How big is your daily exercise-related energy need? ( This is mine ).

1000+ Calories minimum per day from pa and exercise. Without counting NEAT.

Photography by the author, STYRKA article: What is your daily physical energy need.

You often hear disgruntled people, or even semi-lazy theoretical MDs, coaches, influencers and scientists make the strange claim that exercise doesn’t work because your body will adapt to an increase in physical activity and exercise by reducing your neat to the same degree.

So let us tally up the numbers without prejudice to paint an actual fact-based picture.

I have often said that yes, of course, the more we train, the bigger our need for recovery. And the less we eat the more ‘conscious’ our body becomes of our energy balance without us even noticing it, unless we pay real attention.

This does result in our subconscious reduction of non-exercise activity, NEAT in other words.

But I have equally often pointed out that if your food plan and your fitness plan are good enough, and your weekly adherence to both remain in perpetuity those biological adaptations will never win out. Yes, NEAT, non-exercise activity can differ wildly between people, which is why it matters.

But in this article, we are not asking you how much energy you think that your non-exercise activities require, we are talking about actual physical activity and exercise. The reason for this is that this adds to your BMR and your personal neat.

In other words, if your physical activity and fitness routine are very low or non-existent you can, and should try to add a steady, regular routine to your life. Exercise does not replace neat, and neat is no excuse not to train and maintain regular physical activity and exercise.

They complement each other.

Scientific reference for neat.

One study on NEAT.

The reason why I keep saying this is because this fact-based reality is etched in stone. We see it in countless of studies across the decades and we see it in millions of healthy fit lifestyles that maintain their adherence.

We also see this fact-based reality in the tens of millions of people who try for a while but ultimately quit on their…