Author: Shelly Buse, PT
While we love and encourage a committed and consistent exercise program, we want to recognize that we get great benefits from our everyday activities too. There is a process called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or NEAT. This is the energy we expend for everyday tasks that are not sleeping, eating, or sports-like activity or traditional exercise. It’s important to recognize that the everyday activities we do add up and contribute to our overall caloric burn.
We have several categories to look at for our total daily caloric burn. First, we have our resting metabolic rate. This is what the body burns for our vital bodily functions (heart, lung, brain, etc.). This is a large portion of our daily total. Secondly, we burn energy with the process of digesting our food. And then there is intentional exercise. This is where we often focus on our caloric burn, cardiovascular conditioning and structured program. Finally, we have NEAT. This is a collection of all the other activity we do during the day. This can vary based on our choices and habits, varying 15-30% of our total calorie count. That can be a huge contributing factor!
Our NEAT activity can vary person to person of course based on our jobs. Consider someone who works in an office vs. someone who works on a farm. The farmer has a higher expenditure of energy due to the nature of the job, more walking and lifting for example. A sedentary office worker will likely have a lower expenditure. But we can make adjustments if we have a more sedentary job, here are a few examples:
*Ideally, get up and move every 20-30 minutes, or even march in place for a few minutes.
*Reroute your printer to across the office instead of at your desk.
*Walk a little further to a different bathroom and not the one across the hall.
*Take the stairs to your office whenever possible.
*Use a small cup for water and move more frequently to get refills in the breakroom.
We spend a large portion of our day at work, so it’s important to make changes in that setting if you are relatively sedentary. But we can make changes outside of work as well to contribute to our NEAT total. Some examples:
*Park further away from the store.
*Take the dog for a walk.
*Outdoor chores including yardwork, raking, mowing with a push mower.
*Housework, vacuuming, climbing stairs, laundry.
*Playing games outside with the kids.
*Interactive video or virtual reality games.
*Even small tasks like fidgeting, singing, and laughing can contribute!
Consistent exercise is still very important and necessary. We need exercise for cardiovascular health, muscle strength, and stress reduction. But it’s important to know how much our daily activities can contribute. Make new habits, move a little more in everything you do and help contribute to your overall daily caloric burn!
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
— Albert Einstein
Posted in Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery