What is NEAT and why should you care about it?
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NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Super fancy words for “the energy expend for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. It ranges from the energy expended walking to work, typing, performing yard work, undertaking agricultural tasks and fidgeting."
Essentially, NEAT is how you move your body that is not happening specifically during a workout.
Why should you care about NEAT?!
Because it impacts our overall daily caloric burn pretty substantially. And, if we increase it or decrease it in accordance with our goals, we can potentially influence our body composition.
While there are many factors at play that can influence our caloric needs and caloric output, at the end of the day, we need to find an appropriate caloric balance for ourselves in relation to our goals.
If you want to lose weight, you need to be in a caloric deficit in relation to your output. If you want to gain weight, you need to be in a caloric surplus in relation to your output.
This balance will look different for each person based on our starting points, past experiences with food and exercise, our health, our body fat percentage, etc, but it’s true nonetheless.
To this point, let’s talk about all the things that influence our daily caloric output because NEAT isn’t the only thing that impacts how and how many calories we burn.
Other factors include our Basal Metabolic Rate (the general energy use of our bodies to simply function), the Thermic Effect of Food (the energy required to digest and break down what we eat), and planned and purposeful exercise.
The following chart shows the break down of these four caloric impacts:
Our Basal Metabolic Rate accounts for approximately 60% of our daily energy expenditure. From literally just existing.
The Thermic Effect of Food accounts for 8-15% of our daily expenditure, with certain foods (protein, specifically) requiring a higher pull of energy to digest.
Exercise Related Physical Activity accounts for between 15-30% of daily caloric burn.
And, NEAT is responsible for 6-10% of total energy expenditure in individuals with a mainly sedentary lifestyle and for 50% or more in highly active subjects!
Between 10-50%. This is SUBSTANTIAL.
I imagine that many of us see our workouts as being the crux of our caloric burn, and certainly they matter, but when taken into account, our daily movement (NEAT) can contribute even MORE!
This can be empowering knowledge!
On the one hand, maybe it can take some pressure off of us for our workout schedule to be perfect every day, because more matters than jut getting that workout in.
On the other hand, it might be helpful to take a look at your daily movement outside of exercise to see if any adjustments can help you work towards your goals!
Here are some ways you can increase your NEAT, and thus your caloric burn, without adding too much more work for yourself.
Walk or stand more. Standing burns more calories than sitting, so maybe spend part of your work day at a standing desk, if possible.
Get your steps in! Go for a midday walk, or even take a few extra trips up and down your stairs! Can you walk places instead of driving? Park a little further away from the store? All of these pieces add up!
Play! With your kids or your friends! Moving more, getting on the ground, crawling around, jumping on things, all good!
Do activities like cleaning or vacuuming! Small additional tasks done around the house also add up, both calorically and in cleanliness! ; )
Have a dance party! Put on your favorite song and move! You might even consider scheduling in one dance break per day!
Fidget! Small movements like tapping your foot or swaying your hips side to side also add up!
Create a movement routine for yourself. For example, every time you get out of your car, you do 10 air squats. Or every day when you get out of bed, you do 10 pushups. Or, while you wait for your coffee to brew, you do 30 jumping jacks. Make it your own and add it into your routine!
Bottom line, let’s keep ourselves moving more, keeping our bodies processing calories, and feeling better overall! Help yourself reach your goals without having to just exercise millions of hours per week!
Is this information helpful?! If so, let me know what adjustments you might make to your routine or activity after knowing it! Share in the comments or send me an email at sara@nutritionforlifeproject.com!
Know of someone else who can benefit from learning this info?
And, as always, thank you for reading!
xoxo,
Sara
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