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How to turn everyday tasks into a way to exercise

You do not need to hit the gym to get fit

Think being healthy requires a gym membership? Think again.

You may change your well-being by making the most of basic tasks like walking the dog, standing while on the phone, vacuuming, and holiday decorating. All of these are part of an intriguing approach for maintaining health.

Jody Trierweiler, a nutrition and fitness expert, joined Tati Amare on “Live in the D” to explain how all of this works.

According to Trierweiler, N.E.A.T. stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis.

“The world’s longest-living populations all do this,” Trierweiler said. “They don’t necessarily go to the gym or do fitness classes, but the people that live to be 100 and older move around a lot more.”

The nutrition and fitness expert said that this has been helping people stay healthy for a long time because moving around burns more calories in a day than going to the gym for an hour.

To begin, Trierweiler suggests looking at your life when you are stationary and seated, and standing up every 30 minutes if you are sitting. She mentioned that there is a cool thing that happens to your body when you shift your muscles from sitting to standing. Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is an enzyme that helps your body burn fat. When you don’t move that enzyme, it lowers.

Trierweiler says N.E.A.T. includes opening branches on a wreath, vacuuming, baking, mixing ingredients, walking the dog, and standing and moving while on the phone. She says every time you sit down to do something, see if you can do it standing up instead.

The complete interview may be seen in the video above.