Weight Loss with N.E.A.T

“Auntie, you are overweight, and I would like to recommend you to lose weight,” said the student confidently after examining her.

“Ok, I will try. How Ah ?”

“Auntie, you must exercise 30 minutes 5 days a week, with no more than 2 days break, and it must be a moderate-intensity exercise like aerobics.”

“Aerobic, Ah? My mother used to do it during the 90s la. Difficult la. You know, housewife where got the time? My housework is a great exercise, and running after the children is another great exercise.”

My student thought she could score some brownie points by quoting the guidelines that day. She would never have imagined her consultation going sideways and not impressing her lecturer.

For most mothers like the patient earlier, most things in their lives are like clockwork. She wakes up early, prepares breakfast, gets everyone else ready, sends them off to school or work, cleans up, rushes to work, rushes back from work, prepares dinner, spends time with the children, gets everyone to bed early, doing other house chores, prepare for tomorrow and if lucky some “me” time before sleeping.?

The fact is that the earlier narrative is oversimplified and underplayed. Slotting in an exercise is a luxury not many mothers can have. It would be great if the husbands could lend a hand with the daily chores. “It is a dream that will never come true,” from my wife’s favourite quotes. I will let you ponder about this matter and proceed to discuss N.E.A.T in the following paragraphs.

First, we must understand that you can still lose fat as long you’re on an energy deficit. Besides consuming fewer calories and exercising more, calorie expenditure could be achieved with N.E.A.T, also known as Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. NEATs are non-sports activities besides sleeping and eating, which are done throughout the day that burns calories. E.g. like walking, playing with your kids, gardening, grocery shopping, walking the dog and cleaning the house. Therefore, by increasing the NEATs, you would be able to lose weight.

Walking is an excellent N.E.A.T. Supposed you have time constraints or injuries preventing you from doing cardio. You can walk more to create a more significant energy expenditure. Walking can help you lose weight, but it’s much more effective when combined with a calorie-restricted diet.?

In a 12-week study, 82 male and female obese participants were put on a restricted calories diet. One group walked 3 hours per week at 3.7 mph while the other group didn’t walk. Both groups had bodyweight reduction. However, those in the walking group lost an average of 1.8 kg more than those who didn’t walk[1]. Other studies have shown that walking 10,000 steps daily improves your cardiovascular health, mental health and even lowers diabetes risk[2].

A lot of people try to hit a 10,000 daily target to “burn” more.?The origin of the 10,000 steps daily target is still controversial and not scientifically supported. Sometimes, it is difficult to achieve the target, and it will demotivate us. The most beneficial daily target is still arbitrary. Some studies show that lower steps rates ( around 5000 steps) are advantageous, and some shows higher (15,000 steps) rates to be also beneficial [3,4].

"A reasonable target should be between 6-8k steps daily".?

I recommend starting around 4-5k daily and increasing it slowly to 6-8 k over 2-3 months. Use your smartphone device or wearable device to keep track of your steps and weight. You don’t have to walk all the steps in a single session. You can break those steps throughout the day. Be creative; modify your activities to incorporate more steps. E.g. Walk to the furthest garbage bin to throw your garbages or park your car further.??

It is ok if we don’t reach our targets. Remember, you are trying to make this additional walking part of your lifestyle to improve health and lose weight. Once again, start slowly; use your imagination and creativity to make it fun and successful.

"All the best. Give it try".?

Reference

1. Kleist B, Wahrburg U, Stehle P, et al. Moderate Walking Enhances the Effects of an Energy-Restricted Diet on Fat Mass Loss and Serum Insulin in Overweight and Obese Adults in a 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial. J Nutr. 2017;147(10):1875-1884.

2. Hallam KT, Bilsborough S, de Courten M. "Happy feet": evaluating the benefits of a 100-day 10,000 step challenge on mental health and wellbeing. BMC Psychiatry. 2018;18(1):19.

3. Tigbe WW, Granat MH, Sattar N, Lean MEJ. Time spent in sedentary posture is associated with waist circumference and cardiovascular risk. Int J Obes (Lond). 2017;41(5):689-696.

4. Lee I-M, Shiroma EJ, Kamada M, Bassett DR, Matthews CE, Buring JE. Association of Step Volume and Intensity With All-Cause Mortality in Older Women. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2019;179(8):1105-111