LISS & Your Step Target

LISS is something that you may have heard of, and it stands for low intensity steady state cardio. To put it simply in this case – walking.

Walking is the one type of exercise that I do recommend to everyone and is non-negotiable for your progress.

Now the reason for this isn’t because walking burns fat. The only way to lose fat is still, to create a calorie deficit.

But, hitting your daily and weekly step targets, is the easiest way to ensure you are being active enough on a day to day basis, for you to create a calorie deficit.

If you remember your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) – is responsible for on average 15% of the energy you burn on a daily basis. 3x more than your actual exercise or training.

That’s because it is the combination of all of your other activity throughout the day. Walking up and down the stairs, walking to the shops, taking the dog out.

But it will only be responsible for that percentage - if you are moving!

In the modern world it is very easy to unknowingly be very inactive over the course of a day.

You might wake up – get in the shower, go into the kitchen, make a coffee, then either go sit down at your desk and start working from home, or you get in your car drive to work then sit at a desk in the office.

You finish work, drive home, have tea, sit down on the sofa, and go to bed.

That is a very typical day, and if so, it is likely you are doing less than 2000 steps a day. Which is an incredibly inactive day.

And if you are that inactive, your body simply isn’t going to need a lot of energy to function,

so the calorie deficit you think you are creating, may not be as big and you might not make the progress you expect.

So the easiest way to ensure you are active enough is by having a daily step target. Hitting this target alongside your calorie target is the best way to guarantee you lose weight.