You’ll have heard me refer to NEAT & EAT a few times during this blog, often with a very brief and quick explanation with promises to go more in depth at a later date. Well today’s that day. I’ll explain exactly what I mean when I talk about them both and which one we should be focusing our attention on.
Firstly I’ll explain how our daily calories is split to better understand how NEAT & EAT is part of that. People need and will burn a different amount of calories based on their lifestyle, age, weight etc. Each of us has this certain amount of calories which can be split down into 4 areas:
BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) 70% of your daily calories burned will be done by purely existing. This is your body performing its daily tasks.
TEF (Thermic Effect of Food) 10% of your daily calories burned. For people who love to eat, this isn’t an excuse to go stuff your face with everything in sight with hope you’re going to burn more out than going in. Yes I know that would be amazing. Different foods, require different amounts of energy to digest. Fats don’t require much energy whereas protein has a high thermic requirement. Meaning that you’re going to burn more calories digesting it, that’s why a high protein diet isn’t just beneficial for building muscle but also helping you with fat loss.
NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) 15% of your daily calories burned is calories burned not doing exercise so walking around, cleaning the house, spinning on your chair, basically anytime you move but you’re not exercising.
EAT (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) 5% of your daily calories burned is through exercise. Yes you heard me right, just 5%. Now this depends on what your training is, how long you do it before and whether you’re actually trying or just spending the entire session posing for selfies in the mirror. Something that I’ve only just found out is that my fitness tracker has been overestimating the amount of calories burned. When it said I burned 500 calories was more like 200 calories…sorry to burst anyones bubble.
Now you’ve got more of an understanding on them all now I’ll delve into why it’s important to increase our NEAT rather than our EAT. More and more people are having idol jobs where they sit at a desk and stare at a screen for large amounts of the day, transport has made it ever more easier to get to places without walking and devices mean we can be entertained by just staying at home. For the majority then increasing your NEAT can have huge benefits on their daily calories burned because previously they probably aren’t maximising the amount of calories they can burn. Increasing NEAT can actually have more benefit than your gym workout, remember NEAT contributes to 15% and EAT 5% (on average). Increasing your NEAT is simple, cost effective and a low injury risk.
So if NEAT is so important what are someways we can do to increase it. You’ve probably seen more and more people having step targets with lockdown happening, this is one of the best ways to monitor your NEAT. Having this goal will then make you think twice before you take the lift or take your car. If you’ve got a step goal to hit you’re more likely to take the stairs or park further away from work etc. It doesn’t mean you have to go on a mammoth trek everyday but a small adjustment multiple times during the day means that you can hit your goal whilst not even trying.
The majority believe we burn our most calories during the gym, if we missed a session our entire day would be ruined. This is not the case so don’t worry if you miss the occasional session.
Does this mean scrap off the gym because in reality in only attributes to 5%? Well no, we know we need resistance training to build muscle which doesn’t occur anywhere else & exercise improves both our physical health and mental health. What I’m trying to get across is life can be tricky and you can’t always hit the gym. You need an extra rest day, you’ve got a deadline to meet for your boss etc. Missing an occasional session isn’t the end of the world and you can still align your fat loss goals so that end of the day, you still lose fat. If you set a calorie deficit that doesn’t take into account extra calories burned at the gym, that those extra calories are seen as an extra bonus to speed up progress. If you miss you’re still going to hit your target and make progress. Amazing stuff.
For people who go to the gym every January then fall off within a month, or people just looking to lose some fat upping your NEAT should be the first place to start. The gym isn’t a holy grail of any kind that if you don’t enjoy it or can’t be consistent with it then you're forever going to be unfit. You should look to small changes that can be easily implemented rather than trying to go 100mph from day one. Let’s be realistic here, if I put a step goal in place you’re going to move more this is so much easier to do and be consistent at than if I were to say I want you to hit the gym 5 times a week. If you could do that you probably wouldn’t be looking for help in the first place. Next I would set a calorie target in place, where you can enjoy your guilty pleasures in moderation and not feed you salad or protein shakes every thirty seconds. My point is that there are areas we can make so much progress which we should look to implant first in our lives, walk before we can run (quite literally). Consistency is what gets results remember.
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Thanks
Cameron
Additional Sources:
Ben Carpenter - What Is NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)?
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