N.E.A.T. What is it and why should you care?

​We all know that if you want to lose weight you need to burn off more calories than you take in. Well that’s a very simplified way of looking at it, but in general this is what needs to happen in order to burn body fat.
 
What complicates matters is that we all digest foods a little differently and how many calories we burn through out the day is also very individual. 

There are 3 ways that we burn calories:

1. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) also known as resting metabolic rate (RMR). This is the amount of energy the body uses at rest to support the functions of the organs and physiological systems, and comprises approximately 60-75% of your total daily energy expenditure. Every system, organ and tissue takes up energy even while we are resting. Can you guess what takes up the most energy? If you guessed our muscles, you’re right.
2. The thermic effect of food (TEF), which is the energy the body uses to convert your food into more energy or to move it to a location to be stored as fat for use at a later time, and makes up about 10% of daily energy expenditure.
3. The thermic effect of physical activity (TEPA) accounts for the remaining energy expenditure—about 15-30% of daily energy output depending on how active you are.   Included in this number is excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which is the amount of energy the body burns after exercise to return to its normal state.

Today I want to discuss the third way we burn calories. When it comes to Thermic effect of physical activity, there are two different types of activity: planned exercise and the spontaneous non-exercise activities that occur every time you perform some sort of physical exertion, whether it’s simply standing up, or throwing a load of laundry in the wash. This is referred to as Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis or NEAT which plays an important role in how many calories you burn throughout the day as well as maintaining a healthy body. 

By now you’ve probably heard how bad sitting is for you. It can lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and obesity among other things. If you’d like to learn more about this check out my article The Dangers of Sitting

If you are trying to lose weight, I’m wiling to bet that you are watching what you eat and working out regularly well at least I hope you are. I’m also willing to bet that you’re not that active in between your workouts. Maybe you even sit most of the day. Am I right?

This lack of mobility, even if you workout, could be the very reason why you’re not successful with your weight loss efforts.  Not only does N.E.A.T burn up a lot of calories through out the day, there are other things going on in your body that have a direct effect on whether or not you’ll burn fat. 

Conversely NEAT or moving consistently throughout the day can help sustain LPL levels and help your body maintain its ability to burn fat.

Now that you know all of this, what can you do to get yourself up and moving? Before you say you don’t have time remember, your health depends on it.  Many women tell me they don’t have time to get up every hour just to march in place. I get you, you have work to do and if you start getting up every hour, you’ll never get anything done.

Well, the opposite is actually true. The more you move about the clearer your thinking and the more focused you’ll be. This saves an enormous amount of time since you’ll be able to get things done quicker than you did before.

Make a conscious effort to find ways to move throughout the day. Before you know it you’ll be feeling lighter, and moving with ease as your joints and muscles start to loosen up.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• If possible walk to and from work  (or ride your bike)
• During your coffee break or lunch break go for a walk
• Set a reminder to get up every hour and move about for a couple minutes. This alone could add 250 steps per hour to your day. If you work from home or it’s the weekend use this time to throw in a load of laundry, get some dusting or vacuuming done.
• Instead of watching TV when you get home at night go bowling, go for a swim or walk your dog. 
• Put some music on and dance. 
• Find a new fun activity like taking dance martial arts lessons  

I’m sure you can come up with a lot more ideas and if you get a friend to join you, even better!  It’s always easier to stick with a new habit when you have a buddy to join you and you’ll be more apt to be consistent.
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In the comments below share your ideas to get yourself moving. 

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