So many things discourage movement in our lives now. Everything that was electric or Smart "Cooking" has taken a back seat to" heating". The TV channel, garage doors and security systems can be monitored from a phone. We keep hearing "keep your seat" when we need to move. NEAT stands for nonexercise activity thermogenesis and basically describes energy or calories used in movement other that structured exercise. It amounts to calories burned walking anywhere, climbing stairs, moving through the grocery store, cooking dinner, cleaning house, doing yard work and all other activity. Even fidgeting in church! All movement burns calories. It adds up and we can burn quite a few just adding more movement. A sedentary overweight person could adapt more movement to their lifestyle with activities mentioned above and easily burn an additional 300 calories daily. So let's make a pledge to lose the TV remote and get out of the chair to change the channel. OK that's going too far, but make a pledge.
Resource: American Heart Association, Brief Review, The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon of Social Weight Gain by James A. Livine, Mark W. Vander Weg, James O. Hill, Robert C. Klesges
