A Quick Guide to Non – Exercise Activity Thermogenesis

NEAT

Burns more calories per day than exercise
Measuring your daily steps is an easy way to monitor / increase your NEAT
Generally a goal of 10,000 steps per day is considered to be good for the average person
20,000 steps a day would be considered active
If 10,000 currently seems unachievable look at your daily average right now and try and increase it by 10% for the next week. Keep doing this every few weeks as you adjust to the change.
Each 1,000 steps added to a person’s day reduces risk of mobility loss
Don’t just focus on steps though, think about moving more in general (dancing, playing with the kids, housework, shopping)

5 Fitness Facts

If you don’t train at all at the moment exercising once a week is a 100% improvement, start there and build up.
To get stronger you need to progressively overload the muscles and that doesn’t just have to be by adding weight. You can increase reps, number of sets, length of workout, adjust tempos, reduce rest periods (increase intensity) or change training frequency.
What you do outside the gym matters more. Walking, moving about and your general daily activity will burn more calories than the most intense hour in the gym.
To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you aren’t no amount of supplements, protein shakes or specific meal timings will help. They are tools to fine tune a diet, having tools but no base material to work with is pointless.
Chocolate, crisps and takeaways aren’t bad for you. Whilst less nutritionally valuable, if you are within your calorie target, eating them won’t affect your progress and mentally will probably help you stay on track.

NEAT in seconds

NEAT

Burns more calories per day than exercise
Measuring your daily steps is an easy way to monitor / increase your NEAT
Generally a goal of 10,000 steps per day is considered to be good for the average person
20,000 steps a day would be considered active
If 10,000 currently seems unachievable look at your daily average right now and try and increase it by 10% for the next week. Keep doing this every few weeks as you adjust to the change.
Each 1,000 steps added to a person’s day reduces risk of mobility loss
Don’t just focus on steps though, think about moving more in general (dancing, playing with the kids, housework, shopping)

Back to Basics

As I’ve written recently I’m looking at going back to basics to get back into a routine.

Over the last week my training has been more consistent, my NEAT has been decent and I’m drinking plenty of water and nailing a few other habits. There’s two things I’ve struggled with though have been my nutrition and getting up in the morning.

I’ve not eaten terribly but I’ve not eaten what I’ve planned and as such have ended up going over my calorie goal. The reason? Stress.

It’s been a stressful week, work and personal stuff combined has meant I’ve been anxious at times and just generally strung out at others, feeling a bit like I was never going to fit everything into each day.

I wish I was one of those people who lost their appetite under stress. I am however a person who turns to sugar instead. Between snacking on sweet stuff and then opting to not eat the nice balanced meals I’d prepared and instead eat more carb based high calorie meals has meant that my nutrition just hasn’t gone to plan.

In reaction to this though I’m not going to do anything drastic. I’ve got food planned for the coming week and I’m hoping for a quieter week so I won’t be as tempted to reach for a high sugar stress release.

The key here I think is to not beat yourself out when the week doesn’t quite go to plan, not react by going on some drastic campaign to make up for it and just focus on starting again the next day.

So I’m taking the same approach to my mornings too. Last week I snoozed my alarm a lot, this week I’m reverting back to a cheap old school alarm in the next room so I have to get up to turn it off. A few bad mornings last week don’t need to define the coming week and other than trying to make a few small adjustments to improve my morning routine I don’t need to do anything crazy.

That’s NEAT

What is NEAT?

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is basically a fancy word for the amount of energy you spend moving around being active but which isn’t formal exercise. So your gym session or Group exercise class or morning run / swim = EAT, your walk to work, walk to the canteen to get a coffee, walk to the printer, time playing with your kids= NEAT

Benefits of NEAT

Generally we assume we burn a lot of calories exercising and then not much the rest of the time, but this is not necessarily the case. In fact, the amount of calories you can burn by being generally active throughout the day can have a big impact on your daily energy expenditure.

Think about it this way, if you already train regularly it may be difficult to increase your activity by adding extra sessions in. NEAT is often much easier to increase.

Equally, if your currently do little to no exercise increasing your NEAT is a more manageable first step to more movement and will still have a big impact on your health.

The importance of considering your NEAT when trying to lose weight has also been highlighted in studies, where it has been suggested that when you restrict your calorie intake to reach a deficit you can sometimes subconsciously reduce your non exercise movement to try and preserve energy, this in turn can mean you overestimate your deficit.

Therefore actively monitoring your NEAT can be highly beneficial.

Onto Me…

I exercise a lot.

I train three to four times a week and teach around nine classes every week. I’m one of those people for whom increasing my training would be tough, and potentially have a negative on my sleep and mood.

So this month my coach has challenged me to increase my NEAT in the form of my steps, making sure I do at least 15,000 steps a day outside exercise. This will increase my activity levels in a more manageable way.

So how am I planning on doing this?

I get the train into work but sometimes but sometimes a bus or lift from the station to the office, instead I’m walking from the station.
Walking to people’s desks to go and speak to them rather than emailing
Making more than my share of the team’s hot drinks
Getting a 15/20 minutes walk in with an audio book whenever I am able to

These little things don’t take up much extra time but all add some extra steps to my day thus increasing my NEAT.

Some other ideas of ways you might be able to increase your NEAT:

1) Make a commitment to walk for an extra 10 minutes a day – However much walking you currently do either add in a ten minute walk or go the longer way home or leave the car for one short journey each day and walk instead.

2) Park further away – If you need to drive somewhere can you park a bit further away than normal- easily adds a few extra steps.

3) An active commute – Not for everyone but perhaps you can swap your drive for the train, cycling or walking into work. Even if you did that one day a week it would increase your NEAT.

4) Get moving on your breaks – Going for a walk instead of sitting in the staff room can be refreshing and reduce stress as well as increasing your daily steps.

5) Get a pedometer – Or smart watch. Having something record your steps lets you keep track of how active you actually are. It’s easy to think you’ve done more steps than you have so having a record might keep you accountable.

6) Take the stairs – Whenever possible. Easy steps (well not easy to climb but easy win).

7) Can you be both active and productive / active and social? – Can you change a drinks catch up to a catch up over a nice walk for instance? Combining something you would be doing anyway with a bit of extra activity means you don’t need to find extra time to increase your NEAT.

The key is to create small habits that you don’t even think about doing. A new route home, a parking space further away, always taking the stairs- once they are habits you barely notice you’re doing them. Little habits like this alone might not make a huge difference, but lots of small changes becoming habits can make a big difference to how active you are every day.

Walk, Phone or Email?

Really quick blog today (am currently dying of man flu so no energy to write until this evening).

I wanted to write about an observation I overheard at work today.

One of my colleagues, whenever he wants to speak to someone, gets up and goes to find them rather than picking up the phone.

Going and speaking to someone rather than emailing or calling can seem odd in many offices but in terms of upping your NEAT it’s such a simple yet effective habit to create.

Each time you get up and go and speak to that person in accounts when you’ve got a query rather than emailing them you increase your step count and make yourself move more often without even noticing.

Think about the people you know who you consider fit and healthy – the chances are they don’t just go to the gym, they probably move around a lot in general. Walking to work instead of driving, taking the stairs, always being the one to get up and make the tea. Movement is a habit and once you get into that habit it’s easy to keep up.

Yesterday was National Fitness Day and there was lots of encouragement to start a new class or go to the gym but you could improve your health just a little by making one small change to your day right now that gets your moving that little bit more.