NEAT Improvement Strategies to Improve Weight Loss
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For the past couple of weeks i've been regularly getting up and walking the exterior of my building. It's less than 200 steps, but doing that 7 or 8 times a day, plus parking at the far end of my lot, and then a short 10 minute walk once or twice a day. I don't count this extra activity as "exercise", i'm just trying to make my daily activity more...active.
Today while I was waiting for my breakfast to heat up, I did about a dozen reverse lunges. Just small things like that.
And count me in as one of the fidgeters,10 -
I'm a retired person and days am pretty sedentary, watching TV or reading. However, other days I babysit 2-4 little grandkids who keep me running, take care of my elderly mother who needs lifted, clean the house after the kids and family of pigs, do the laundry and put it away for Mom & me, buy the groceries, put them away, cook the meals, do the dishes & clean the kitchen most of the time, walk 1/4 mile to pick up the mail, and sometimes work out in the yard and garden. The way I loosely measure these activities is that I chose a sedentary setting then add back 200 or so calories on an active day to account for my activities or N.E.A.T. If I exercise "intentionally" I add that as well. These I mostly add to my deficit which is only 600 calories or enjoy as snacks since I'm only at 1200 calories.6
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I am very forgetful, so I have to go up and down the stairs in my house to get things (especially to the pantry/cold storage in the basement when I am cooking/baking). I also hate parking lots so I will park far to avoid cars if I can. I put on upbeat music when I am cooking, cleaning, folding laundry so I dance and jump around.
I'm very forgetful as well and this happens all the time, and then I started actually putting more commonly used things in the downstairs pantry/fridge so I have to make another trip besides. So, it's usually 1 trip for ingredients for dinner, and then a couple more for the stuff I forget (and only remember 1 at a time ).1 -
This is a great question. This go round I have significantly increased NEAT. I don't know that I have much new to add. I park in the far lot at work. I have a short walk at work that gives me about 1600-1700 steps in about 12 minutes or so, and I try to do that 2 - 3 times a day (it includes stairs). I take an inefficient route everywhere (copier, restroom, lab, etc). During lecture, I don't use a slide advancer; I do the brief walk back and forth to my computer. I do laps in one of our labs while my lunch heats up. At work alone, I am getting 7000-8000 steps through NEAT alone, and then I get the rest at home and a few at the gym.12
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A few things I'm doing lately to increase NEAT:
- Shopping with a hand-basket instead of a cart whenever possible . . . sometimes when barely possible (milk and yogurt are heavy! )
- Doing routine chores as quickly and vigorously as possible, even using unnecessary extra movement ( ) which makes more time for . . .
- Catching up on procrastinated home repair and improvement projects.
- Doing minor, often nearly-invisible exercises during wait times, such as standing
(barely) on one foot while waiting in line, lat contractions against the steering wheel at stoplights, calf raises while chopping veggies, etc. (these burn tiny calories but help me with other objectives, too, like balance and lat recruitment).
I did not even consider those things as being much of note. I carry heavy shopping around and home on an almost daily basis.
I also add that I pace a lot while waiting for my food to cook, I am always organising and lining things up, I straighten my bed covers several times a day, I have a thing about my clothing being loose so I tend to expend energy stretching out sleeves and the like, even when sitting down for the evening, when I finally do sit down, I am shifting about the place. I never really considered how much extra energy I might use just from being a somewhat fidgety, stressy sort of person.6 -
Kegels?21
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Clean your house every day.
Shake your legs when sitting down.4 -
The biggest thing I've done since learning about NEAT is give myself permission to fidget even more. I've been suppressing the urge to swing or jiggle my legs for years, but now I feel like I have an excuse. Sorry, people sitting nearby! I do try and be considerate...9
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I am very forgetful, so I have to go up and down the stairs in my house to get things (especially to the pantry/cold storage in the basement when I am cooking/baking). I also hate parking lots so I will park far to avoid cars if I can. I put on upbeat music when I am cooking, cleaning, folding laundry so I dance and jump around.
I'm very forgetful as well and this happens all the time, and then I started actually putting more commonly used things in the downstairs pantry/fridge so I have to make another trip besides. So, it's usually 1 trip for ingredients for dinner, and then a couple more for the stuff I forget (and only remember 1 at a time ).
