W&H FITNESS GURU
This month, our expert Annie Deadman explains why it’s easier than you think to burn calories
My friend Jane emailed the other day and declared she was going to start ‘working out’. Her message was punctuated with words like ‘power’, ‘sweat’ and ‘endorphins’.
After I picked my chin up off the floor (she isn’t known for her love of movement), I made a gentle suggestion that she make a start by simply being more active. Jane has a very sedentary job, working from home and staring at a laptop.
‘That’s what I just said – working out,’ came the retort. It’s not actually the same thing. Keeping active means moving more outside of the gym, Zumba class, HIIT session or 5km run, and makes a sizeable contribution to your health. And by good health I mean protection from serious conditions and diseases.
The official name for what I’m talking about is NEAT – or Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It is the key to burning calories without realising we’re doing it. NEAT means the energy we expend for everything we do that’s not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. So that means walking, cycling, fidgeting, cleaning, mending, sweeping, dancing (you can’t kid me, I know you swing those hips when no one’s looking) – anything and everything that doesn’t have the explicit goal of training. (And yes, if you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then that counts too!)
It’s tempting to view the ‘gym workout’ as the be-all and end-all of movement, which means we then give ourselves permission to be pretty much inactive for the rest of the day – and that is bad. Sitting for long periods of time can contribute to cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression and other life-limiting conditions, so getting our blood pumping is massively beneficial not only for health but also for weight loss.
The BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the number of calories our bodies need to function without movement (nails to grow, organs to do their thing, digestive system to work). If you’re an active person that number will be higher, even when you’re sitting still, watching Netflix.
The more active you are, the better the blood supply around the body, and the more muscles you will be using. A pound of muscle burns roughly six calories a day, whil
