NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) is the energy we burn throughout the entire day by doing our normal day to day movements. Walking, Sitting, Standing, picking up our kids toys, running our wheelie bins up to the bin man last second… you get my point. A common misconception we all have is prioritizing ONLY our selected amount of “gym time” we set for ourselves daily. I am here to remind you that you have 23 OTHER hours in the day which you can make better active choices…
In my other blogs I have slightly touched on NEAT, but today I really want to clarify the importance of it. When it comes to truly improving our lifestyles, I feel like this is the most important change we can make. As adults, life can be busy and you might OFTEN find yourself in situations where you may not be able to work out, whether that be work, kids or other reasons SOMETIMES we just will not make our designated gym session. It is not the end of the world. Again, we have 23 OTHER hours in that day.
What I suggest is you actively begin to change your day to day life choices. Start parking further away from work/shops and begin to slowly increase your daily steps. Instead of driving to the park/gym start walking or riding. Maybe even ask your work if you can try a standing desk. Instead of sitting on your couch and watching the latest episode of your favorite Netflix show, head to the gym and watch it while you walk on our State of the Art Treadmills 😉
Regardless of sedentary jobs or active jobs, we will ALL benefit from moving. Stretch the legs and start being active.
We all live convenient and comfortable lives and it is such a contributing factor to our population being Overweight or obese. In 2017-18 an estimated 2 in 3 (67%) Australians aged 18 and over were overweight or obese. We need to really start breaking the cycle and creating healthy habits for future generations to start curbing this statistic.
Set a goal this month. EVERY SINGLE DAY you increase your NEAT. I don’t mind how little or how big but let’s improve our NEAT.
