PWFat Loss Starter KitBack to your roadmapStep Plan

Week 1 · Understand · Step plan

NEAT: the calories you burn without trying

Your workouts matter. But for most busy women, the walking, standing and pottering in between burns more.

Part of your Step PlanWeek 14-minute read
Paddy in his kitchen holding a spatula
Cooking counts.So does cleaning, the school run and pacing on calls.

Where your calories actually go

Your body burns energy in four ways every day. Here's a rough picture for a typical woman:

Keeping you alive · about 60% NEAT · ~20% Breathing, heart, brain. Barely changes day to day. Walking, standing, chores. The part you control most. digesting workouts ~10% ~10%
Rough proportions; they vary from person to person. NEAT is the biggest slice you can change, and it can swing by hundreds of calories a day.

NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. It just means the energy you burn moving about when you're not working out: walking to the car, the school run, cooking, cleaning, carrying shopping, fidgeting, standing on a call.

Why it matters more than your workouts

A 40-minute strength session might burn 200–300 calories, two or three times a week. A day with 10,000 steps instead of 4,000 can burn a couple of hundred extra calories every day, with no gym, no kit and no willpower needed.

~1,000stepsin a brisk 10-minute walk
30–50caloriesper 1,000 steps, depending on your size
+6,000steps a daycan add up to over 1,500 calories a week

The trap: NEAT drops when you diet

When you eat less, your body quietly tries to save energy. You sit a bit more, take the lift, park closer and fidget less. You don't notice it, but it can wipe out a chunk of your deficit. It's one of the main reasons diets "stop working".

The fix is to count it

Your step count is the simplest measure of NEAT you have. If your steps hold steady while you eat a little less, your deficit stays where it should. That's what your step plan does.

Paddy at an outdoor table on a busy street
Meeting a friend? Walk there, or walk together.A catch-up on foot is one of the easiest 3,000 steps you'll ever get.

15 easy ways to add steps

None of these needs a gym or extra time. Pick three to start.

At workTake calls walking · walk to a colleague instead of messaging · use the loo on another floor · stand for the first 10 minutes of meetings · walk at lunch
At homeWalk while the kettle boils · pace during phone calls · tidy one room each evening · carry shopping in two trips · a 10-minute walk after dinner
Out and aboutPark at the far end · get off the bus a stop early · take the stairs · walk the school run once a week · meet friends for a walk, not a coffee
Paddy Watts

If a busy client could only keep one habit from this kit, I'd want it to be their steps. No kit, no gym, no willpower, and it adds up every single day.Paddy

Your action this week

Find your baseline

  • Wear your phone or watch all day and note your step count for three days. Don't change anything yet.
  • Add the three days together and divide by three. That's your baseline.
  • Open your Step Plan, enter your baseline, and see your targets for the 4 weeks.
NextYour Step Plan