What is the driving force behind weight gain?
That’s a no brainer right? Eating to many calories.
Maybe.
That’s right I said maybe.
Eating more calories is a reason that many people gain weight. A far bigger problem may be a person’s lack of activity. For example in Britain obesity rates have double since the 1980′s; however, according to a paper published in the British Journal of Medicine their energy intakes have acutally decreased. So they are eating less but getting fatter. How does that make sense?
Let’s examine this a little deeper.
The total amount of calories you burn each day can be broken down into the following components:
- Basal Metabolic Rate
- Thermic Effect of Food
- Activity Thermogenesis
Activity Thermogensis consists of exercise and NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis). NEAT is basically burning calories from moving around. Considering the average person expends less than 100 calories per day from exercise, increasing NEAT could have a huge impact. As one of my readers I would imagine that you are burning more than 100 calories per day from exercise. If that is the case, increasing your NEAT will help turbo charge your calorie burn.
Here are some interesting notes about NEAT:
- NEAT can vary up to 2000kcal/d between people.
- Your job is a key factor in how many calories you burn each day from NEAT.
- What you choose as leisure activities significantly impacts your level of NEAT. Think about the difference between coming home and sitting on the couch vs. painting, gardening, or removing walls in the basement (how I spent my weekend).
- In studies where people are forced to overeat NEAT increases. The more it increase the less fat you gain.
- One study showed that obese subjects sat for 2.5 hours more per day than lean subjects (the lean people has similar jobs and living environments). The difference in NEAT was estimated to be 350 calories per day.
- There are compounds in our brain that may increase/decrease NEAT. Orexin is such a compound. Obese rats have been shown to be resistant to orexin’s NEAT-activating effects.
Next week I’ll be posting a premium article in the Faster Fat Loss Zone showing you how we can set up our lives to increase NEAT and lead leaner lives. If you aren’t a member of the New Faster Fat Loss Zone check it out for free.
