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That's NEAT
I've been reading about NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis. It sounds
boring and horrible and scientific, but it's fascinating. It turns out that I'm lean, in part, because I'm naturally spazzy!
Fitness geeks will recognize some of these terms but I'm going to give you some new ones.
BMR -
basal metabolic rate. That's the number of calories you burn just lying on your back and breathing. It's the expenditure from
heartbeat, respiration, brain activity, digestion, and lean muscle. The more lean muscle you have, the more calories you burn,
even when you're resting. BMR accounts for about 60% of the calories you burn in a day.
TEF - thermic
effect of food. Every time you eat, your metabolism increases. Every time you eat protein, it increases even more. So if you're
eating several protein containing meals per day, it's like kicking your snoozing metabolism and telling it to wake up.
TEF makes up 10-15% of your daily energy expenditure.
EAT - exercise activity thermogenesis. That's
the number of calories you burn working out. It's practically nil for a lot of people.
NEAT - non-exercise
activity thermogenesis. That's the rest of your calorie burn, all of your daily activity. It's the twitching, pacing, cleaning,
stair-climbing, arm-waving, dancing, talking, standing, foot-tapping calories. For somebody who naturally calm and still,
it can be as low as 15% of your daily energy expenditure. And for somebody who's hyper and/or highly-caffeinated, it can account
for over 50% of your metabolism.
I had a major ding-ding-ding-ding moment when I read that because it explains how
my BMR can be so damn low and yet I can still eat like a Clydesdale. I went and had my BMR tested by an exercise physiologist
a couple of years ago and it was only like 1325. I think of myself as having a fast metabolism, so I was perplexed about it
being so low. Now I get it! I burn hundreds and hundreds of calories a day just by being spazzy. The little respiration tester
doodad doesn't account for the fact that I'm a perpetual motion machine.
Last night, I was bouncing around in my chair,
waving my arms, and excitedly trying to explain non-exercise activity thermogenesis to my bored, totally stationary co-workers.
One of them peered at me over the newspaper and said, "Yeah, well normal people find you 'thermonuclear' people annoying and
we wish you'd shut up and hold still." ROFL
Here is some further reading if you're curious about the benefits of being
spastic. Some of the studies are pretty funny. They wired people up with bionic activity-monitoring underwear.
Mayo Clinic - About NEAT
Mayo Clinic Discovers Key to Low Metabolism
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