Bahaha yupp same!!!3 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »The biggest thing I've done since learning about NEAT is give myself permission to fidget even more. I've been suppressing the urge to swing or jiggle my legs for years, but now I feel like I have an excuse. Sorry, people sitting nearby! I do try and be considerate...
I get what you're saying!
Somewhat similarly, I've long prided myself on being efficient (combining trips up/down stairs, keeping needful tools near their use, etc). It amuses me that I'm now trying to be more inefficient!15 -
Increase my NEAT to 1000 steps every waking hour from 7AM to 9PM.
Which includes, but no limited to:
walking around the house while I brush my teeth
several morning trips from bedroom to kitchen to get another cup of coffee
park further away at work
send print jobs to the printer 100 steps away rather than the printer on my desk
use the copier wayyy down the hall rather than the one in my office
take several laps around the warehouse every hour to make sure I make 1000 steps
at lunch, take a walk or if running errands, park further, wander up and down the isles of Walmart or grocery store when picking up that gallon of milk
play frisbee/soccer with the dog for a good 30 minutes when I get home from work
make multiple trips i.e. no more multi-tasking
Somewhat similarly, I've long prided myself on being efficient (combining trips up/down stairs, keeping needful tools near their use, etc). It amuses me that I'm now trying to be more inefficient!
yes, definitely less efficient esp at work
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Not really anything to add. I think it has all been covered.
(And then I keep on typing and typing )
I do tend to squat, lunge, plank, and push-up, more than pace between tasks, do arm exercises while reading, and have little exercise routine while driving.
I have never really done the Fitbit type thing, and probably get under stepped compared to many, but my whole body gets moved a lot more than it used to during the day.
It will be 10 years at Christmas that I decided to lose weight and one of the first things I realized was that I had put on my extra 30lbs because I had succumbed to the getting older moving less general expectation. Not that I was eating more food.
Increasing my NEAT in subtle, and not so subtle ways* has been the biggest component, I think, for being able to maintain all these years.
(*SO walks into kitchen 'h why are you on the floor?' h 'doing some planks while watching the Yorkshire Pudding bake' SO leaves confused)
Great topic @AnnPT77. Increaing NEAT is something I will often bring up in posts.
I don't think a lot of people realize how NEAT can affect ones calorie balance, and how ones NEAT can drop when a deficit is too high- lethargy.
Cheers, h.22 -
Counter push ups are another good kitchen maneuver to bust out while cooking.22
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Counter push ups are another good kitchen maneuver to bust out while cooking.
Ooh yes they were a good one. I worked my way around the kitchen until I was on the floor. It made it feel like it wasn't hard work, just something I did while waiting.
Oh and while I am chattering away, slightly off topic- POSTURE.
OK it doesn't burn calories, but it can't half improve the way one performs and looks.
When you are doing all the extra NEAT enhancing moves, steps, add in good posture. .
Cheers, h.9 -
I do several of the things that others have posted, as well as the following:
-At work, I stand and/or walk around while eating breakfast. I've also started to walk around every time I drink water at work. I also stand while on phone calls and walk around if I'm on a conference call that I can listen to on speakerphone.
-I'm not a natural fidgeter, but I've started to intentionally fidget during meetings and throughout the day.
-When working out, I keep my water on the opposite side of the room so that I have to walk back and forth whenever I take a water break. I also sometimes do this with my drink when eating dinner at home.
-I always weigh and log ingredients into MFP's recipe builder as I cook, but I keep my phone on the opposite side of the room so I end up walking back and forth to log every ingredient.
-I charge my phone in an outlet in a different room from the one that I'm in and end up getting up/walking to check it several times while it's charging.
-I wander around when I open up mail or a package - this works well when I order a bunch of items on Amazon and walk around for several minutes while unpacking/opening up each item.
-When possible, I check my email, Facebook, MFP, etc. on my phone and walk around while answering emails/messages or browsing on my phone. On the weekends, I do this a few times per day, and each time can be 10-20 minutes worth of walking.4 -
I don't work and don't tend to venture outside very far, but here are my strategies (I know they don't seem like much, but when I first got a fitness tracker, my non-increased step count was about 1500-2000 steps, so this has all helped immensely)
Being less efficient in the house - every morning I fill the kids' water bottles. 4 bottles, each in the fridge in the study, walk back and forwards to get and return a bottle individually.
