Apr11Burn More Calories with N.E.A.T. Activities
Let’s say you’re doing everything right; you’re doing 2-3 full body workouts per week (maybe an extra one during the weekends), you eat pretty well, and you sleep a healthy amount. Yet you can’t seem to burn off that last little bit of fat. Do you do more exercise? Add more cardio? Eat less? Well, there is an easier alternative: more N.E.A.T. activities.
What is N.E.A.T.?
It stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It’s basically a fancy way of saying non exercise related stuff that burns calories (also excludes sleeping and eating). Any and all unplanned physical activities count as NEAT. Some of the most basic things are:
- taking the stairs instead of elevator
- walking/biking to work
- walking the dog
- parking farther when going grocery shopping
- gardening
More intense activities could be:
- hiking
- construction work/DIY projects
- heavy duty cleaning
- landscape work
It would benefit you to do more NEAT because it will help you burn more calories without really trying. It just takes a conscious effort to fit more of those types of activities in.
Think about it this way too: an optimal workout is 45-60 min. You can do that 3-4 times a week, but what about all the other hours left in the day? Even if you trained daily, you would still have 15 hours left in a day (23 hours – 8 hours of sleep). If most of that time is made up of sitting, you are leaving a big opportunity for movement on the table. The human body is made to move often, so we should try to honor that as much as possible. Extra movement also helps alleviate stress, especially if your job keeps you glued to a desk most of the day.
If you are looking to burn extra calories, or just get some more movement in during your day, just look to the activities you are already doing (or could be doing). With small tweaks, you could be getting more NEAT and boosting your physical activity!