Walk more and sit less to unlock NEAT’s hidden calorie burn

You don’t need a new workout plan to move more. You need more movement between workouts. That’s NEAT—non‑exercise activity thermogenesis—the calories you burn outside the gym from walking, standing, fidgeting, and stairs. It’s the quiet giant of energy burn, and for most people it dwarfs the calories from a single spin class.

Picture your tower of daily burn. The bottom floors are basic metabolism, then food processing, then exercise. NEAT is the floor you control all day. Your phone buzzes at 3 p.m., your coffee’s gone cold, and your step count sits at 2,300. If you wait for motivation, you’ll stay parked. If you attach steps to things you already do, you’ll stack wins without thinking much about it.

A micro‑anecdote: one manager took one‑on‑ones outside. Ten minutes out, ten back, twice a day. She added 4,000 steps, felt less wired at bedtime, and noticed her weekend hikes no longer wrecked her legs. She didn’t “train” more. She built steps into the day she already had.

NEAT drops when you diet, which is why a deficit feels harder after a few weeks. The body saves energy by making you move less. Knowing this isn’t bad news, it’s a lever. You counter it by designing movement into defaults, using ranges, and treating steps like brushing your teeth—simple, repeatable, not heroic. The science is clear: maintaining a higher daily NEAT supports fat loss and weight maintenance more than sporadic gym spikes.

Pick a forgiving step range like 7,000 to 10,000, then tie walking to things you already do, starting with calls and coffee runs. Put your step count on your lock screen so it nudges you without nagging, and make one regular catch‑up a walk instead of a sit‑down. On busy days, aim for the low end of the range and skip the guilt; on calmer days, drift high. It’s not about hero days, it’s about days that quietly stack. Try the walk‑and‑talk tomorrow.