10 Simple Ways to Increase Your NEAT to Lose Weight

Increasing your NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) is an easy, low impact, way to burn more calories everyday to help you lose weight and get travel fit.

In this article we explain what NEAT is, how it can be your secret fat loss technique, and ten simple ways to increase it.

What is NEAT?

NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Put simply, it is the energy your body uses for all the movement you do that isn’t deliberate exercise.

Walking around the supermarket, climbing the stairs, cleaning the house, gardening, standing up while you work, walking to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and even fidgeting all require energy.

Individually, these activities might not seem significant. But they can add up because they happen throughout the day.

This is what makes NEAT interesting if you’re trying to lose weight or improve your fitness. Instead of only thinking about the calories you burn during a 30-minute workout, you can look for opportunities to move a little more throughout your entire day.

How Does NEAT Help You Lose Weight?

Your body burns calories all day, not just when you’re exercising.

You use energy to keep your body functioning, digest food, exercise and carry out all the other movement that makes up your day.

NEAT is part of that daily energy expenditure.

If you increase the amount you move during everyday life, you increase the amount of energy your body needs. Combined with an appropriate diet, that additional energy expenditure can contribute towards the calorie deficit needed to lose weight.

The important part is that small amounts of movement can accumulate.

An extra walk around the block might not feel like much. Neither will taking the stairs, walking around during a phone call or spending five minutes dancing in the kitchen.

Do several of those things every day, however, and you have increased the amount of movement in your life without necessarily doing a single formal workout.

Can NEAT Be Better Than Going to the Gym?

The gym can be brilliant for improving your fitness, building strength and supporting your health. NEAT isn’t a replacement for structured gym sessions and chasing some specific fitness goals..

But when your goal is weight loss, increasing your NEAT has a lot of advantages over the gym:

• You have an entire day in which to do it – You might spend 30–60 minutes exercising at the gym and be totally spent, but with NEAT you have a huge amount of time available to you everyday to increase your movement, and without it leaving you exhausted or sore.
• NEAT can also be particularly useful if you don’t enjoy gyms, struggle to find time for formal workouts, are starting from a low level of fitness, or simply want a less demanding way to become more active.
• NEAT doesn’t require special clothes, equipment or an expensive gym membership.
• You don’t have to think of what you’re doing as exercise, you just have to focus on moving.

That last point is key, you just have to look for opportunities in your everyday lift to move more and that is the basis for these simple ideas to increase your NEAT.

1. Take a Daily Walk

Walking is probably one of the simplest ways to increase your everyday movement.

It doesn’t have to be a five-mile hike or a power walk. Start with something that fits your current ability and routine.

That might be ten minutes around the block, walking to the local shop, taking the dog out, exploring a park or simply walking to the end of the road and back.

If you already walk regularly, try gradually adding a little extra distance or time.

A daily walk also has an obvious Travel Fit benefit: walking more now can make walking on your future travels easier.

Those extra steps could be preparing you for exploring a city, walking around a theme park, visiting a zoo or climbing a hill to see an amazing view.

2. Take the Stairs

When you have a choice between stairs and a lift or escalator, consider taking the stairs.

You don’t need to turn it into a challenge or race to the top. Just walking up a flight or two adds a little more movement to your day.

If several flights of stairs are too much, you could take the lift most of the way and walk the final flight.

Remember, the aim isn’t to make life unnecessarily difficult. It’s to spot easy opportunities for a little extra movement.

3. Move While Watching TV

Watching TV doesn’t have to mean remaining completely still.

Stand up during an advert break, walk on the spot for a few minutes, stretch your legs or wander around the room while you’re watching.

You could even set yourself a simple rule such as getting up and moving for five minutes between episodes.

You still get to enjoy your programme—you’ve just added a little movement at the same time.

4. Dance Around the Kitchen

Put some music on and dance while you’re cooking dinner, making breakfast or tidying the kitchen.

It doesn’t need to be good dancing.

Nobody is judging your technique.

The point is simply that moving your body uses more energy than standing still—and making that movement enjoyable makes you more likely to do it again.

One song can give you three or four minutes of extra movement without it feeling remotely like a workout.

