Now that you do your Koko Smartraining on a regular basis, no longer do you get dog tired just trying to play with your kids, work in the yard, or climb the stairs. And having energy again? Pretty nice.

Has being fitter encouraged you to be more active outside of Koko? I hope so. Especially if you have weight loss goals. Let me tell you why.

Research by James Levine, MD, PhD of the Mayo Clinic, found that lean people burn more calories than overweight individuals because  they are more active during the day; expending more than 100+ calories per hour simply by moving more and sitting less.

This phenomenon is NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.) It’s the energy, in the form of calories, that your body uses above and beyond your Koko Smartraining workouts. This can include everything from gardening, taking the stairs at work, navigating through the grocery store, playing golf, cleaning your house or walking the dog.

Let me share a quote from Dr. Levine’s book Move a Little, Lose a Lot that I find especially compelling:

“As a doctor who has spent more than 20 years studying human movement, obesity, and metabolism, I can tell you that the way we are living and the way many of us are going about weight loss is absolutely, fundamentally wrong.”

Dr. Levine is among a growing number of researchers who have concluded that one of the keys to achieving a healthy weight is to move more throughout the day – not  just during your exercise sessions.

Say  you are expending 300-500 calories in a typical Smartraining workout and you’re doing that three times a week. First of all, bravo! You’re  getting major health benefits like loading your bones and strengthening your muscles – including your heart. Not only are you feeling more energetic, but that muscle you are building burns more calories than fat. But the reality is,  if your goal is weight loss, the math still may not be working in your favor.

Those 900-1500 calories  a week may be enough to keep weight in check during the second and third decades of life, when we are typically more active in general, but it’s a whole different story if you are over 40.

Here is another quote from Dr. Levine:

“Our current obesity and related health woes stem from the fact that modern life in the Internet-driven electronic age has increasingly leeched NEAT from our existence to the tune of up to 1,500 to 2,000 calories a day.  And the loss is sucking the life out of us.”

This is a powerful statement. Think about what would happen, with your newfound fitness,  if you consciously return that lost NEAT to your daily life. Seemingly small changes – like parking farther from the store so you walk a longer distance – add up. If you burned those extra 1,500 to 2,000 calories a day, combined with the calories that you expend at Koko FitClub, you’d begin to witness a big shift in your  body composition. (Imagine also reducing your intake – but that’s another post!)

So, take that new-found Koko energy and get more active – everyday. You have nailed the first step: consistently doing 3 strength and 3-4 Koko cardio sessions each week. Upping your NEAT is the second.

One way I like to reinforce and remind myself of this goal is by wearing a pedometer to record how many steps I’m getting over the course of a day. Try it and then challenge yourself  to add an additional 2,000 steps to that base number over the next few weeks. Keep building up to 7-8,000 and set a long term goal of 10,000 steps a day. That’s where I’m at!

Daily NEAT + Weekly Koko Smartraining  =  Body Composition Changes. How’s that for a nice NEAT exercise prescription for you!

Michael Wood, CSCS
Chief Fitness Officer
Koko FitClub