Today we’re shifting away from foods for heart health and jumping into physical activity…

…and not your traditional “walk 60 minutes each day” physical activity or do intervals for fat loss.

But the movement you do the other 23 hours of the day.  

This is often called Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) – very simply, the movement you do outside of structured physical activity.

It includes things like standing, fidgeting, taking the stairs, pacing, chewing gum, typing, talking, etc.  
These all don’t sound like much in the grand scheme of things, but research proves otherwise.

Data suggests all this extra NEAT accounts for about 15-20% of your energy expenditure – or, more simply, how many calories you burn.  That’s a pretty big chunk!

There were some interesting findings in a study published just a few years ago in the Journal Science, (2005, Interindividual variation in posture allocation: possible role in human obesity):

Lean individuals “moved” (standing, fidgeting, etc) 2.5 hours more than obese individuals each day.  They also sat nearly 3 hours less each day.

These differences were responsible for burning an additional 350 or so calories each day!  

So what does this mean in plain English?  If you do what the lean people did in this study, stand more and sit less, you’d lose approximately 37 pounds at the end of 1 year!

Pretty convincing, right?

Very simply – in addition to your daily structured exercise (whatever that means for you) you need to be as active as possible the other 23 or so hours during the day.

Even the most active "gym rats" often move very little – train for 30 or 60 minutes, sit for at least 8-10 hours in front of a computer, come home and plop down on the couch for the next few hours until going to bed and laying for another 6-8 hours.

Everyone needs to move more.  

How can you do this? 

• Take walking breaks during the day – for every 50 minutes at your desk, get up and move for 10 minutes.
• If you’re reading something, try walking around vs. simply sitting.
• Always take the stairs vs. the elevator or escalator.
• Simply look for as many ways to move as you can.

We’ll never say this should all replace structured exercise – it is in addition to structured exercise.  

It can truly make or break your fat loss goals…and when you have less body fat, you have a lower risk of heart disease.  

For more tips and strategies on reducing the risk of heart disease, check out:

Wild salmon vs Farm Raised for Heart Disease

Eating Oats for a Healthy Heart

Heart Healthy Oils in Avocados

Posted February 4th, 2010 under Nutrition. Tags: exercise for love handles, fidgeting and weight loss, fidgeting burns calories, fidgeting to lose weight, fidgeting weight loss, how much exercise do I need to lose weight
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