I Feel The Need, The Need For NEAT
- Maverick, Top Gun 1986 (or something like that)
As I said: something like that.
I was sitting on my couch the other day and was hungry. Actually, I wasn't hungry at all. I was just terribly bored from thumb-scrolling and wanted to numb my boredom with something to eat. As the fridge was too far away, I opened my Lieferando app and ordered. Then it hit me: I had no one to bring the food from the door to the couch. I was doomed to starve.
That was the moment my new business idea was born...
Okay, stop. Don't worry: this isn't going to be a business pitch for a new delivery app or anything. Quite the opposite.
Firstly, I no longer have a couch (a loss that still causes me severe emotional pain) and secondly, my job as a sports scientist is to get you moving.
It feels like you sit around more and more and hardly move at all. This is not meant to be an “old man, everything used to be better” blog. But it is true that we have more and more conveniences in our lives.
That's not a bad thing at first. Who wants to do without their fully automatic coffee machine in the morning or the massage chair in the car...
But the boom in delivery apps in recent years is a good example of how we are finding it easier and easier to get energy (through food), but have to expend less and less energy to do so. Today, I can order calorie-dense food - who orders a delivery salad - directly from the couch (💔) and (still) only have to walk to the door. In the past, that was only possible with pizza and Chinese food. Even if you wanted to eat McDonald's at home, you had to get up and go to the restaurant. A much higher calorie consumption and a nice father-son activity... at least in my memory.
So what is this all about?
Most people believe that they burn the majority of their calories while exercising or training. And while exercise is an important aspect of losing and maintaining weight, it is a relatively small percentage of a person's total energy expenditure (as always, we're excluding high performance athletes).
Today you will learn
Understand NEAT: What NEAT is and why it's important for your calorie expenditure.
Increase everyday movement: Simple tips for integrating more movement into your everyday life.
Energy expenditure in the body: How NEAT, training and basal metabolic rate work together.
NEAT and weight management: How NEAT helps with weight management.
Here is a brief overview of how your energy consumption breaks down:
BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate
This is what your body needs just to maintain basic bodily functions. So mainly the cardiovascular system, respiration and brain function. It does not even include vision. 60-70% of your energy is used for this. Genetics or having more or less muscle mass are among the factors that influence the BMR.
TEF: Thermic Effect of Food
5-10% of your energy is required for the digestion and absorption of food. A more protein-rich (and fat-rich) diet shifts the value more towards the 10%.
EAT: Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
All planned exercise activity does not account for more than 5-10% of your total energy expenditure. This is important to understand: All of us who go for a little workout 2-3 times a week won't get anywhere near that 10% either.
NEAT: Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis
15-30% of your daily requirement is needed for all involuntary movements (e.g. facial expressions and gestures) and everyday movements. Until Lieferando offers a solution, that's getting up from the couch to pick up food at the door, walking, climbing stairs, the physicality of your job, etc. A roofer will use significantly more energy than an IT worker who rolls out of bed in the morning and straight to their desk in their home office and back again in the evening.
James Smith (2020). Not a Diet Book.
How does your energy balance affect NEAT?
Depending on whether your calorie intake is too high or too low, this can have different effects on your NEAT.
It's important to understand, no matter what theories you believe in or hormone optimization gurus you follow: When you gain weight, you're always in a calorie surplus; when you lose weight, you're always in a deficit. Hormones, metabolism etc. have their part to play, but the laws of thermodynamics will always apply.
If your calorie intake is too high, NEAT is the only component of your energy expenditure that will increase significantly. Roughly speaking, this means that if you eat too much, your body will unconsciously make you move more.
It is assumed that the increase in your everyday movements (NEAT) is a mechanism with which the body defends itself against weight gain.
In my work practice, few people actually tell me that they eat too many calories. There are various reasons for this, such as shame, (unconsciously) incorrect measuring and many more, but these will not be discussed here.
But there are also reasons why your body does not lose weight even though you are in a calorie deficit.
If you are in a calorie deficit, the NEAT component of your energy balance decreases. A 10% reduction in calories reduces the calorie consumption of an overweight person by 260 kcal per day through NEAT. With a twenty percent reduction, it is even 500 kcal per day.
This reduction in NEAT remains even if the person maintains the new body weight.
