15 Sep Become a N.E.A.T freak – the forgotten factor for weight maintenance
NEAT. It’s a term that many from the general population may not have heard of. In fact, it’s a term many health professionals may not have heard of. Yet, it is one of the main factors in dictating whether an individual is able to maintain weight loss/prevent weight regain.
NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It sound’s scary, but put simply, it is all the energy that is expended from activities other than planned exercise. Such activities include: brushing your teeth, walking upstairs, doing the dishes, and even fidgeting. Even these trivial activities accumulate throughout the day to add up to a substantial amount of one’s total energy expenditure.
Before we move on, let’s define what energy expenditure actually is.
BMR makes up the largest portion of daily energy expenditure, followed by PA, and then TEF.
What is energy expenditure?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the amount of calories that your body will burn in a 24-hour period. TDEE is best calculated by factoring in your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), your Physical Activity (PA) level, and the Thermic Effect of Feeding (TEF). Explained further – BMR = is the minimum caloric requirement needed to sustain life in a resting state. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy expended by the body to remain in bed all day; PA = planned exercise + non-exercise activity: obviously, the energy expended from movement; TEF = is the amount of energy expenditure above the resting metabolic rate due to the cost of processing food for use and storage.
From the above picture, it is clear that BMR makes up the largest portion of daily energy expenditure, followed by PA, and then TEF. Outside of having huge increases in fat-free mass (muscle, bone, glycogen), we don’t have too much control over our BMR. Exercise can help to raise this percentage, but it’s main determinant is body size. TEF can be influenced by the amount of calories we consume, and goes up accordingly. That is, the more you eat, the higher your TEF will be. It generally is capped at the 10% mark.
When it comes to weight gain or weight loss, the body follows the first Law of thermodynamics. Simply, to gain weight, we must be in a caloric surplus, and to lose weight, we must be in a caloric deficit. Weight maintenance is therefore energy in (through the foods we eat) = energy out (exercise, NEAT, TEF). There are many nuances to this topic, but for simplicity sake, we will stick to the basic equation.
So, how best to increase the energy out part of the equation?
This has been a topic of great debate, and it has many distinctions. It should be clear that the most easily effected part of the equation is PA levels. NEAT can account for as little as 15% of energy expenditure in the very sedentary and up to 50% in very active individuals, and can vary by up to 2000 kilocalories per day between two individuals of similar size.
Although there is a genetic component to how much NEAT an individual does, it is outside the scope of this article. Those interested in further reading should refer to the reference articles below, as these are 2 of the most prominent researchers in the field of NEAT.
Besides burning through their phone’s battery life and data plan, Pokémon Go trainers are burning off calories as well.
Pokémon GO
Pokémon Go is the newest augmented reality mobile game from the Pokémon franchise — and it’s becoming the next big craze. Besides burning through their phone’s battery life and data plan, Pokémon Go trainers are burning off calories as well.
Since Pokémon Go encourages people to seek new territory, the terrain changes and players could, inevitably, get in better shape because of it. This game as helped to increase the amount of incidental exercise that its players are accumulating, and because of this, helping to improve their health.
It’s a fad, and it may very well die out soon, but for now, I’m a big fan of people using whatever tools necessary to increase their physical activity, and enjoying it while doing so.
Top 9 Ways to become a NEAT freak
Most of these tips are common sense or knowledge, yet very little people actually incorporated them into daily life. Little thought is given to the extent to which these trivial movements accumulate to help prevent weigh regain and or to aid in weight loss and maintenance.
To make it as easy as possible, we’ve compiled a list of our top 9 ways to become a NEAT freak.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator when shopping
- Park further away from the entrance/exit when going to shopping centres
- Get off a stop earlier when taking the train/bus to and from work and walk the rest of the way
- Have walking meetings with your colleagues at work
- Get up and go see your colleague instead of sending an email
- Pace while talking on the phone
- Wash your dishes by hand rather than dishwasher
- Get up and move for 2 minutes after every 30-60 minutes of desk work
- Exercise Right’s personal favorite: drink more water, which means you’ll be needing to go to the bathroom more often = more steps.
The most important factor when considering implementing these applications is to take things slowly. For example, if you are only doing 3000 steps per day, gradually add steps until you reach a larger goal. There is nothing more demotivating than setting unachievable goals.
Go forth now and become a NEAT freak!
As always, consult your local accredited exercise physiologist for professional advice and guidance when beginning and exercise program.
