There is a common misconception that exercise is where you burn the majority of our calories throughout the day. You actually burn the most calories over the course of the day while you’re at rest (ex. sleeping, working, or sitting down). Crazy, huh? Well, it’s because the body requires a significant number of calories just to keep you alive. Basic functions like breathing, digesting and circulating blood require a lot of energy that we don’t really think about. This is called your resting metabolic rate (RMR).
Obviously I’m still a huge fan of exercise and it does burn calories along with provide a million other health benefits, but I think many people have the idea that if they exercise 30-60 minutes a day then they can be a lazy bum the rest of the day, eat whatever they want, and maintain their weight. Not so fast.
Let’s look at what factors contribute to how many calories you burn during the day.
According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) our total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is made up of 4 main components:
- Resting metabolic rate (RMR): the energy required to keep your body functioning at rest
- The thermic effect of food (TEF): the energy cost of chewing, swallowing, digesting, absorbing and storing food
- The thermic effect of physical activity (TEPA): the energy of activity (ex. exercise)
- Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT): energy expended for everything you do that does not include sleeping, eating, physical activity or exercise.
For this post, I really want to focus on NEAT because I think this is a critical component in how we maintain our body weight, gain, or lose weight that many of us are less familiar with. This study concluded that “…a low level of NEAT is associated with obesity”.
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the cumulative energy expended through all other activities of daily living. NEAT ranges from the energy expended walking to work, typing, performing yard work, fidgeting, etc. I won’t make this a total nerd post, so if you want to learn more about NEAT here is a good article.
For me personally, I’m already noticing it’s becoming more challenging to get in daily non-exercise movement. It’s cold and rainy and I’m feeling the urge to get cozy and stay sedentary inside.
5 Ways to Increase NEAT During the Winter Months
- Get the right gear (check out this and this post for inspo) so you can stay warm and still get outside for walks, park outings, or errands. It may take some extra motivation (and layers) to get out of the house in the winter. If you can though, try to walk to to the coffee shop, a friend’s house, or just a stroll around the block when you notice you’ve been sedentary.
- Play games around the house with your kids. Quinn is always asking to play hide & seek or chase around the house and honestly I just want to sit on the couch instead lol. But, when I know it’s been a more sedentary day I will get more active with her in the house. My favorite is dance parties!
- Fire the cleaning lady! Kidding, but vacuuming, sweeping, laundry, etc are all ways to increase your NEAT inside the house.
- If you work from home (or in an office) try walking (or jogging) in place or pace the house while on calls. You could also look into getting a balance ball chair or desk cycle or look into a standing desk.
- When running errands, take the stairs (up and down), park far away from the store entrance, and walk the mall.
- Stretch while watching TV, calf raises while you brush your teeth or stand in line, squeeze your glutes and core while sitting…sounds silly but it all counts.
- Stand up and walk while you’re checking emails on your phone, responding to texts, or scrolling Insta.
- Do a 1 min plank when you wake up and before bed.
- Cook > take out! Standing up and cooking in your kitchen increases NEAT.
- Wash your dishes by hand…I love my dish washer, but I should try and do this more.
Here’s to trying to stay warm and active this winter!
xx, A