Walking around the kitchen island when I'm waiting for the kettle to boil, tea to steep, oven to heat up, etc
Putting my milk in the study fridge.
Using the upstairs bathroom instead of the downstairs bathroom (I have a dodgy knee so this might depend on how much pain I'm in)
Getting up from my studies whenever my fitness tracker exhibits the inactivity bar (or red bar of death, as my youngest quite charmingly puts it) - I used to walk around to clear it when this happened, now I do a little dance to music
Being less efficient at the store - I leave my trolley at the end of the aisle and walk up and down however many times it takes to get what I need from that aisle (it's really a good job that I go early on, before all the pensioners and parents with young children get there )
I have one of those door gym things on the downstairs bathroom door (one with resistance bands) - I have to walk past it to get to the study. Whenever I pass it, I do a short burst of pulling (I know this one really isn't doing much, but it makes me feel better, lol)
If the dogs go out in the front yard (which has about 8 stairs down into it), I walk up and down the stairs while they do their business (again, knee dependant)
When I go to pick up my other half from the railway station, I park and walk up and down the High Street, instead of sitting and reading while I wait.
Laundry - I have a small line on the deck that I used to use when the weather was bad, and a large line in the back yard (down a small flight of stairs). It had got that I would use the small line all the time - now, if the weather is good, I use the large line, and make more trips (knee permitting)
Sometimes, if my knee is really bothering me so that even walking on a flat surface is painful, then I'll put a couple of little dumbbells (don't judge!) by my laptop and do some arm exercises with those in between study units.
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Dreamyriver wrote: »I don't work and don't tend to venture outside very far, but here are my strategies (I know they don't seem like much, but when I first got a fitness tracker, my non-increased step count was about 1500-2000 steps, so this has all helped immensely)
Being less efficient in the house - every morning I fill the kids' water bottles. 4 bottles, each in the fridge in the study, walk back and forwards to get and return a bottle individually.
Walking around the kitchen island when I'm waiting for the kettle to boil, tea to steep, oven to heat up, etc
Putting my milk in the study fridge.
Using the upstairs bathroom instead of the downstairs bathroom (I have a dodgy knee so this might depend on how much pain I'm in)
Getting up from my studies whenever my fitness tracker exhibits the inactivity bar (or red bar of death, as my youngest quite charmingly puts it) - I used to walk around to clear it when this happened, now I do a little dance to music
Being less efficient at the store - I leave my trolley at the end of the aisle and walk up and down however many times it takes to get what I need from that aisle (it's really a good job that I go early on, before all the pensioners and parents with young children get there )
I have one of those door gym things on the downstairs bathroom door (one with resistance bands) - I have to walk past it to get to the study. Whenever I pass it, I do a short burst of pulling (I know this one really isn't doing much, but it makes me feel better, lol)
If the dogs go out in the front yard (which has about 8 stairs down into it), I walk up and down the stairs while they do their business (again, knee dependant)
When I go to pick up my other half from the railway station, I park and walk up and down the High Street, instead of sitting and reading while I wait.
Laundry - I have a small line on the deck that I used to use when the weather was bad, and a large line in the back yard (down a small flight of stairs). It had got that I would use the small line all the time - now, if the weather is good, I use the large line, and make more trips (knee permitting)
Sometimes, if my knee is really bothering me so that even walking on a flat surface is painful, then I'll put a couple of little dumbbells (don't judge!) by my laptop and do some arm exercises with those in between study units.
I think those are excellent strategies, and I'm especially impressed by how you work both with and around your knee issues. I have some knee issues, too. I've had some friends with this sort of thing who just stop doing things, but I'm finding that the stronger (and) lighter I get, the less pain I have.
Go, you!7 -
I can't really stand to do things slowly or inefficiently but I do have small habits/exercises I tie in to my daily routine. It doesn't take any extra time but it really helps.
- My mini trampoline is across the hall from my bathroom so every time I use the bathroom at home I jump on the trampoline for a bit - not long just to a count of 50 or 100.
- While I wait the minute or so for my coffee to brew I do chair dips or pushups.
- I walk in the morning while I drink my coffee now instead of sitting down and reading.
- And lastly, when I'm cooking dinner I look around for little odds and ends to take care of around the house, again, instead of sitting down.
7 - My mini trampoline is across the hall from my bathroom so every time I use the bathroom at home I jump on the trampoline for a bit - not long just to a count of 50 or 100.
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