NEAT: what the hell is it and why should midlife women care?

NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

Have you ever heard a sexier name for anything in your whole life?! Okay, it's deeply UNsexy. But it's a very important term and concept for us midlife slags (who care about their health and fitness... which, presumably is why you're reading this here blog) to know.

NEAT basically means all the movement you do outside of structured exercise. Not FitBtch sessions. Not whatever you do at the gym. Not running, yoga or whatever else you may or may not do.

NEAT is stuff like your daily steps, pottering around the house, the school or corner shop run, standing instead of sitting (standing desk anyone?). Fidgeting and being expressive or gesticulating when you talk (yes, really). Essentially, it's being a human. And to an extent, if you move your body a fair bit, even if it’s not a workout, it counts.

And yes, we know what you're thinking - if pottering about the house made people fit, we'd all be Muscle Mavises (Mavi?) and we're... not. But stay with us for a bit here and we promise it'll make sense.

NEAT and your midlife metabolism

If you're trying to drop fat, knowing more about your total daily energy expenditure (aka how much energy you burn in a day) can help. Now this is made up of a few things. Firstly, there's Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the automatic, involuntary, biological stuff like breathing and your heart beating. You know, being alive. You don't have to make any effort to do this (at least, we hope you don't)!

The second, and hold onto your gussets as this is another sexy one... is Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). It's the energy it takes to digest food. Protein gets a shout-out here because it costs more energy to digest. But, would you believe it, we’re not here to bang on about protein this time! I know!

Then there is of course exercise. Anything that's a purposeful fitness activity. FitBtch, the gym, classes, running, dancing even. But lastly, there's NEAT, which is EVERYTHING else.

And what most people miss is that NEAT often contributes MORE to daily calorie burn than exercise does. We're not here to tell you that strength training and working out generally isn't the Don Dada of fitness. Doing a 20, 30, 40 minute workout a couple of times a week is brilliant and to be encouraged at all costs.

But eight hours of moving a bit more across the day is where the ✨magic✨ lives, especially for women in midlife and perimenopause.

Because we're tired. Most 40s-ish slags aren't always buzzing to smash out a workout. The smug satisfaction and much-vaunted post-exercise endorphins come after. The energy boost we always rave about usually comes from consistency, not as an instant reward.

More often, especially when we haven't been looking after ourselves, we're feeling knackered, maybe a bit brain-foggy, overwhelmed (often), overstimulated (obv) and, if you're hovering over a FitBtch membership without pulling the trigger, it's probably because you feel you can’t even look at a training plan without wanting to throw your phone out the window.

And all this is exactly why harnessing NEAT is, frankly, elite-level fitness strategy.

Walking and daily movement have SO many benefits, including (but not limited to) getting blood flowing, supporting lymphatic drainage, improving circulation, helping joints stay mobile, boosting your mood a bit without frying your nervous system. This gentle but regular movement can even improve insulin sensitivity, help regulate appetite (you can't snack if you're out on a stroll either) and generally supports fat loss.

We're not hyping this up at all - it's just basic physiology doing the job it's designed to do. Before we all sat at computers all day, everyone moved around more and, on the whole, were physically fitter.

A NEAT and tidy brain

And aside from burning calories, NEAT can also play a part in good mental health. We're not going to stand (type) here professing that any form of exercise can be a substitute for proper mental health care but if it's just a case of classic overwhelm when everything else feels too much, walking can really work.

It can help reduce stress hormones, a good head-clearing stomp about can improves mood and punt anxiety away for a bit. Walking more helps regulate sleep and it can just plain get you out of your own head. Depending on whether you choose to listen to something as you walk (more on this in a moment) or, as the kids say, 'raw dog' it with no earphones. Sometimes walking with no audio distractions keeps your thoughts moving until you think through whatever it is that's on your mind!

There is just something powerful about just getting moving, outside or inside on a walking pad like our queen Vic uses, even when motivation to do anything 'proper' is on the floor.

You don’t need lycra, or a playlist (the more is coming, keep reading), or even anything like a planned route. You just need some shoes. Well... clothes will probably help. It's still January after all. But that’s it.

As far as Team FitBtch is concerned, steps are one of our strongest tools. Kelly is always banging on about it in her 1:1 personal training too. If you have a fat loss goal, steps are non-negotiable.

But why, we hear you cry? They won't impact your fatigue levels. They're repeatable - you can walk somewhere different every day. Walking doesn’t spike hunger like loads of cardio can and your steps stack up across the week. And upping your steps is adaptable to real life. Most of us don’t need to take up a punishing training schedule to improve our fitness and wellbeing - you need to move more consistently.

And being aware of (and let's be honest, exploiting) NEAT lets us do that .

Which brings us nicely to what’s coming next…

This March, so almost exactly a month's time, we’re running a 4-week walking challenge.

You will not hear, "Just hit 10k steps every day and/or suffer", or, "Do the same boring old walk on repeat". You know us, or even if you don't - there will be absolutely no "all or nothing" bs.

You’ll get different walk themes each week. There'll be social walks, short strides, longer rambles, nature walks (and don't say there's no nature near you, we're in grotty East London mate and we can still find some! Well Vic isn't now but still...). There will be structure but there will not be pressure. You'll have a pep talk at the start of each week and some guided meditations to put through your ears as an alternative to the usual stuff you may listen to. A change is good! And yes… because this is FitBtch, we're going to throw in some short strength sessions, because muscles and joints still matter. They're optional as everything is, but they're in there.

The 2026 Walking Challenge is about building a bit of momentum while the trees and flowers are coming back to life, but before the summer. We're supporting our (yes we're doing it too) mental health, supporting fat loss, and for those who haven't dived into any of our courses yet, havig a go at actually enjoying moving your body again.

Walking is way underrated in the fitness world. But it works. And it works especially well in midlife.

Sometimes the biggest win for your fitness journey isn’t doing more, more, more. It’s doing something you can fit into everyday life and maybe, actually sustain. So we're all about NEAT this spring. That’s where the quiet, but totally achievable progress lives.