It is also assumed that this is an evolutionary response to times of food scarcity in order to save energy.
What does this mean for practice?
To be clear, anyone interested in weight management and health needs to look at increasing NEAT.
Especially during a weight loss phase, you need to keep your activity level high to compensate for the reduction in your everyday movements.
In short: MOVE MORE! Whenever you can and wherever you can.
But (there's always a but) you don't need to go to extremes. There is a protective mechanism here too! Extremely high activity levels lead to an even greater reduction in your NEAT and are also more difficult to maintain over a long period of time and can damage your motivation to keep going.
How can you integrate more NEAT activities into your life?
We've clarified what NEAT is and how it can affect your energy balance. But how do you manage to get more of it into your life?
And this is where it gets a bit ridiculous to write about it.
You know what you need to do to increase NEAT and I know you know what you need to do to increase NEAT. And yet I have this discussion in pretty much every consulting and coaching conversation. In the end, it's exactly these things that we need to do more of, but that nobody does. Instead, excuses are found (“You open up to the Lieferando guy. You're closer to the door.”)
What am I talking about?
Here are some examples of how to get more exercise in everyday life. And for every reader who says or thinks “Uh, yeah, who doesn't know that” while reading, I get one more gray streak... so please hold your horses.
Climbing stairs...
...instead of taking the escalator or elevator. The latter is really only okay for healthy people if you are accompanying a two-year-old who absolutely must press that elevator button.
And very briefly: what the hell are these moving walkways at airports for? Yes, okay, it's kind of fun to walk on them, but are we really so lazy as a society that we can't walk alone?
Get off one stop earlier...
...or park a little further away to increase your steps. I admit, this is probably the most useless tip for day-to-day life...
To us a...
...standing desk...
at work compared to lying down, while fidgeting increases it by 94%. For the sake of completeness, sitting increases your energy consumption by 4% (54% with fidgeting) compared to lying down.
Overweight people stand on average 2 hours less per day. If they were to stand more instead, they could burn around 350 calories more per day.
Standing in public transportation...
... is a good way to burn more calories. You can start with shorter times and eventually stand the whole way.
Just not on Berlin BVG buses, please. That is life-threatening! Make sure you sit here or - if there is no other option - use a safety belt to strap yourself to one of the grab handles.
And - hold on tight - the absolute mega-hack to raise NEAT:
The german solution to everything.
Going for a walk.
Walking at 1.6 km/h means 154% more energy consumption than lying down. 1.6 km/h is not much. On a treadmill, this is almost uncomfortably slow. Walking faster consumes correspondingly more energy.
It really is that simple!
Humans are made to walk. This is one of our body's main functions.
A very good way to take more steps and motivate yourself to do so is to use a step counter. They are available on every cell phone today and have been proven to encourage people to walk more.
Of course, it would be nice if this didn't just happen on vacation. I don't know how many friends and families regularly proudly tell me how many steps they have taken on every single day of their vacation... which I honestly very much welcome and support, but please: Do it all the time! Every day!
If you want to start walking more and tracking your steps, then determine your average for a week and only then set realistic goals that are higher than this average.
For busy business people, a 10 minute walk in between (ideally after dinner) makes much more sense than 30, 60 or 90 minutes of cardio at the gym in the evening.
Not only do you save on training time, but also on getting there, changing, showering, etc. Instead, you are home earlier with your family or your hobby. Better still, you can also go for walks with the family in the evening.
How likely is it that you will integrate one of these activities into your everyday life?
Ask yourself (with everything, really): Will you still enjoy doing the activity in 6 months, a year, five years?
With long-term goals, it makes no sense to set yourself something unrealistic that sounds cool but isn't fun.
Imagine a surfer. He wakes up in the morning, looks at his board, moans “Ok, at least 20 waves” and then drags himself unmotivated into the water.
Quite the opposite! Surfers love their hobby. You're more likely to have problems keeping them away from the water.
Walking from the subway to work is absolutely nothing for you and you're too passionate about your life to ride your bike in downtown Berlin? A skateboard could be your solution. It will get you around faster and instead of having to be afraid of cars, you can now scare pedestrians and small dogs!
As you can see, there is always a way to get more exercise in your everyday life. My job is to advise you and develop an overall strategy for your health.
Ciao
Marco
