NEAT-Its effecting your weight loss
Dec 30, 2020
At the weekend I had a 3-day conference organised by TwoBuffGirls, Bropocalypse!
The speakers were Alan Aragon, Bret Contreras, Brad Schoenfeld and James Krieger
These guys are scientists and they are bringing the latest research in evidence-based nutrition and training! You can check them out on the Facebook pages:
Over the weekend they talked about some pretty interesting topics, that included;
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Resistance Training for Maximal Hypertrophy
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Carbohydrate/Insulin hypothesis
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Metabolism Myth
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The Art and Science of Glute Training
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Nutrient timing and the Anabolic window
I have so much information to share with you guys which are evidence-based and backed by science! It's not my opinion or latest fad diet or exercise routine that's on social media, its information backed by research.
So get ready to make notes……..
This week I want to discuss the metabolism myths going around and what you should be looking at changing if you're not losing weight.
The Metabolism Myth:
OK, so many have you heard or even said it yourself, you've got a slow metabolism that's why you can't lose any weight? right?
It's not actually your metabolism that's slow; it's your NEAT levels. They are low. NEAT is non-exercise activity thermogenesis and relates to everything you do that's not sleeping, eating or sports-exercise related.
People that have been obese and have lost at least 10% of the weight will have lower NEAT levels than someone who is the same weight as them now but has never been obese. The data shows that up to 400 calories of decreased energy expenditure in people who have lost 10% of weight compared to the control.
THE BIGGEST LOSER EFFECT:
This also correlates to the study recently published on previous Biggest Loser contestants:
The contestants have to continually eat less and less food to maintain their weight.
Weight loss leads to a decrease in activity levels.
Where does the reduced activity come from?
NEAT levels.
In a study carried out, 10 previous obese subjects were put in a tiny room, and their 24hr energy expenditure was recorded. They were not able to exercise or move around much.
There was a large portion or variability due to NEAT.
NEAT accounted for 138-685 cals per day!
What does this tell you? NEAT is so important in terms of your fat loss goals.
But genetics also play a part too.
If you are someone that struggles to put weight on or you have friends that eat a lot and you cant understand why they are not overweight, the chances are they have incredibly high NEAT levels, they fidget a lot, they can't sit still, always moving.
These are the people you would say have fast metabolisms, they actually just have very high NEAT levels.
HOW HAS SOCIETY AFFECTED THIS DECREASE IN NEAT LEVELS:
As a society, we have become very lazy.
How many of you park your car as close to the destination as possible so you don’t have to walk?
How many of you have a cleaner for your home? or a dishwasher? Or a dog walker?
How many sit down at a desk for 8+hours a day.
All these factors contribute towards lower NEAT levels.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO INCREASE NEAT?
Start walking more. Walk to work. Park the car further away from the destination. Take the dog for a walk twice a day.
Your at a desk job all day? No problem, every hour walk the building for 5 minutes. This will equate to 40 mins of walking a day.
Take the stairs instead of the lift.
Wash the dishes by hand. Sweep the yard once a week. Do the housework.
You can slowly implement one of these suggestions into your daily routine without it affecting your life too much, without having to go to the gym and do an extra session or decrease your calories.
Because, here's the thing, your body is super smart and wants to get to homeostasis as quick as possible. So if you go hard at the gym, chances are you are pretty lazy for the rest of the day, your body compensates for the 110% you gave at the gym this morning by minimising your NEAT throughout the day, without you even realising!
So maybe your that person, the person that does everything right, trains hard, eats well but can't make the weight shift? Take a note of how active you are for the rest of the day. Look at increasing your NEAT and see if that makes a difference.
