The most basic principle of weight loss is that you need to maintain a calorie deficit to shed pounds—meaning you must burn more calories than you consume. Of course, there are two ways to do this—by eating fewer calories or burning them off by exercising. Neither of these is foolproof: Choose the former, and you very well may be starving; go with the latter, and you might find yourself scrambling for time to get to the gym. But what if we told you that you could torch up to 1,000 calories a day without doing either of these things? That's exactly the idea behind NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis.
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What is NEAT?
Mayo Clinic defines NEAT as "the calories burned through daily physical movement outside of planned exercise." This might include completing chores, walking your dog, mowing the lawn, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or cooking.
NEAT can be especially helpful if you sit all day, which has been proven to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, muscle stiffness, and decreased bone density, among other risks.
It can also lead to weight gain. In fact, a 2012 study found that sitting for more than four hours per day increases your risk of being overweight or obese. But getting up and moving every hour or so can really add up throughout the day.
"Pace around while you talk on the phone. When possible, walk down the hall to talk to a co-worker instead of e-mailing or phoning. Be less efficient while cleaning the house by alternating tasks on different floors, so you have to go up and down the stairs more often," suggests Harvard Health Publishing.
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How can NEAT help with weight loss?
James Levine, MD, an endocrinologist who pioneered research on NEAT while at Mayo Clinic and is now head of the nonprofit Fondation Ipsen, told NPR that it's difficult to measure the caloric data associated with NEAT because "how on earth do you measure everything?"
However, Levine used the Apple Watch and other body sensors to conduct controlled experiments on NEAT. For example, he explained to NPR that sitting at a computer burns only 5 to 7 percent more calories than sleeping.
"If I then start to move around, let's say ironing or folding up clothes, I can move that to 15 percent," he said. However, if he were to start walking at a pace of one-and-a-half to two miles an hour (the typical speed for shopping or running errands), his metabolic rate would double.
According to WebMD, here are some other estimates of calorie expenditure for 30-minute bouts of common daily chores (numbers vary by a person's weight):
- Vacuuming: 99-166 calories
- Mowing the lawn: 135-200 calories
- Washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen: 187-300 calories
- Gardening: 139-200 calories
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There are still certain exercise benchmarks you should hit.
At the end of the day, any movement is better than no movement. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity weekly to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.
The CDC says it's best for this to be a combination of aerobic/cardio and muscle-strengthening activities. Moderate cardio includes walking fast, riding a bike on flat terrain, or playing doubles tennis, while vigorous cardio includes jogging or running, swimming laps, or playing singles tennis. As for strength training, this may include bodyweight exercises, lifting weights, or taking certain yoga classes.
But their recommendations also factor in NEAT. For example, the CDC considers pushing a lawnmower to be moderate cardio and digging in the garden as strength training.
