Spontaneous physical activity or NEAT – what is it about? |

What is NEAT?

NEAT – is an abbreviation from English – Non Excersice Activity Thermogenesis – meaning our daily energy expenditure on activities not related to planned exercises or other sports activity. Some translate NEAT in Polish as spontaneous physical activity.

Everything we do outside of training can be classified as NEAT: climbing stairs, shopping, cooking, brushing teeth, playing with a child, taking the dog for a walk, standing, fidgeting, stomping to the rhythm of the music, gardening, walking, picking something up from the floor, cleaning, trying clothes on in the store , gesticulating during a conversation.

On the example of two women, we will see how NEAT matters during weight loss

Let’s imagine two friends of the same age and similar starting weight who decided to lose weight together. Magda and Sylwia weigh 80 kg with a height of 165 cm. They both work at the computer in the office. They both took the same diet (possibly on 😉) and signed up to the gym together to exercise 3 times a week for an hour.

The girls scrupulously followed the plan for 2 months. After this time, the day has come to summarize the first weight loss results. It turned out that Magda lost 5 kg during this period, and Sylwia lost only 1 kg. Could it be genes, slower metabolism, or maybe hormones that made the difference in the weight loss of these women?

Looking at the lives of my friends, however, we notice a disproportion in the level of their activity outside the gym:

• Magda lives on the 2nd floor in a tenement house without a lift, so she goes up the stairs several times a day. Sylwia, on the other hand, lives in a one-story single-family house.

• Magda started cycling 3,5 km to work because it got warmer. Sylwia, despite the fact that she has a stone’s throw to work, drives there by car all the time.

• Magda has a dog with which she goes for walks 3 times a day. Due to the good weather, she began to extend the walking routes. Sylwia lets her pet go outside to chase him alone.

• While working at the computer, Magda often changes her position, and when she has to make a phone call, she gets up from her chair and walks around her office. Sylwia is chained to her desk and chair for a large part of her working time.

• Magda is by nature a person of high temperament and when she talks to people she gesticulates a lot, and when she laughs – with her whole body. Earlier, my friends spent their lunch breaks at their desks. During the diet, Magda decided to go to the canteen where, apart from eating, she chats with her friends. Sylwia is an introvert, so she focuses only on work, and spends her lunch break at her desk.

• After work, Magda cooks her dishes every day to keep everything healthy and fresh. Sylwia ordered dietary catering, so they bring her food under her nose. Sylwia, in the time gained without the need to prepare meals, deals with her hobby (crocheting) or reading books.

As you can see in the example above, Magda spends most of her time on the move, so not only training in the gym is an opportunity for her to create a greater caloric deficit. Add to that a nutritious diet she doesn’t feel hungry on – losing weight has become easier for her than she thought.

Sylwia was convinced that the diet and the gym alone, three times a week, would cause her to lose a kilogram similar to that of her friend. She was severely disappointed comparing her results with Magda. Knowing nothing about the importance of NEAT activity, Sylwia tried to blame hormones, genetics, or poor metabolism for her poor fat loss performance.

It turns out that the differences in the level of NEAT activity between individuals may be up to 2000 kcal per day [1].

It all depends on what lifestyle we lead, what work we have, and our temperament and way of being. Some are more calm and composed, low-spirited, while others are among people who find it hard to stand in one place.

In addition, people who do manual work burn more calories during the day than an office worker tied to his desk. Our activity during the day and the degree of body movement are of great importance in connection with the daily energy expenditure.

The graphic below shows the differences in calorie burning through NEAT activities between people of similar size, but with completely different lifestyles:

NEAT is a significant part of our daily calorie consumption:

BMR + TEF + NEAT + EAT = TDEE

TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) – total daily energy expenditure – that is the amount of calories that our body needs on a given day for basic energy expenditure related to life

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) – basic metabolism – determines the amount of calories burned in 24 hours to support the vital functions of the body, such as: breathing, regeneration, nutrition, etc.

TEF (Thermogenic Efect from Food) – energy consumption for processes related to the digestion of food and the absorption of nutrients

NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) – to remind you once again – spontaneous physical activity outside of planned workouts

EAT (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) – calories that are burned during physical activity: home exercises, gym workouts or cardio

Here is a graphic that shows the percentage of each component of our daily total energy expenditure:

It turns out that in obese people who move little and do not exercise at all, NEAT accounts for only 5% of their daily energy expenditure. The opposite are people who are very active throughout the day, with NEAT levels up to 25% of the total calories burned during the day.

In addition, there may be a situation that in people who exercise regularly, the share of training in the weekly pool of energy expenditure may be lower (5% -10%) compared to the NEAT of people who do not exercise (20% -25%), but are still active. moving.

