staying NEAT
working out is one of the top methods that people think of when it comes to burning calories - they're wrong. it's your NEAT (net-exercise activity thermogenesis)
there's 4 major ways your body burns calories. only 2 of the following are in your control
- basal metabolic rate (BMR) (60-70%)
- the calories it takes to keep your body alive at rest
- NEAT (15-30%)
- non-exercise movement throughout the day
- thermic effect of food (TEF) (~10%)
- energy used to digest food
- exercise (5-15%)
- structured physical activity
your NEAT is any movement throughout the day that is not structured exercise. think; standing up out of bed, going up the stairs, going on a walk, sitting down, grabbing water, etc. it's pretty counter-intuitive, but your body burns 2-3x as much energy through general movement patterns than through exercise.
the real life hack to losing weight is just to keep movement up throughout the day and not all at once. someone who sits for 8 hours straight, works out extremely intensely for an hour, and then relaxes will burn much less calories than someone who goes on a bunch of short walks throughout the day and doesn't sit for too long at a time.