What is your activity level during the day? Are you sitting all day or do you move around?
There are quite many factors that impact our metabolism; physical activity, food, age and gender (as we get age our metabolism slows down, especially for women). Stress also impacts our metabolism as our body releases more cortisol when stressed, shifting our body’s focus from our digestive system to be more attentive and ready for potential dangers.
In this blog, I will focus on how movement and eating the right food can improve your metabolism.
What is NEAT?
One way to boost your metabolism (calorie burn rate) is to work on your NEAT (Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis). That means all movement we do during a day excluding sleeping, eating and exercising. Ex. walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, standing up in a meeting rather than sitting down, cleaning etc.
Learn why and how you can boost your metabolism through NEAT!
As humans we were designed to move...
.... yet we have consciously reduced many opportunities to move in our everyday life. There is such a demand on us being efficient, both at work and at home, that we have almost over-engineered and automated every minute of our lives!
Let's take a step back. Even though we have been around for 200 000 years, our bodies have changed very little. Our lives used to involve a lot of activities; hunting, walking, lifting, preparing our food, moving around, carrying stones e.t.c. and we had very few tools to help us. It was very physical and our metabolism was programmed, and still is, to survive according to these circumstances.
Today, most of our days look very little like this. Especially for us who work in offices. The Tech development is great and has helped us in so many ways, but it has also reduced the necessity for us to be physically active.
Of course, I don’t demand you to start hunting to get food on the table, but I encourage you to reflect on how much time of the day you are seated or being still, and how much you move around. How does it look and what could be opportunities to move more?
But I go to the gym 4 times a week!
If you thought going to the gym 4 times/hours a week would compensate for the rest of the weeks 164 hours, you are mistaken! Don’t get me wrong, training 4 hours a week is essential for your health, cardiovascular system, gain muscle and strength to get fit and stronger, but if your goal is to retain a healthy metabolism and burn fat, 4 hours of exercise a week is simply not enough. Also, too much sitting can make us sick (Read more about the impact of too much sitting in Chris Kresser's blog here)
Set your mind straight!
We can’t however entirely blame our lack of activity level on technology and new habits alone.
The fact is that our brain is programmed to be lazy and survive, which has indeed been a great driver for humanity to progress automation. The brain is programmed to maintain homeostasis, making sure we are functioning, and doesn’t want to lose fat. In the beginning of human life, not being careful how you spend your energy could lead to starvation. We know we are not there anymore, but as the brain doesn’t know this, we need to trick it!
It is very easy to give in to fatigue, allowing yourself to be lazy and put your feet on the table, but this will only make you more tired and bored. The more you move, and the more you tell yourself that movement is good for you, that mowing the lawn is an opportunity for you to be healthy rather than a task or a chore, the better set are you to do the changes suggested below!
NEAT activities
At home
Cleaning, washing dishes
Gardening, mowing the lawn, raking leaves
Playing with your kids (no video games ;-) )
Short walks
Get off the bus/metro one stop early
DIY projects
At work
Walking stairs
Standing at your desk, use swiss ball instead of office chair, walking meetings
Create a rule of only scheduling 50 minutes meetings and make sure you get a break in-between meetings and tasks and get up and move
What can I expect from being NEATer?
In below chart you can get an indication of burnt calories per activity. The
burn rate varies depending on age, gender and weight..
Activity | Time | Calories |
Cleaning | 1 hour | 300 |
Walking (slow) | 1 hour | 200 |
Gardening (light) | 1 hour | 175-300 |
Raking leaves | 1 hour | 400 |
Playing with kids (tag, hide and seek, push stroller etc) | 1 hour | 300 |
Playing with kids (swing) | 1 hour | 200 |
Standing at desk | 1 hour | 100-200 |
Sitting on swiss ball | 1 hour | 110-165 |
The right food boosts you metabolism!
Certain food types such as protein and complex carbs have a higher thermic effect (TEF) than fats or simple carbs because your body must work harder to break it down, thus spending more energy and burning more calories.
Fat provides 9 calories per gram. Its TEF is 0-5%
Carbohydrate provides 4 calories per gram. Its TEF is 5-15%
Protein provides 4 calories per gram. Its TEF is 20-30%
Eating more protein will increase your metabolic rate!
On average you should eat 1.5 g protein per kilo body weight a day. An athlete 2 g per k. Ex: A woman weighing 60 k, should eat 90 g protein/day
Proteins: eggs, meet, chicken, fish, veg protein powder etc
Avoid Simple carbs (fruits, milk, sugar, candy etc.) and also carbs that might cause inflammation if you have stomach issues.
Don't forget the fat! Fat is a very important building block for our cells and hormones and helps us absorb vitamins. It also keeps us full. Just make sure to use good sources!
Summary
Neat – will increase your metabolic rate
Start with your mindset! What do you tell yourself? Trick your brain to adopt a new lifestyle! Look at chores as opportunity!
Include as much movement as you can in your everyday and add more protein on your plate!
What does your day look like? Where is the low hanging fruit to include more movement?