Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks

NEAT: A Great Way To Burn Calories Without Intentionally Exercising

May 5, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy you expend for everything that isn’t sleeping, eating or doing sports-like exercise. NEAT helps burn calories and comes from activities like walking to work, doing the laundry or yard work, cooking, or pacing while you talk on the phone.

Most of us sit too much. Someone who sits at a desk takes about 5,000 to 6,000 steps a day . On average, a man living in an Amish community who takes about 18,000 steps a day and a woman takes14,000 steps.

Our modern way of life has given us lots of NEAT-squelching tools: smart phones , ipads, microwaves, remote controls, electric toothbrushes, even robotic vacuum cleaners. As a result, we need to consciously devise ways to build back some activity into daily life.

Simple examples could be walking the dog a block more; walking to a deli a few blocks away to pick up lunch; having some walk-and-talk meetings during the day; pacing when you’re on the phone; getting off the bus a block earlier; and moving around the playground with your kids instead of sitting on the park bench.

If you incorporate some of these ideas into your day, you can burn hundreds of extra calories a day.

Fidgeting

Fidgeting doesn’t help much with calorie burn or weight loss. Research shows that the secret to burning fat is to get up, move around, and walk. Initially NEAT was labeled as a fidgeting phenomenon, but the NEAT researchers point out that you wouldn’t be able to fidget enough in a day to burn 800 calories.

The researchers believe that fidgeting is the body’s way of telling you to get up and move. Bodies want to move, but the environment and technology makes if very easy to not have to move around.

Some NEAT Examples To Burn An Additional 500 Calories

Taking an hours worth of phone calls while standing up and pacing burns 100 to 130 calories, while making phone calls for an hour while sitting at your desk burns 15 calories.
Walking for 30 minutes at lunch and then sitting and eating for 15 minutes burns 100-130 calories. If you sat for 45 minutes while eating you’d burn 25 calories.
Having a one hour walking meeting burns 150-200 calories. A seated one hour meeting burns 15.

Who Sets the Pace When You Eat With Others?

May 4, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

You tend to mimic your table companions. They eat fast, you eat fast. They eat a lot, you eat a lot. Ever wonder why you look at some families or couples and they’re both either heavy or slender? As Brian Wansink, PhD says in his book, Mindless Eating, “birds of a feather eat together.”

How Much More Do You Eat When There Are Others At The Table?

Research has shown how strong the tendency is to increase how much you eat when you eat with others. Compared to eating alone you eat, on average:

35% more if you eat with one other person
75% more with four at the table
96% more with a group of seven or more

Why?

Eating more when you’re in larger groups compared to when you eat alone is common for adults. One reason is a phenomenon called “social facilitation,” or actions that are stimulated by the sight and sound of other people doing the same that that you’re doing. When you’re eating in groups, social facilitation helps override your brain’s normal signals of satiety – allowing you to eat more even when you’re not hungry.

Calorie Savers:

Think about how many people you’re eating with, who they are, and why you’re out to dinner with them. If you want to have a blast and don’t care about how much you eat – eat with a big group and chow down.
If you want to be careful about what and how much you eat, think about eating lunch with your salad (dressing on the side, please) friends rather than the pepperoni pizza group.
You tend to adjust your eating pace to that of your companions, so sit next to the slow eaters rather than the speed eaters if you’re trying to control how much goes into your mouth.

This is part of Week 2 of the lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks challenge. How are you doing? Post what you’re doing on Facebook and remember to “Like” EatOutEatWell while you’re there. Follow us on Pinterest and Twitter, too.

Vegetables In Restaurants Might Not Be Low Calorie As You Think

May 3, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Welcome to week #2 of the lose a pound a week challenge. This week’s tips focus on how to save calories when you eat out.

Are you afraid to eat out for fear of “blowing your diet” or because you think there aren’t good choices to be had? Are you tired of hearing that you shouldn’t go to restaurants if you want to control what you eat?

Choices

You can choose to eat out and eat well. It’s all in the choice that you make.

Your first choice is when you select which restaurant to go to (do you want grilled fish or a huge plate of pasta). The second round of choices come when you’re inside the door and confronted with the menu, the breadbasket, and the portions.

No Trauma

Don’t let the thought of eating out be traumatic. Restaurants exist to serve you meals and it is up to you to choose which one to go to and what you will eat when you get there.

Eating well and eating lean does have to be complicated. The simpler the better.

Make sure you have lean protein from meat, fish, vegetable, dairy, or grain sources. Look for healthy fat sources like olive oil and avocado. Grains should be whole grains. Aim to fill ½ to ¾ of your plate with food from plants.

If you’re not certain how something is prepared or would prefer to have something that is prepared differently, just ask. Most restaurants are accommodating when asked nicely (and not at their busiest hour). They might even suggest something that is not on the menu.

Week 2, Tip #1: Vegetables Are Amazing But Beware The Oil Slick

Steamed veggies may not always be the most delicious. To make them taste better, chefs often finish them off with butter or rinse them with oil to amp up flavor before they’re brought out to your table (and the sheen from the fat makes them look prettier). Sometimes veggies and salads are tossed with bacon or bacon drippings to make them taste good — but without mentioning it on the menu.

Softer vegetables like mushrooms, or veggies with soft insides, like eggplant, absorb more fat than harder vegetables like sweet potatoes, beets, and parsnips.

You can always ask to have your vegetables served “dry” or look for pickled vegetables – they’ll be higher in sodium, but low in fat.

And remember, you also always ask if you can substitute a vegetable for potatoes, rice, or pasta. Most restaurants will agree.

Chinese Food And Lots Of Calories Can Go Hand-In-Hand

May 2, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Are you going to have Chinese food? Do you think you’re getting off easy because of all of the vegetables? Think again.

There are 466 calories in a cup and a half of beef and broccoli stir-fry (and about a day’s worth of sodium). One cup of fried rice has 333 calories. If you also have a vegetable spring roll to start for 63 calories and three fortune cookies to end for about 100 calories, your meal comes in at around 1000 calories. You could share this meal and save 500 calories.

Another thing to think about – are you sure that you aren’t eating more than the portion sizes shown here? The amount of food that arrives on your plate or in a take-out box is often considerably larger than a standard portion.

You could be tallying many more calories than you think. Next time you have Chinese take-out, haul out your measuring cup and measure how big the portion is that you just plopped on your plate. You might be horrified.

This is Tip #7 of “The Five”– lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks by decreasing calories, increasing activity, or a combination of the two. Post your progress on Facebook.

Cutting Grass And Swimming Laps Will Help You Lose

May 1, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Activity burns calories. Try to squeeze in activity whenever you can. All those calories you burn up doing chores and errands count, too.

Is your grass growing? Try mowing with a push mower (walking). That necessary chore burns 408 calories an hour.

If you live in an asphalt jungle with no lawn outside your door, head to a gym that has a pool and swim some laps. Swimming at a moderate speed for a little over an hour burns 504 calories.

This is tip #6 in The “Five” Challenge to lose five pounds in five weeks by decreasing your calories by 500 or increasing your activity for an additional 500 calorie burn (or any combination of the two).