Most of us want to start exercising regularly to maintain our weight and overall health, but it can be hard to find time in our busy lives for a proper exercise routine.
TV doctor and diet guru Michael Mosley might have the answer for rapid weight loss without a long workout. In his podcast, Just One Thing, he shared one small lifestyle change everyone can make to be healthier.
He recommended a technique called "exercise snacking", which involves short bursts of exercise throughout the day rather doing it all at once in a full workout.
Here's what you need to know about exercise snacking and how it helps you lose weight.
What is exercise snacking?
Dr Michael Mosley explained that exercise snacking means "doing multiple short bursts of exercise during the day rather than trying to fit it all into a full workout".
He added: "The surprising thing about exercise snacking is that although each session is short, it gives you the same – possibly even greater – fitness and health benefits than doing a full 30-minute workout."
Exercise snacking is the ideal choice for those who aren't regular exercisers and are looking for easy or quick weight loss methods that they can incorporate into their daily lives. .
One way which he recommends putting the technique into practice is by using the stairs to get "in a few exercise snacks".
What are the benefits of exercise snacking?
Besides saving precious time in our busy work lives, exercise snacking has been found to have great health benefits.
Dr Marie Murphy, professor of Sport and Exercise Science, explained: "Exercise snacking allows for more opportunities for slimmers to boost their metabolism, which in turn leads to more calorie burning."
Short bursts of exercise helps burn calories, lose more weight, help improve your blood glucose and blood pressure to a greater degree.
While a 30-minute routine has similar effects, doing it in short chunks instead of one long session means you are activating your metabolism multiple times, making the health benefits even more impactful.
Dr Murphy suggests doing around three 10-minute – or maybe six five-minute - bouts of exercise snacking a day.
However, if you can only spare one minute a day, then still use that to do at least a single burst of exercise as a way to "accumulate towards that 30-minute target".