How does NEAT help with weight loss?

Some people do not like exercise and no world power will force them to train. It also happens that when you start exercising with enthusiasm, you give up over time because you lack consistency and motivation.

It turns out that even if someone trains regularly and devotes one hour a day to it, this time is only a small part of the day. Activity throughout the day is included in the caloric balance.

The importance of spontaneous NEAT activity is often ignored and favors exercise as the only correct method of burning calories. One hour of exercise a day won’t compensate for a sedentary lifestyle most of the day.

So it is a mistake that a large part of the weight loss people focus mainly on exercise and diet as the main way to lose fat. Sometimes, in the absence of results, people who want to lose weight desperately add more exercise or cut calories drastically.

This can lead to either overtraining or hunger pangs if the physical activity is too exhausting and the caloric deficit is too high. In addition, you can subconsciously reduce your energy expenditure on NEAT, because the training has given you such a hard time that the desire for additional movement passes.

Is it a good method when someone gives their best for an hour and then lies most of the free time because they don’t have the strength to move their little toe 😉?

Increasing movement throughout the day in the form of NEAT is an excellent and less painful way to increase energy expenditure. If you add a caloric deficit to it while on a diet, losing weight will be easier than ever.

People with insulin resistance will also benefit from increased spontaneous movement as this improves their cell sensitivity to insulin [2]. Moderate-intensity effort, such as NEAT, has a great impact on reducing insulin in the blood, which in people with insulin resistance can remain at a fairly high level.

7 ways to increase NEAT and burn more calories throughout the day:

1. Introduce breaks from movement as an antidote to sitting too long

Remember, the best position for your body is the next position it takes. Remaining motionless for too long is not beneficial for our body. Do you have a moment off while working? Instead of spending this time on social media (e.g. on 😉), get up from your chair and walk around the room, do some spontaneous hand movements.

2. Leave the car and wherever you can try to walk

Increasing the number of steps is one of the easiest ways to move more. 10 thousand steps a day are approximately 450 calories burned throughout the day. If you have been a couch potato so far, do not jump into deep water immediately and start increasing the number of steps gradually. If you need to get somewhere by car, you can always park them a little further from the destination point and cover the distance difference on foot. You can gain up to 1000 steps more this way.

3. Change the seat into stock

Are you talking to someone on the phone and sitting? Get up and start walking around the room. You travel frequently by bus, train or tram – you may choose to stand up from time to time instead of a comfortable seat.

Elevated desks for working while standing up have become very popular in America. These are the so-called “Standing desk” and force you to stand up while working at the computer. You can build something similar at home if someone works remotely. When standing, the body burns about 3 times more calories than when sitting.

4. Choose stairs instead of an elevator

Wherever you see stairs – think of them as a chance to increase your daily activity level. You don’t have to climb to the 10th floor right away, every small step you climb counts. Please consider now where and on what occasion you can start using stairs instead of an elevator.

5. Sometimes transform yourself into “the perfect lady of the house”

Perhaps you do not like cleaning and treat this activity as an unwanted duty. What if you mentally change your mindset and start seeing cleaning as a wonderful opportunity to burn more calories efficiently?

If you only do general cleaning before Christmas, try to tidy up your apartment or house more often. The reward will be a feeling of a job well done and a million calories burned 😉

6. Do “active shopping”

This concept is a very simple way to increase your daily calorie consumption. Usually, you do big shopping once a week using a car. However, no one will forbid you to go on foot to the market square in fine weather to get fresh vegetables and fruit from the farmer.

You can equip yourself with a backpack or two bags and carry your provisions on foot home. Maybe you’ve always said that you don’t like weight training or cardio, and in this form of shopping, you do these two types of training at once.

7. Here is room in your own way to increase your NEAT

For some, it will be an active way of spending time on a plot or in a home mini garden. Even on a small balcony you can start growing flowers or tomatoes. Others will choose longer walks as the weather is getting nicer and it would be a pity to stay indoors.

If you have children or grandchildren, you know very well that playing together outdoors can be a great endurance training. Please think about how you could increase your daily activity – NEAT – and do it!

Summation

We humans are mostly lazy by nature and are used to making our lives easier. New technologies, urbanization and modern lifestyle have deprived us of the spontaneous movement that has accompanied man for centuries.

What if we gave up this comfort and started using every chance to increase NEAT? Repeated like a mantra, the phrase “eat less, move more” is not without sense. They can be cleverly modified to: “Eat smarter, move more”.

Summer is approaching, the weather is now more conducive to increased activity, especially outside. Use this opportunity and take care of your NEAT level. If you take care of your rational, healthy diet, maybe losing weight will be much easier and more effective. Good luck!