We all aspire to have a regular exercise routine to lose weight, keep fit and maintain our overall health.
However, given the sort of fast-paced lives that most of us lead, finding time for a full workout can be a hassle.
TV diet guru Dr Michael Mosley has a useful tip that helps you exercise and stay fit without losing much time.
Mosley shared that doing lots of short bursts of exercise throughout the day can be "just an effective" as 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 may not advise snacking when it comes to food, but he is a huge advocate of snacking when it comes to exercise.
Exercise snacking involves doing short bursts of exercise throughout the day.
The idea is to set your alarm for every 40 minutes or so when you're sitting down. When the alarm goes off, stand up and do some exercise.
You can do anything from press ups and squats to simply walking up and down the stairs, as long you get moving and keep yourself active.
This kind of exercise is also useful since you can fit into your busy schedule without setting extra time for a full workout.
Speaking on his podcast Just One Thing, Dr Mosley explained: "Doing exercise in short chunks really can help you burn more calories, lose more weight, and help improve your blood glucose and blood pressure to a greater degree than doing it in larger chunks."
All you need to is a one minute of exercise at different intervals through the day, and Dr Mosley claims "although each session is short, it gives you the same – possibly even greater – fitness and health benefits than doing a full 30-minute workout".
Lifestyle changes to boost the effects of exercise snacking
Exercise snacking is an effective workout method to shed weight, however, Dr Michael Mosley says that exercise alone isn't enough to help people lose the excess kilos.
Dr Mosley advised that pairing the exercise hack with other lifestyle changes, including switching to a diet that's high in protein can together really help people shed any extra weight.
He said: "The things you want to do when you lose weight is lose fat and not lose muscle, and that was the danger of going on a really low-calorie, low-protein diet - tea, juicing - is that your body needs protein. If it’s not getting it from your diet, it’s getting it from your muscles."
He also added that a combination of good diet and exercise "improves your mood if nothing else".
