#neatup247 I’ve been sharing this hashtag a lot on my stories lately and talking about how important hitting your 10,000 steps a day is, and here’s why...
There are 4 ways your body expends energy/ burns calories day to day.
WAYS YOUR BODY BURNS ENERGY
BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate. This is how many calories you burn at rest, without even getting out of bed for example.
TEF: Thermic Effective Feeding. How many calories your body burns when processing food and drinks.
EAT. Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. How many calories you burn when exercising, so during your training session for example.
NEAT: Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Calories burned during non planned exercise, things like walking, carrying things, getting up from your seat, going up the stairs, etc.
All of these combined sum up your bodies daily energy expenditure however they don’t all burn the same % of your overall daily calories.
DAILY % BREAKDOWN
70% energy expenditure is through BMR, that‘s before you’ve factored in your training, walking, eating, etc.
10% is burned from TEF.
15% burned is through NEAT.
& only 5% is burned through EAT (training).
You burn 10% more of your daily calories through getting your steps in throughout the day and generally being more active than you do spending endless mornings/evenings in the gym. (Hence the #neatup247 which came from a podcast I listen to by a PT who encourages people to get their Neat Up 24/7).
I’m not saying don’t train, do train regularly (3-4 times a week) but to not with the aim to burn fat or loose weight by doing lots of cardio (like we've all done in the past!). Use training to increase your muscle growth and strength. Not to ‘burn fat’. This also helps to minimise the impact on your joints which is a bonus!
Give it a try, you’ll soon notice the difference not just physically but mentally too!
Of course if you are trying to loose fat you will need to be in a calorie deficit (which is another subject) but to state the obvious it's energy in (food) vs energy out (movement).
*Note, the reason I do the bulk of my steps in the morning is because it sets me up for the day and I have a majority based desk job, so it’s harder for me to get all 10k in during the day)*
TEF in short is how much energy your body used to break down your food.
Your body has to work harder to breakdown protein hence it burning more calories doing it. There is no way to ‘kickstart’ your metabolism by eating breakfast or by eating certain foods. If you eat it will break food down, if you don’t it doesn’t.
For more on why walking is good for your mental health as well as your physical, read my Morning Routine Blog Post HERE, where I go into it in much more detail.
So to conclude, hit your step count everyday (if you’re a few thousand short one day, make sure to do them the next day! No ones perfect!)
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