With restricted movement as the advice is to stay at home, right now it’s easy to let fitness slip.
I am so proud of my ladies for continuing with their programmes, for adjusting so well to the changes we had to make to keep up a good workout routine.
If you’re continuing to workout through this tough time or if you’ve started to work out during this time then I applaud you! What I want you to think about is what you’re doing outside of those workouts?
I Want To Talk About A Little Something Called NEAT.
I’m not talking about how tidy you are because I certainly can’t talk. I’m talking about Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis or NEAT for short. It’s pretty much all the movement you do without actually planning to. Some examples might be tapping your foot or other fidgeting, pacing the room on a phone call, walking to the kitchen, gardening or carrying your bag from the car to your house.
As small as they might seem, these all add up!
Sitting at a desk motionless burns on average 90 kcal per hour where sitting and fidgeting burns 118. That’s just at a desk so imagine the difference those hours could make up throughout the day or I’ll just tell you… NEAT can account for just 15% of energy expenditure in the very sedentary all the way up to 50% in very active individuals!
“I’m working out hard 4-5x each week! That’s enough right?”
Actually, pushing yourself so much in your intended workout that you end up moving about less the rest of the day is less than ideal!
What do I mean? Lets take two people as examples…
Person 1 trains very intensely during their workout. They burn 500kcal and call it a day leaving feeling tired, sore and burnt out. They go to work, slouch over at a desk, eat lunch at their desk, drive home and sit on the couch to watch TV as their quick, easy oven tray dinner cooks because their tired to cook and hungry from that great session earlier.
Person 2 trains hard too BUT not quite so intensely. They burn about 300kcal and leave feeling positive and energetic. They go to work, sit up tall at their desk, take a lunchtime walk and drive home. They stand in their kitchen and cook a balanced meal before eating upright at the table. They watch some TV and go to bed.
While person 1 burnt more calories in the gym there and then, that’s all they did. Person 2 might not have burnt as many in the gym but they did much more throughout the day which overall would give them more expended energy ie more calories burnt.
Think About Your Own Routine?
If you have a brutal session do you do much more the rest of the day?
Do you find yourself slouching at your desk or sitting with good posture.
Do you take breaks outside to get a breathe of fresh air?
Do you take the lift or the stairs?
Do you drive to the local shop instead of walk?
Do you email your colleague instead of walking to their desk (pre lockdown of course).
These small changes can really add up!
….… Let’s Sum Up ……..
One of the biggest reasons for someone not successfully loosing or maintaining fat loss is simply due to decreasing levels of NEAT, that’s it, there’s no magic. Even before lockdown this was still so important!
The takeaway here is even if you are working out like crazy a few hours each week you can’t then just sit on your bum and do nothing all day! If you don’t have an active job, don’t naturally fidget or get up and move just make a little more effort to get in some extra activity.
I did a separate blog a little while ago on ways to increase your steps so have a read if you’d like some ideas!
