The calories you burn moving through daily life dwarf the ones you burn exercising.
Between two people the gap runs to 2,000 kcal a day.
Exercise is only 5% of what you burn
| Daily expenditure | Share |
|---|---|
| Basal metabolic rate | 60–70% |
| Daily activity (NEAT) | 15–30% |
| Digesting food | 10% |
| Planned exercise | Around 5% |
Go to the gym three times a week and that is 3 hours out of the 168 in a week.
What you do with the other 165 sets the total.
Sitting time is the problem
Office workers sit for an average of 9 to 10 hours a day. Simply standing burns another 20 to 50 kcal an hour.
Stand for three hours a day and that is 60 to 150 kcal.
| Activity | Burned in 30 minutes (70 kg) |
|---|---|
| Working seated | 40 kcal |
| Working standing | 60 kcal |
| Walking slowly | 90 kcal |
| Climbing stairs | 250 kcal |
| Housework | 110 kcal |
The more trivial the tactic, the better
- •Get off one stop early: 80 kcal a day
- •Three flights of stairs instead of the elevator: 30 kcal a day
- •Take calls standing: 40 kcal a day
- •A 10-minute walk after lunch: 40 kcal a day
All four together come to 190 kcal a day. Over a month that is 5,700 kcal, worth 0.7 kg of body fat.
You get it without setting foot in a gym.
NEAT drops on its own while you diet
Cut calories and your body moves less without asking you. Less fidgeting, fewer shifts in posture, a slower walk.
A good part of the plateau where the diet is tight and the scale will not move comes from here.
This is why step counts are worth tracking. Steps falling while you diet is a signal that your body is conserving.
Check how many steps you have taken today
Your phone already has it. If today sits below last week's average, undoing that is faster than adding a workout.
Sources · Levine's NEAT research · American College of Sports Medicine MET table for activities · literature on activity changes during weight loss