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Nutrition

NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis)

The calories burned by all the movement that isn't formal exercise — walking, standing, chores, fidgeting — which can vary by hundreds of calories a day between people.

By the glp1.how editorial teamReviewed

NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is the energy you burn through everything you do that isn't sleeping, eating, or deliberate exercise: walking to the car, standing at a counter, doing chores, pacing on a phone call, fidgeting. It sounds trivial, but it's one of the most variable parts of daily energy expenditure — two people of the same size can differ by hundreds of calories a day in NEAT alone.

It's worth knowing on a GLP-1 because NEAT tends to fall quietly when you're eating less and feeling low-energy, especially during titration — you sit more without noticing, and your total daily burn drops with it. Keeping everyday movement up (steps, standing, short walks) is a low-effort way to hold the line. See calories in, calories out on a GLP-1 for how NEAT fits into the bigger energy picture.

A 2002 review defines NEAT the same way and notes that it rises with overfeeding and falls with underfeeding (Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (external link)).

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Related terms

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