Sit rather than lie down, stand rather than sit, and walk rather than stand. Find ways to move even a little bit more during the day.

We learned in The Power of Rest Threat how obese people naturally sit more than lean people. Fidgeters can burn 300-800 calories a day not from exercising, but from everyday activities. Think about this: running 8 miles burns about 800 calories. By fidgeting you could burn as many calories as running 8 miles!

How fidgety you are is called your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) quotient. Even those of us not blessed with a high NEAT can consciously learn how to change our daily activity levels.

Your goal is to figure out little ways through which you can increase your NEAT. In the past you may have felt, like I did, that those little bits of activity didn’t count, but it turns out they may be what counts most of all.

The increased calorie burn from fidgeting is amazing. Fidgeters, for example, burn 40-60 more calories per hour when seated than people who sit motionless. Standing fidgeters burn 70-100 calories more per hour than people who stand still. Those are big differences.

Here are some suggestions on how to become NEATer:

·        Get up and out of your seat. Stand up instead of sitting down.

·        You could lose one pound a year simply by sending one less email each hour. Instead, walk down the hall to talk to the person you would have sent the email to. That short walk burns off one pound a year.

·        Laughing for 10 or 15 minutes burns about 50 calories. Laugh that much every day and you’ve lost 5 pounds in a year.

·        Walking around instead of sitting while on the cell phone burns up to 50 calories in 10 minutes.

·        Put a portable pedal exerciser in front of your TV and pedal slowly while you watch. You can do the same while reading.

·        Put a treadmill in front of your computer at work. Every hour on the treadmill at 1 mph is about 100 calories.

·        Pick a time each hour when you get up and take a little walk. Maybe go look out a window. Take a turn around your building. Go to the bathroom.

·        Tap your feet. Wiggle your fingers.

·        Performing sit ups during commercials while watching TV burns up to 65 calories an hour.

·        Dance while you cook.

·        Watching TV while sitting down burns about 72 calories an hour. Do light housework while watching TV and you bump the calorie burn up to 216 calories per hour.

·        Take walking meetings.

·        Hold meetings while standing.

·        Don’t use your remote control.

·        Walk to the mail box instead of driving.

These are just a few ideas. Take a look and see where you add even a little more activity. The general rule, even if you aren’t a natural fidgeter, is: sit rather than lie down, stand rather than sit, and walk rather than stand.