Stay Lean & Strong without Exercise: A NEAT Solution

Stay Lean & Strong without Exercise: A NEAT Solution 

Do you hate going to the gym because it takes too much time, effort and money?

Are you so busy making a career or making enough to meet your goals that you have no time for exercise?

Are you not losing weight (Or have gained a little) or have no muscles to show even with a year of rigorous gym?

Well the answer lies in NEAT or Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

Photo: Caroline Hernandez

We spend energy ( in the form of heat) throughout the day and night to live as all the cells work continually ( Metabolism), we spend a little bit of extra energy while eating and digesting our food (Thermic effect of food), and we spend energy through all our daily activities. The daily activities will include household work, going to the market or the mall, cooking, cleaning, washing, changing postures, climbing stair, even fidgeting. This energy is produced in the form of heat which is measured in Calories. By adding extra activities like gym sessions and sports, we try to enhance the energy consumption while training the muscles. An adult human being consumes at an average 2000 to 2500 calories and to lose one kg of weight, we will need to spend extra 7700 Calories.

While the Basal Metabolic Rate is relatively fixed at around 1500 Calories ( This depends on the body weight) and the thermic effect of food is negligible, the energy expenditure from our daily activity can vary immensely according to our nature of work. It can vary by 2000 Calorie per day between two persons of the same body weight.

As the obesity epidemic spread across countries, we blamed easy availability of high energy foods. But a study done in UK threw a surprising finding. 

Photo: Younus Tug

The energy consumption had remained nearly same, but the population had become much heavier!

Gyms had come up and exercise had become fashionable, but people only grew fatter over the years!

The answer lies In N.E.A.T. Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. James A Levine, the topmost researcher on NEAT, has defined NEAT as energy expenditure from all our activities other than the exercise, gym or sports that we do. NEAT plays a much bigger role in maintaining our weight, strength and fitness than the gym sessions or exercise we do, and is probably as important as our diet.

Let me explain.

The next time when you visit an upscale restaurant in a five-star hotel, please observe the contrast between the portliness of the diners and the leanness of the stewards and stewardesses. While the diners sit down and dine, the stewards and stewardess walk to and fro in the sprawling space, carry heavy loads of food and bend down repeatedly to take orders; spending huge amount of calories through NEAT.

Photo: Getty Images

We all have met the wiry farmer who stays in shape and remains strong, and never has dreamt of doing any exercise. His/her heavy farm work takes care of all the needs of exercise.

We all have come across the sprightly homemaker aunt ( or mom) who never gains any weight and remains strong because all her cooking, cleaning, washing and dusting takes care of all her exercise.

My eighty plus mom handles heavy jugs, cookers and sauce pans with such ease that I marvel at her grip strength! She never ever had to do any weight training in her life. Cooking and kitchen chores built her strength.

You can remain fit and lean and shed loads of weight just by being more active and doing chores. 

Photo: Ahmed

The UK study I mentioned came to the conclusion that although people consumed the same amount of calorie, they were far less active because of all the modern amenities like cars, TV, mas commute facilities, lifts and many other contraptions. Amidst all of these and the compulsion of a desk bound job, how can we build more non-exercise activities in our daily routine?

The Non-Exercise Activities that we can do:

Ambulation and locomotion: Walk to the market instead of driving, climb a few flight of stairs before taking the lift (Great energy burner, good exercise for legs and heart), walk around your house while talking to someone on a phone, in the office take a walking break for five minutes every half an hour, do calf raises while sitting at your desk, take walking meetings with your team. Every morning, park your car a little away and walk for about five hundred meters to your office. You will be surprised by the long term effect of this one kilometer to-and-fro walk.

Photo: Getty Images

Change of posture: Watch TV or play video games while standing. Use a standing desk at work. Use a chair without arm or back rest (uses more energy). A very effective Non-Exercise Activity is to use a gym ball as a chair, where the body spends lots of calorie in subtle adjustments to keep the balance.

Activities that train muscles: Cooking: Improves hand eye co-ordination, balance and grip strength. Cooking trains all the muscles of the upper limbs and as we bend down to find utensils and condiments, it trains the lower limbs too. Cooking releases loads of endorphin and is good for both the body and the mind. Washing: Manually washing clothes is a good whole body exercise. Mopping, dusting, arranging your cupboard: provide whole body movement and exercise. In the film ‘The Karate Kid’, Mr. Miyagi demonstrates to his disciple Daniel San the efficacy of mundane housework like painting the fence and washing the car in building suppleness and flexibility to your muscles.

Photo: Sandra Seitaama

NEAT is also important in maximizing the gains from gym sessions and exercise. We all know the situations where people are unable to lose any weight or show any visible muscle gains even with long gym sessions. It is because some people become tired with their gym sessions and laze around through the day, reducing their non-exercise activity. Also, gym sessions increase hunger and one may end up getting bulked up. So it is important that even if you are exercising or playing a sport, keep your NEAT high by being active throughout the day. The walk to the gym may be more effective than the gym!

By being active throughout the day and increasing your NEAT, you can easily burn 300 to 400 calories more. That’s a whopping 9000 to 12000 Calories a month and means one to one and a half kg weight loss a month. Meanwhile, being functional movements, Non-exercise Activities train our muscles for more real life situations, which the gym machines never do.

To reduce weight many of us get on a diet and some of us take to various types of intermittent fasting. Yet, many of those who fast or diet, fail to lose adequate weight in spite of significant calorie restriction. Here too, the answer lies in Non-Exercise Activity which has a direct correlation with energy intake. In a fasted state, body automatically conserves energy by being less active and decreasing NEAT. It is probably better to be active throughout the day by indulging in various Non-Exercise Activity and do only moderate calorie restriction.

NEAT is especially important for the kids. Especially in the cities, obesity is becoming a significant problem in the kids, leading to many health issues. Unlike us adults, they cannot go on a diet or do gym sessions. But we can design lots of non-exercise activities for them in the schools and in homes to address the childhood obesity problem.

Photo: Chelsea Aaron

NEAT, also known as NEPA (Non-Exercise Physical Activity) can be our way to fitness and health. It costs us nothing, instead saves us a bit of money as we do our chores ourselves.

Dr. Ashish Roy. MBBS. MD.

Pediatrician & Wellness Expert