get past that, your body will benefit from it. You might think that doing squats above your chair is not a very ‘natural’ way of going about your daily activities and doesn’t classify as incidental exercise.  Just remember that sitting in a chair is not a natural position for your body. The aim of the squats would be to counteract this to some degree. This blog post teaches you how to do a squat.
  • Take the stairs instead of the lift
  • Take a walk during your lunch break
  • Make your phone calls hands free so you can move while you’re talking
  • Sit on a stability ball at work, or use a sit-stand desk set up
  • Do some stretches at your desk for a five-minute break
  • Take a walk after dinner, clean the house, play with your kids – just do something!

As with anything, just make one small change until it becomes a habit, and then you can progress from there. Make sure you’re also familiar with the weight loss success combo and that you know how to focus your efforts for weight loss success. Deb Griffiths also has a great blog post explaining energy blocks and how they affect weight loss.

Your everyday actions become behaviors, which becomes a lifestyle.  So if your goal is to lead an active healthy lifestyle, pick an action that supports that.  With consistent repetition of this action, you’ll be heading in the right direction.

Learn more about my holistic weight loss model in this sustainable weight loss article. You’ll also want to know about the 80-20 principle for weight loss success.

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these recommended service provider links, like an insurance broker, or a travel agent, I may earn a commission – at no extra cost to you. [For my full disclosure, please see my DISCLAIMER page].

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Elly McGuinness

3 Comments
  1. Bryce

    Thanks ELLY for a great inspirational blog. Love getting your emails. I’m living in Whanganui now and I’m in a much better space.
    Will let you know when in your neck of the woods. Say hello to Colin for me. Love what you guys are doing by the way. Bryce

    Reply
    • Elly

      Thanks Bryce! Great to hear from you. I get a snippet about what you’ve been up to on social media:). Wonderful to hear you’re in a good space. And yes, we love visitors so come on over!

      Reply
    • Colin Clapp

      Good to hear Bryce! Our neck of the woods is global and the scenery is wide open for constant change. But would love to see you on our travels sometime. Take care and stay in touch. And please keep commenting on our blogs 🙂

      Reply
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