Today, we are continuing our discussion of the NEAT System that we started yesterday.

The NEAT System is designed for everyone. It’s easy, it’s effective, and you can do it. NEAT is a bit like the story of the tortoise and the hare. By making small daily choices, you can win the race of weight maintenance and set the stage for exercise at your own pace. My NEAT System adds motion to every aspect of your today, but so gradually that it won’t seem like much effort at all.

Managing NEAT: The Six S’s of Success

The NEAT System helps you take control of your body’s energy balance by harnessing the movements you make in the course of your daily activities – the way you move your body, for example, or the way you perform everyday tasks at work and at home. Burning just 200 extra calories a day can put you on the path to losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight. To help you keep track, I’ve divided NEAT into six categories that cover the full range of muscle energy expenditure in everyday life:
• Stance
• Standing
• Strolling
• Stairs
• Samba
• Switch
 

Keeping Track: NEAT Activity Sheets

Keeping track of your daily activity can get tedious, but it is helpful – especially in the beginning as you evaluate your current level of motion and begin to make progress. The activity sheets that I’ve made will make this process easier, and you can download them for free from my site (under You in Motion).
Use these tools right off the bat to record your starting point, and continue to use them as your activity increases. Now, let’s find out exactly what we mean by movement as we explore the six NEAT categories – our S’s of success.

Stance (Posture)

When the muscles that support your body’s core axis – the chest, shoulders, back, legs, and abdominals – are aligned properly, they create balance throughout your body. Focusing on these foundational muscles helps you to burn more calories and provides great training for your transition to the EAT exercises to come. This focus is particularly important when you’re sitting.
At work: Sit straight up in meetings. Get up and move around as much as possible, but when you must sit at your desk try using a balance ball chair.
At home: Sit up straight, even while watching TV or riding in the car.
Evaluation and Goals: Measure the minutes per day you spend focusing on your core position. Aim to add two additional minutes of focus on core position per day, your target being thirty total minutes of focus on core position per day.
Energy expenditure: 1kcal per minute of core position focus; 10kcal per hour of balance ball; 1 kcal per instance of intentionally getting up from a sitting position when you would otherwise have continued to sit. Total potential of 60kcal per day.
NEAT Points: 1 per minute of core position focus; 10 per hour of balance ball; 1 per instance of getting up from sitting.
For today, practice tracking your NEAT points for Stance only. This will help you become accustomed to the process, easing you into tracking all six of the S’s. Tomorrow, we will continue learning about the NEAT System.
See? Exercise doesn’t have to be a crazy workout!
In health,