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NEAT

Published by
d. June 8, 2022
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Did you know that you burn calories while talking?

We burn calories every day through the activities/actions we perform. It is scientifically proven that people who are generally active in their daily lives burn more calories, are fitter and less likely to be overweight.

Therefore, there can be great benefits in developing habits that provide extra activity (and thus increase calorie burning) for "free", without the need for an extra trip to the gym.

N E A T is an abbreviation for Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and covers all the movement you do during a day that is not real exercise/sport. In addition to N E A T, our energy expenditure consists of:

  • Our basal metabolic rate (resting metabolic rate), the energy your body uses to keep you alive.
  • Thermal effect, the energy the body uses to digest and break down the food and drink we consume.
  • Energy burn during sport and exercise

The rest of the energy we burn over the course of a day is N E A T and comprises about 20% of total energy expenditure. Therefore, N E A T is largely influenced by our daily habits. The more movement/activity we include in our daily routine, the more calories we burn in a day.

For example, walking burns 2.5 times more calories than sitting down. And if you take the stairs instead of standing (in an elevator) you burn 10 times more calories!

Therefore, you could consider making some small changes during your day, for example

  • Take the stairs instead of the lift
  • Stand up and work for one hour a day at your desk instead of sitting down (e.g. 30 min before lunch and 30 min after)
  • Get off the bus one stop earlier than you would otherwise have to get off or walk to the train/metro instead of taking the bus there
  • Going shopping (and carrying the bags home - crossfit), instead of taking the car
  • Cycle to work 1 day a week instead of using a car or public transport
  • Go for a short walk after dinner, maybe just 10-15 minutes, instead of sitting in front of a screen

By making some tiny new habits, we can burn a lot of extra calories over a week that do not require an hour on the treadmill and possibly extra time away from the family. Over the course of a year, this can be a really good help for weight loss and especially for maintaining the weight loss afterwards, due to new more active habits. Have fun with it.