Let’s Get Moving
NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is an extremely important component in changing your body composition. NEAT is just a fancy way of describing all of the movement you do outside of exercise. When you take away the time spent during your structured exercise and time spent sleeping we are left with about 60% of our day. That is why NEAT is so important. Thats a lot of time. And you guessed it, whether you spend most of that time sitting or most of that time in movement, will greatly impact the results of your body recomposition.
Walking is a great way to get that movement. You should aim to get 4,000-10,000 steps a day.
Seem impossible?
Here are some tips:
- take a 5-10 minute walk after each meal
- park further away from the door when going places
- take the stairs instead of the elevator
- when doing laundry, put one item away at a time, going back to the dryer/basket each time
- pace while talking on the phone and brushing your teeth
- borrow a dog or volunteer to walk dogs at a local shelter
- make more trips when unloading your car instead of carrying everything at once
- find a walking buddy to keep you accountable
Yes, structured exercise is great. You should most certainly continue with your workout program. However our structured exercise is probably only four percent of our week. That leaves a huge amount of time. You can see why NEAT is so important. So however you choose to do it, get moving. You will be so happy you did!
