With a long hot summer weekend ahead, it may not be possible to schedule a workout as well, but don’t worry!

Hands-up who’s heard of NEAT? It’s not like HIIT (high intensity interval training) or LISS (low intensity steady state) exercise.

N on
E xercise
A ctivity
T hermogenesis

NEAT is basically the energy you expend for everything you do that’s not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise.

Being active throughout the day can have a huge impact on the amount of energy we expend during the day. If the sum total of your daily movement is restricted to a 60 minute gym session and remaining sedentary for the rest of the day, then increasing your NEAT is only going to help with increasing the amount of calories you burn each day without increasing your workout time/effort.

There are a few little things that we can do to improve our daily NEAT.

  • Get off the tube/bus one stop earlier and walk the rest of the way.
  • Go for a walk during your lunch break.
  • Don’t park so close to the shops.
  • Do some extra chores around the house and Hinch yourself fitter!
  • Have a play session with the children! We worry that our children are glued to TV’s and tablets, when was the last time you chased them around the garden or kicked a football with them?
  • Take the dog for a longer walk. Dogs are great to get us outside, but how often do you cut short the walk because the weather conditions aren’t perfect?
  • Mow the lawn.
  • Clean the car by hand instead of using a car wash.

If fat loss is the main reason you exercise then increasing your NEAT on a daily basis is only going to provide you with more benefits to reaching your goals.

Remember, to lose 1lb of body fat requires a deficit of 3500 calories. It’s easier than you think to make small changes to make this happen.

1. Increase your NEAT by 200 calories a day (walking approximately 2 miles for example).

2. Make better/smarter/healthier food choices to reduce your daily calorie intake by at least 300 calories. For example, a Costa Coffee Primo Latte with s/skimmed milk with a chocolate twist pastry comes in at around 383 calories.

Add these together and you’re looking at around 500 fewer calories each day. Do that for 7 days and wave bye bye to 1lb of fat without resorting to extreme exercising or excessive food restriction.

In the group chat we’ve had topics like ‘I don’t know where to start to achieving my goals‘. Well here’s something simple that you can start. Making small changes to your daily habits by adding more NEAT while making slight changes to your food intake can help you achieve a calorie deficit to illicit fat loss.