Diet and exercise are not the only tools available for improving your health and fitness. In fact, there is more you can do to make progress on your goals than just cut more calories and increase your workout load. That’s NEAT. No really. You can add more NEAT to your day.
What Exactly Is NEAT?
NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Although this may sound technical, the idea behind it is very simple. It is the energy you burn from all other activities outside of sleeping, eating, and your scheduled workouts.
Pacing when you’re on the phone, tapping your foot while you think, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, doing household chores, and playing with your kids or pets are all examples of NEAT. All of this may seem like trivial things, but they add up throughout the day and become accidental exercise that burns calories and increases your overall activity level. Pretty NEAT (pun intended), right?
Perhaps you have been consistently exercising and monitoring your diet. But for some reason, your progress has slowed to a crawl or plateaued altogether. It can be frustrating and feel like your hard work is all for nothing. The truth is that it isn’t, but it can certainly feel that way.
So, instead of trying to shave more calories out of your diet or exercising more, perhaps the secret lies in the tiny movements you make all day long that you barely even think about.
Why NEAT Is A Game-Changer
The calories you burn throughout the day come from four primary sources. Let’s look at each of them a little more closely.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body burns at rest to keep you alive and maintain all your basic life functions, such as breathing, circulating blood, and regulating your body temperature. Several factors can influence your BMR, including age, gender, height, weight, body composition, and genetics.
Thermic Effect Of Food (TEF)
The Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) is the amount of energy outside your BMR that digests, absorbs, and metabolizes food. Yes, digesting food burns calories without requiring any effort on your part. It’s estimated to be about 10% of your total daily energy expenditure. However, meal size, meal composition (with more protein than carbs or fats), insulin sensitivity, and overall current health can affect the number of calories burned through TEF.
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)
As the name implies, Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT) is the calories you burn from your planned exercise routine and structured physical activities. Several factors can influence EAT, including weight, exercise intensity, exercise duration, current fitness level, and current muscle mass.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)
NEAT is everything else that burns calories. In fact, your runs, cycling, and gym time may only burn a small fraction of your daily caloric intake. But NEAT can be an opportunity to increase your activity without adding any extra workouts.
By consciously increasing your NEAT, you can burn extra calories per day, which will add up over time to help you shed weight more quickly. All of that comes from being more active in your day-to-day life.
How To Boost Your NEAT Effortlessly
NEAT isn’t simply about adding more to your to-do list. It’s about rethinking how you go about your day and finding ways to incorporate more movement. Let’s explore ways to add more NEAT activities to your daily routine.
Working From Home Or An Office
Office jobs typically involve prolonged periods of sitting. If you spend a lot of time sitting at work, then there are plenty of opportunities to incorporate more NEAT activities into your day.
Do you spend a lot of time on the phone during the day? Try becoming a pacer and walking during your calls. If not, or you can’t, set a movement alarm every 30 to 60 minutes to stand, stretch, or take a short stroll around the office or your home. Consider alternating between sitting and standing with a standing desk.
Try choosing inconvenience on purpose, such as using the furthest bathroom or always taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Those simple changes will add up, and many of them require little to no thought, especially if they become a habit.
Around The House
Home is where you spend much of your time, and there are endless chores, as well as downtime spent playing games or watching shows and movies, and cooking. All of these activities provide opportunities to engage in more NEAT activities.
You can turn your chores into a form of exercise. Vacuum like you mean it, scrub with vigor, and throw on some music and dance while you dust. If you like to stream movies and shows, stand up and stretch when the ads play. You could also fold that load of laundry that you’ve been putting off, too. Cooking your meals from scratch means more time on your feet, which means burning more NEAT calories.
Out And About
There are even more opportunities when you’re out and about for work, errands, or play. If it’s a short distance to your destination, consider ditching the car and walking or biking instead. If you use public transportation, try getting off at an earlier stop and walking the rest of the way. Those leisurely strolls or rides will rack up more NEAT points and let you get some fresh air.
The possibilities are endless while doing your errands. For example, while you’re at the grocery store getting a few things from your shopping list, consider carrying a basket instead of pushing a cart. While you’re waiting in line to check out, work your core muscles. If you take a moment and look around you, you’ll see other opportunities to get more NEAT activities into your day.
A Simple NEAT Kickstart Plan
A lot of ground was covered. Now, let’s break it down into three easy steps to create a plan to help you increase your daily NEAT activity.
Find Your Baseline
The number of steps you take is a good indicator of your current NEAT activity. You can use your phone or fitness tracker to check your current average daily steps. The goal will be to increase this throughout your day.
Set A Tiny Goal
If you average 3,000 steps, aim for 4,000 this week. That’s just an extra 10 minutes of walking a day, and you can easily find those steps in all the different activities mentioned already. Just remember that you don’t have to do more steps every day, so don’t force yourself. Use the number of steps as an encouragement to find a quick win and add a few hundred more steps to your daily total.
Pick One New Habit
The secret to success is to make small incremental changes and make micro-progress toward your goal. Making too many changes in a short amount of time is a recipe for disaster. Start with one change until it becomes easy to do without much thought. Maybe it’s walking during phone calls or dancing while cleaning. Either way, start small and let consistency build the rest.
The Takeaway
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that fitness only happens in the gym or that losing weight involves drastic dietary changes. However, real, sustainable health comes from how you move throughout the day. NEAT can quietly work its magic in the background to boost your metabolism, support your weight goals, and keep your body in motion. So, adopt a fitness mindset and find ways to incorporate more movement into your day. All you have to do is move more, and those little movements can make significant differences in your health and weight management over time.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your weight. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect certain scales to your account to make it easier for you to track your weight automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
