When it comes to losing weight, many people assume that it revolves around rigorous gym workouts and high-intensity exercise routines – if you aren’t pouring sweat and out of breath it isn’t enough. However, losing weight doesn’t always require hitting the gym, glistening from your workout or investing in expensive equipment. Any physical activity increases your non-exercise activity thermogenesis, also known as NEAT. Increasing your NEAT is an accessible, inexpensive and effective way to promote weight loss without formal workouts.
In this blog post, we’ll explore various physical activity options that anyone can incorporate into their daily routine to increase NEAT, emphasizing the importance of reducing sedentary time, especially for those taking weight loss medications.
Understanding Non-Exercise Activity (NEAT)
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis is the energy we expend doing anything other than sleeping, eating, exercising, or participating in structured physical activity, like sports. Movements and tasks you perform in your daily life, also known as activities of daily life (ADL), and other unstructured physical activity all help to increase NEAT. These activities can be as simple as walking, gardening, cleaning, or playing with your kids. While they may not feel like workouts, they combat sedentary behaviour, improve metabolism, and contribute to weight loss in a sustainable way.
The Importance of NEAT for Weight Loss Medications
For individuals taking weight-loss medications, NEAT plays a crucial role in supporting sustainable weight loss. These medications often come with side effects like reduced energy, nausea, and constipation. Some of these symptoms can greatly reduce your desire to be physically active, often contributing to sedentary behaviour and muscle loss.
Non-Exercise Activities to Incorporate
- Walking: One of the easiest and most effective activities to increase NEAT is walking. Aim for at least 30 minutes of brisk walking each day. You can do this indoors or outdoors, depending on your preferences and the weather. Half the team at Jack and Jill Health have walking pads under their desks. It’s a great way to get in a few hours of walking while listening to conference calls!
- Household Chores: Household tasks like vacuuming, sweeping, and doing laundry can provide opportunities to increase NEAT. For the parents reading, picking up toys and clothes can provide even higher intensities of physical activity, depending on how much you move! Put on some music, encourage your kids and partner to join in and make a game out of the chore to get your heart beating..
- Gardening: Gardening not only gets you moving but also connects you with nature. Planting, weeding, and tending to your garden can be a fulfilling way to increase your NEAT. If you’ve ever had to weed dandelions from a lawn or turn over soil in a veggie patch, you’ll know that this can be a serious workout.
- Taking the Stairs: Opt for stairs instead of elevators whenever possible. Climbing stairs is an excellent way to engage your leg muscles and elevate your heart rate.
- Active Transport: If your workplace is within walking or biking distance, consider commuting by foot or bicycle. Not only is it environmentally friendly but also a great way to stay active. Even getting off the subway or bus a stop or two early helps to get in those extra steps. If driving is a must, consider parking a little further from the office to get those steps in!
- Play with Your Pets: Playing with your pets can be both enjoyable and physically stimulating for both you and your furry friend, whether it’s playing fetch, frisbee or going for a walk. Your mileage may vary with a pet goldfish.
The Benefits of NEAT
Incorporating unstructured physical activity into your daily life offers a multitude of benefits, especially for those on weight loss medications:
- Calorie Burn: Increasing your NEAT helps burn extra calories throughout the day, contributing to a calorie deficit necessary for weight loss.
- Improved Metabolism: Regular unstructured physical activity can help maintain or improve your metabolic rate by increasing your NEAT, ensuring that your body continues to burn calories efficiently.
- Reduced Sedentary Time: NEAT breaks up long periods of sitting, which is crucial for overall health and well-being. Prolonged sitting is associated with various health risks, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
- Enhanced Mood: Moderate to vigorous physical activity triggers the release of endorphins, which can boost your mood and reduce stress. Physical activity may even protect against mood disorders like depression and anxiety. Any activity that gets your heart pumping and breathing harder (hard enough that you can talk but not sing) will offer this mood boost!
- Sustainable Behaviour: Increasing your NEAT with unstructured physical activity is a sustainable way to stay active, as it doesn’t require a gym membership or specific equipment. It can easily become a part of your daily routine.
Getting Started Today
- Set Goals: Establish specific physical activity goals, such as taking 10,000 steps daily or spending 30 minutes on active chores. Even better – get your friends and family to join in to help keep each other accountable!
- Use Technology: Utilize fitness trackers or smartphone apps to monitor your daily activity and set reminders to move. Nothing like having your watch yell at you to stand up!
- Make It Realistic: Instead of feeling overwhelmed by an impossible goal, make one you know you can keep. Take a 5-second break to stand and stretch if you need to stay focused at work or make that walk you want to go on shorter.
- Make It Social: Invite friends or family members to join you! Activities like walking or gardening can be more enjoyable with company and they will help keep you accountable to your goals!
- Stay Consistent: Consistency is key to reaping the benefits of NEAT. Schedule small bouts of physical activity sessions into your daily routine, just like you would with formal exercise.
- Mix It Up: Variety keeps physical activity exciting. Alternate between different activities to prevent boredom.Let your creativity enhance your physical activity!
Conclusion
Unstructured physical activity is a valuable and accessible way to increase non-exercise activity thermogenesis and maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially for those taking weight loss medications. By incorporating activities to increase NEAT into your daily routine, you can reduce sedentary time, boost metabolism, and contribute to your weight loss goals. Remember, it’s not always about the intensity of the workout but the consistency of movement that matters.
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