Exercise
When is NEAT actually TEA?
Published 11.15.2016; reformatted 5.6.2017Not everyone uses my definition of NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). For some, NEAT means non-exercise adaptive thermogenesis, which refers only to unconscious movement such as fidgeting. In that case, what I’m calling NEAT is considered TEA (thermic effect of activity), which includes all movement. I still think standing increases NEAT even if you use that definition, because unlike when most people sit, when they stand they tend to move.
However, others do use NEAT as I do, and he points to simple walking as being a way to increase NEAT. As I've said previously, most people only have so much time in their day to devote to dedicated exercise or sport. On the other hand, standing up for a bit longer each day is something that most people could do without disrupting their current routine too much. Adherence remains the key, and the easier adherence is, the more likely it is to become the reality.
Seasonal switching of desks
So, I’ve been standing again rather than pedaling while working. Why? Well, the weather is getting colder (gradually) and thus we have started using our wood stove in the family room. Thus have have moved my standing desk (which has wheels) into that room so that I can work in front of the fire, which is pictured below (well, not today's fire, but if you've seen one fire…).
Anyway, because I’d stopped standing all day, I’ve actually had to build up to being able to stand for long periods of time. I mention this because I often note how people go wrong when trying to adopt new habits or routines. If I tried to stand all day without sitting I’d be miserable and wouldn’t continue. Instead, I stand until I need to sit, and then I sit for a bit. No one is keeping score— not even me since I stopped tracking my standing/walking/pedaling stats in 2014 to avoid fixating or obsessing about them.
Personal Update
My current routine looks like this (more or less): I try to walk on an incline while at my treadmill desk (recall that my treadmill desk is homemade, not a fancy one actually designed for an office) at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes. I am doing my morning reading as I do so. I will write (type) occasionally, but the incline alters the ergonomics of my homemade desk in a way that serious writing is not possible.I am still going to the gym for 60-75 minutes each weekday. An hour for the two days when I don't do any weights, and 75 minutes on days when I do. I split the week between hour long yoga and pilates classes. I have started to increase the weight (minimally) that I lift. I don't know that I'm "thinking heavy," but I am lifting heavier for me, and heavier than I could do with free weights at home— my free weights at home top out at five pounds.
I'm careful to indicate "free" weights because I also own a Totalgym™, which is basically a body weight exercise machine. Since starting the gym I haven't used it at all. That being said, the Totalgym™ for many years was my weight training. It's body weight training, but it's not nothing. And compared to a complete set of dumb bells or a weight set, it's a decent bargain— remember that I was not (am not) a serious weight trainer.
No food/eating update because I'm not eating/drinking any differently. I'm adhering to what's comfortable for me and maintaining a weight that all my doctors love and that I wish was ten pounds less. I track nothing, though I do step on the scale at least once a week just to have an idea of how the scale is changing… if it is. (It is not.)