If you're anything like me, you had no idea what the hell NEAT was until you began getting serious about losing weight. For those of you who are still unfamiliar, NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. That's basically a fancy way of saying calories you burn through activity and movements that are more or less done subconsciously (fidgeting, pacing, etc.) as opposed to more structured forms of cardio.
As a child and teenager, my diet consisted almost entirely of Doritos, sugary cereal, Pop-tarts, Oreos, Mountain Dew, and fast food. I would go through more about 4 family-sized bags of Doritos per week and around 2 liters of Mountain Dew per day. In addition to that, my family and I would eat fast food at least 2 or 3 times per week. The only vegetable I had eaten by the time I was well into adulthood was potatoes. Even that was only in the form of French fries. Everywhere I went, I was carrying my Mountain Dew and had my emergency supply of Doritos nearby at all times. I was looking through some old pictures the other day and there was a bag of Doritos present somewhere in almost every single one. It got to the point where I was playing where is Waldo trying to spot the Doritos in each picture.
The amazing thing is, despite eating this way for well over a decade, the maximum weight I reached was around 230 pounds at 5'8". I'm actually not actually sure what's more shocking: my max weight, the fact that I don't (currently) have any conditions associated with my horrible diet, or the fact that I still have all my teeth. I came to the realization that the reason I never exceeded 230 was likely due to having very high levels of NEAT. I was, and still am, a very introspective person. I would spend most of my days living in the fantasy world created in my mind. While I was introspecting, I was pacing back and forth. This would go on for hours at a time sometimes, and it was every single day. When I was sitting "still", I was constantly shaking my legs or somehow staying in motion. I'm not sure I ever really stopped moving during my waking hours.
I mentioned on here the other day that I get around 25-30k steps per day now. I get the impression that people see this as excessive exercise, but honestly, most of those steps are just the result of my normal NEAT. Once I was into adulthood, I decided it was time to change my eating habits if I wanted any hope of avoiding almost certain chronic health conditions. Once I started eating healthy, the pounds just fell off. I'm now well within the normal weight range for my height, and I don't plan on ever getting back to the way I was. I feel like a big part of my weight loss can be attributed to my very high NEAT levels.
For those of you who enjoy introspecting or listening to music/podcasts/audiobooks, I would highly recommend that you do such activities while in motion if at all possible. You would be amazed at just how many steps you can unconsciously accrue during that time and all with a minimal amount of effort.
TL;DR: I believe non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) can play a much larger role than people think in weight loss.
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