Most people these days have a pretty sedentary life. You get up, get in a car, sit at a desk for work, get back in a car, come home, sit down. Studies show the average American does about 5,000 steps a day.
Researchers compared the average step counts from the U.S. with other countries:
United States: 5,117 steps. That is about 2.5 miles.
Switzerland: 9,650 steps = 4.8 miles.
Japan: 7,168 steps = 3.5 miles.
So let’s increase our daily movement, aka N.E.A.T!
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or participating in exercise.
Studies show that NEAT helps with resistance in fat gain in regards to overeating. In a study of non-overweight volunteers, those who did more NEAT were less likely to gain excess fat if there were excess calories taken in on any given day. Without activating daily NEAT, those excess calories may result in fat gain. This is because of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), an enzyme that converts fat into energy source. By increasing NEAT, your body uses LPL as energy fuel instead of storing it as fat.
How to increase daily NEAT if you work a desk job:
1. Stand instead of sit all day.
2. If you have to sit, set a timer every hour to get up and take a lap around the office.
3. When you take a call, pace around the office.
4. Park your car further away. Or even better, walk, bike or take public transit to work.
5. Play with your kids. Take your dog for a walk.
6. Clean or do daily tasks around the house.
7. Go for a short walk post dinner. It will also help promote digestion.
Come join my March Steps Challenge! We are going to battle it out to see who can get the most movement in a day. You just need a fitness tracker like Fitbit, Garmin, Smartwatch, etc. It can also sync with Apple Health if you have your phone with you all day. Download Stridekick and find “HappyHelen” to find me and I will add you to the challenge!