12/11/2025
We burn energy:
1) To digest food (thermic effect of food — TEF)
2) To perform a formal exercise (exercise activity thermogenesis — EAT)
These two are predisposed and you can’t do much about them. Unless you’re prepping for the Olympics, TEF won’t make much difference in terms of daily calorie expenditure.
3) To exist (basal metabolic rate — BMR) — this one is also predisposed for the most part. You can increase BMR by building more muscle mass. As Alan Aragon observed, having 10 lbs of extra muscle mass would increase your energy expenditure by 206.2 kcal per day.
4) To perform daily tasks (non-exercise activity thermogenesis — NEAT). NEAT stands for calories burned outside of “formal” exercise such as standing, walking, taking stairs, fidgeting, etc.
And that’s I want to talk about more.
You can’t wake up tomorrow and decide to increase the flying f**k out of your BMR, TEF, and EAT because they’re predisposed (for the most part).
What you can do is consciously strive to increase your NEAT by moving as much as you can when not throwing weights around the gym.
Maintaining an active lifestyle can burn significantly more calories than your average gym workout. So instead of blaming all of your weight loss woes on sugar or carbs, get 10k steps per day. Or 11k. Or 12. I don’t care. Anything counts.
A daily twenty-minute walk seems small but over time, those 20 minutes of movement compound into thousands of calories expended with minimal upheaval.
So take the stairs, park your car in the furthest corner from the supermarket, go for a walk, etc.
Unless you’re Frodo Baggins schlepping the Ring to Mordor with the fate of humankind on your shoulders, walking is easy peasy lemon squeezy.
There are millions of people who would donate a nut or two for a set of working legs. Don’t take yours for granted. Walk. Listen to a podcast. Take the stairs. Get your NEAT up.
It may be one of the catalysts to your fat loss success.
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If you want to build muscle & lose fat at the same time, comment below the word “COACH” & let’s chat to see if I can help you.
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