Moving Around is NEAT
What is NEAT?
Many of us have jobs that cause us to sit too much. We sit all day at work and then go home to sit some more. In between, we walk to the car, cook dinner, and take out the garbage. This movement in-between bouts of sitting is what fitness experts call Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or NEAT.
Re-Engineering Your Day
Sitting is a habitual activity. You need to re-engineer the NEAT portion of your day to break that habit and get motivated to push yourself. Make a list of the things you keep close while you sit and move them around the room. Keep the TV remote by the television. Keep your phone on the kitchen counter and your tablet computer in the bedroom.
Add in More Standing Time
Next, figure out what you can do standing. If you work at a desk, invest in a bed tray. Once or twice an hour, place the tray on your desk and elevate your keyboard on the tray. This allows you to type while you stand.
Move things that you normally keep on the desk up, too. Place your stapler on a shelf above your desk. Instead of reaching for it every few minutes, you must lift up off the chair to grab it.
Find Ways to Walk
Take five laps around the house before breakfast and two laps around the block before dinner. Park your car at the back of the lot when going to the grocery store. You have just added hundreds of steps to your daily routine.
Break your day down into three of four segments and find one way to add steps to each one. A heavy individual can burn 305 calories just by adding an extra 60 minutes of walking each day.
Exercise While You Sit
Increase your activity further by learning to move while in your chair. Get into the habit of lifting your legs up while you work, so your feet are parallel to your knees to do leg extensions. Pull your knees up so your feet lift off the floor. Hold that position for five seconds, then drop your feet.
Finding little ways to add movement gets addictive once you start. The more you do, the more you want to do. Before you know it, you will be taking the stairs instead of the elevator and heading to the gym for some treadmill time instead of parking on the couch.