Have you watched a toddler lately?  They move non-stop and as a result, most of them are pretty fit and healthy!

Every time you move at all, (e.g., you fidget, get up to go to the bathroom, chew gum, clean the house, stand up, sit down, walk to the mailbox, pick something up, turn around, etc.) literally everything you do burns calories. 

These are NEAT movements and they burn way more calories every single day than your gym workout, assuming of course that you’re not training for a movie role that requires spending several hours a day in a gym with a trainer.

NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and it is the energy expended (i.e., calories burned) when we engage in any activity or movement except eating, sleeping or structured exercise/gym-time.

This is not to say that your structured exercise is unimportant and in fact it is very important. 

The time you take to deliberately strengthen and stretch your muscles and improve your cardiovascular endurance is essential to helping you stay healthy and strong so that you can engage in the activities of your life (which are your NEAT movements!).

“Sitting is the new smoking.”  Have you heard this statement?  This phrase and the term NEAT both came from researcher and doctor, James Levine.

When we sit too much and move too little, we do not age better.  The opposite is the case. 

Sedentary behaviors, which are either sitting or lying down, can put us at risk for Type 2 Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. Given the high prevalence of many of these conditions, Dr. Levine’s statement feels pretty accurate.

What Can We Do About It?

If you are working a desk job or otherwise spending long periods of time sitting or not moving, timers are an essential tool to help us to move more frequently. 

If you set a timer for 20 minutes you will probably be very surprised at how quickly the time goes by.  If you set that timer out of your reach so minimally you have to get up to reset it, you are already burning more calories.

If you stand up and sit down 5 - 10 times each time that timer goes over, you will have completed LOTS of squats and are on your way to creating more muscle in your legs.  The more muscle we have in our bodies, the more fat we burn.

The more calories you burn on a regular basis, the more you increase your metabolism.  The faster your metabolism, the more calories you will burn!  You just have to move a little more often all throughout your day.

YES, food still matters.  We do have to pay attention to the foods we eat but you may be very surprised to find that when you are embracing NEAT activities, the weight is starting to come off despite that fact that you’re still having some of your favorite treats!

Action Step:

Just for today, try using a 20 minute timer for the next 3 hours and make yourself move every time the timer goes off.  If you can’t get up, fidget discretely.  If you can move, please do.

Notice how your body feels at the end of those 3 hours.  Are you more energetic than usual? Is your body less stiff or tight?

Keep moving like a toddler!