An Easy, Undervalued Way to Increase Metabolism and Burn a Few Extra Calories

I barely moved for a year.

For one year after graduation, I remained unemployed and unmotivated. Slowly, I developed a routine at home. One that mostly comprised of me lying on the bed watching Netflix. I could spend an entire day in bed, only moving to eat food or go out if I got extremely bored.

It wasn't long before the pounds started adding up. Before long, I had gained over 20 pounds.

Until I got sick of it.

Things needed to change. I was too comfortable with where I was.

So I moved back to India, my home country, found a job and joined a gym. It only took about four months of living there to get back to my original weight. Clearly, struggling to make a living and staying away from home had its effects.

An exact year later, I moved back to the middle east to live with my parents. I still went to the gym, still ate healthy (almost). Yet, I couldn’t go back to the fit feeling I had back in India. Yes, I was still maintaining my body, but it seemed something had changed from my way of life between the two countries.

That was when I discovered the concept of NEAT.

Non-Exercise Thermogenesis

NEAT is the energy our body spends when doing any activity outside of a structured workout program, sleeping, or eating.

If you spend an hour doing a high-intensity workout or sports-related activities, the energy that your body expends during that time is called exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT).

If you choose to go for a walk or lift weights, that is EAT.

Whereas NEAT is anything non-exercise. If you are sitting at your work desk answering emails while bouncing or tapping your leg, that’s NEAT. If you had to sprint to make it to the elevator, that is also NEAT.

In short, NEAT is any physical activity in your day that is unplanned.

How could bouncing my leg lead to losing weight, you may wonder. You won’t shed the pounds by fidgeting with your legs, but even this tiny, seemingly insignificant movement adds to your total daily energy expenditure.

It’s a cumulative effect.

NEAT includes a wide range of physical activities like walking, cleaning, cooking, standing, sitting, typing, doing yard work, and, yes, even fidgeting.

Someone who moves a lot will have a higher NEAT than a person who loves being a couch potato.

Why Is NEAT Important?

NEAT is the most variable component of the body’s total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

Your TDEE depends on the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), Non-exercise thermogenesis (NEAT), and Thermic Effect of Food (TEF).

The Body’s BMR is something we cannot control as it depends on various factors like muscle mass, height, age, gender, etc. Nor can we fully control the amount of energy the body spends in digesting different foods.

This leaves us with the only changeable factor — NEAT.

This means how much energy you spend by doing everyday activities is entirely up to you.

If you prefer to sit on the couch after work watching TV, the number of calories burned would be minimal. If you choose to walk for the same duration, the calorie burned number would be significantly higher. This difference is crucial for someone trying to lose weight.

A study in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology, and Metabolism states that ambling or browsing in a store (walking at 1 mph) doubles energy expenditure, and purposeful walking (2–3 mph) is associated with doubling or tripling of energy expenditure.

Considering this information, it’s easy to say that when your NEAT goes down, the weight goes up.

Many studies have proven that overweight individuals maintain lower NEAT levels compared to lean people.

How It Affected My Body

When I moved to India for a year, my lifestyle had changed from sedentary to active. Other than my regular workouts, I was spending a lot of time simply moving.

I had to walk a lot every day (from bus stops to the workplace or from grocery shops to home, etc). I had to clean the house myself, cook food, and do many other daily activities. On top of this, I spend most of my time at work standing or moving about my office. There was not a lot of time that I spent just doing nothing.

This, along with a regular workout routine and somewhat healthy diet, quickly got me into the best shape of my life.

When I moved back to my parents' home, most of this physical activity stopped. I did not have to cook food or clean the house, or do any household work.

There was very minimal walking involved in my day-to-day life as most travels happened by car. Even though I continued my workout, I still gained some weight and did not feel as fit as before.

Other than my scheduled workout time, I spent most of my day being sedentary.

My NEAT had gone down.

This change made a clearly visible difference in my body.

The Secret of Naturally Lean People

Have you ever been jealous of a naturally lean person before? You probably chalked it up to great genetics and a faster metabolism. This may not be the case always.

Yes, genetics and BMR play a role but, guess what? They are probably just a lot more active than you.

On top of being active, they may also work out. All this movement adds up to their daily energy expenditure. This slight difference in lifestyle is the reason some people are thin with no effort while others are not. You could be effortlessly thin too if you incorporate daily physical activities into your life.

So maybe you just need to move your butt more!