5. Walk While Using Your Phone

Phones can encourage us to spend a lot of time sitting still, so try turning some of that phone time into movement time.

If you’re making a phone call, walk around the house while you talk.

If you’re scrolling through social media, watching a short video or reading something that doesn’t require your full concentration, try walking slowly around the room or stepping on the spot.

Ten minutes of scrolling while sitting is ten minutes of sitting.

Ten minutes of scrolling while walking is ten minutes of additional movement and calorie burn.

Same phone. Same content. More NEAT.

6. Park a Little Further Away

You don’t need to hunt for the parking space closest to the entrance every time.

When it’s practical and safe, park slightly further away and walk the extra distance.

The difference might only be a couple of minutes, but if you do it when visiting the supermarket, shops, work or attractions, those extra steps begin to accumulate.

There is no need to park half a mile away. You’re simply making the walk you were going to do anyway slightly longer.

7. Turn Housework Into Movement

Vacuuming, cleaning, carrying laundry, making beds, tidying rooms and gardening all involve movement.

Rather than thinking of them purely as chores, recognise that they are also opportunities to increase your NEAT.

You can even deliberately make them slightly less efficient.

Take the laundry upstairs in two smaller trips rather than one overloaded trip. Walk items back to their proper places individually. Put some music on and move a little faster while you tidy.

You get a tidier house and some additional movement at the same time.

8. Get Up Regularly

If you work at a desk or spend long periods sitting, look for reasons to stand up throughout the day.

Make a drink. Walk to another room. Stretch your legs. Stand while reading something. Walk around while you’re thinking through a problem.

You could also use natural triggers rather than setting another reminder.

Finished a meeting? Stand up.

Made a coffee? Walk around while it brews.

Finished a task? Take a two-minute movement break.

A few minutes at a time might not seem significant, but repeated throughout the day they can make being more active feel normal.

9. Add Extra Steps to Things You’re Already Doing

One of the easiest ways to increase NEAT is to avoid creating an entirely new activity.

Instead, add movement to something you already do.

Walk around while waiting for the kettle to boil. Take a slightly longer route through the supermarket. Walk around the playground while your children play. Do another lap of the shop before heading to the checkout.

Look at your normal routine and ask:

“Where could I easily add another couple of minutes of movement?”

You don’t need to redesign your day. Just make the day you already have slightly more active.

10. Choose Movement You Actually Enjoy

Finally, NEAT doesn’t have to be boring.

Play with the kids. Walk the dog. Garden. Explore a new town. Wash the car. Dance. Go window shopping. Wander around a museum. Kick a football around the garden.

If an activity gets you moving, it contributes to your overall activity.

Finding movement you enjoy is particularly useful because you don’t have to continually motivate yourself to “exercise”.

You’re doing something you wanted to do anyway and burning fat.

You Don’t Need to Do All Ten

This isn’t another fitness checklist.

You don’t need to start taking the stairs, walking every evening, dancing while cooking, parking at the back of every car park and marching around your living room every time somebody phones you.

Instead, pick one or two ideas that feel easy and fun.

Try them for a while and see whether they naturally become part of your routine. If they do, perhaps add another.

The aim is not to exhaust yourself.

It’s simply to make your everyday life a little more active.

A Quick Example on NEAT in action

If a person weighing 100kg spends 20 minutes vacuuming then that could be up to 110 calories burnt – plus, you have a nice vacuumed house.

Travelbetter Support to Track Your Walking

If walking is one of the ways you want to increase your NEAT, our Travel Fit Walk Tracker can help you keep a simple record of your walks and see the progress you’re making.

Don’t worry about being the fastest or walking the furthest.

A five-minute walk counts.

A trip around the block counts.

Walking around the park with your family counts.

Every bit of movement is another small investment in making your body stronger and better prepared for your future travels.

Move a little more today, so you can explore a little more tomorrow.

More support for weight loss and getting travel fit

If you found this article useful and want more practical ways to lose weight, get fitter and prepare for your future travels, take a look at our Travel Fit articles and tools.

Everything we create is designed to be simple, practical and easy to use, drawing on our own real-world experiences of losing weight, getting fitter and becoming better prepared for the adventures ahead.