Total Calories: 1820
Day 83… Days till Weigh-In: 4
Day 83… Days till Weigh-In: 4
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Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
From a
2011 NY Times article I learned of a research study focused on Non-Exercise
Activity Thermogenesis. A study looking at the implications of sitting too
much, lack of movement and how both directly impact weight loss. I immediately
agreed with the hypothesis and so I jumped right into the article and found it
so compelling that I’m going to summarize it for you today, but I encourage you
to read the article yourself. Stay tuned below to see how I’ll be using this
information for my personal journey.
His initial question — which he first posed in a 1999 study — was
simple: Why do some people who consume the same amount of food as others gain
more weight? After assessing how much food each of his subjects needed to
maintain their current weight, Dr. Levine then began to ply them with an extra
1,000 calories per day. Sure enough, some of his subjects packed on the pounds,
while others gained little to no weight.
Summary
1. We sit too much
2. The study monitored a group of adults that ate and burned the exact same number of calories every day without doing any exercise at all
3. The participants were required to consume the exact same number of calories from food each day (participants ate all meals in a controlled environment)
4. Results: some gained more weight than others
5. Why? All things being equal, why would some gain more than others?
6. Was it metabolism? No, it wasn’t.
7. Research finally uncovered the mystery after 6 years of monitoring….
8. Movement was the reason (not exercise, just movement). One group of study participants unconsciously moved around more every day and as a result they gained less weight
Getting up
more frequently to get water, going to the bathroom more, using the stairs instead
of the elevator, parking further from the building all combined to give one
group more movement than the other. The study participants that gained less weight did so because they moved
more than their sedentary counterparts. Not exercise, just movement. Interesting.
So how can I use this information to
my greatest advantage?
How can I
enjoy the health benefits of added movement while at my job I'm tethered
to a desk most of the day? It’s simple: I’ll add more movement. I'll consciously park farther from the store, I'll take stairs instead of escalator or elevator, I'll walk the long way instead of taking the short cut. I'll stop a couple times during the day to stretch and move my body (suppose to do this anyway as per OSHA). And in the evening I can stretch and lift my legs, arms, back and
neck while sitting. There are literally thousands of exercises I can do
while sitting in a chair and all of them involve movement! So that’s it, that’s
how I can do it, that’s how I will add a lot more movement into my day while
still doing everything that must be done from my chair. And of course I’ll track
this as well.
| Daily Tracker | |||||
| [42] | Saturday 4/5/14 | ||||
| Time | Qty | Food Item | Calories | Sub | |
| 8:30a | Breakfast | ||||
| 1 | English Muffin w/PB2 & Strawberry Preserves | 230 | |||
| 2 | Slices mozzarella cheese | 140 | |||
| 1 | Hazelnut Crème Decaf | 60 | |||
| 1 | Bowl Organic Mixed Greens | 0 | |||
| Breakfast Calories: | 430 | ||||
| Snack | |||||
| Snack Calories: | 0 | ||||
| 12:30p | Lunch | ||||
| 1 | Greek Salad w/Jumbo Shrimp (no cheese) | 600 | |||
| 1 | Pita lightly grilled | 100 | |||
| Lunch Calories: | 700 | 1130 | |||
| Snack | |||||
| 1 | Hazelnut Crème Decaf | 60 | |||
| 1oz | Mixed Nuts | 160 | |||
| Snack Calories | 220 | 1350 | |||
| Dinner | |||||
| 1 | Encrusted Sweet & Sour Filet of Sole | 160 | |||
| 1/2c | Toasted Quinoa | 110 | |||
| 1.5c | Broccoli | 0 | |||
| Dinner Calories | 270 | 1620 | |||
| Snack | |||||
| 1 | Hazelnut Crème Decaf / 2oz Almonds | 380 | |||
| Snack Calories | 380 | 2000 | |||
| Total Calories Burned | <180> | ||||
| Total: | 1820 | √ | |||
| ***Daily Caloric Goal: | 1900 | ||||
| Water (1 cup per circle) | |||||
| O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O | 12 | ||||
| 1 cup = 8 fluid oz = 0.24 liters | |||||
| Time | Activity | Burned | |||
| 45 min | Walking | <180> | |||
| Total Calories Burned: | <180> | ||||
| *Calorie/Activity calculation: 20 or 30 Calories for every 5 minutes (depending on exertion) | |||||
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