There!

So for as long as I can remember people have thought that I seem, to them, to have some strange habits. Not wanting to sit after eating. Washing dishes by hand. Not fidgeting, but just wanting to move around. Well, it took long enough. But I found an article to legitimize it...

Want to lose weight?

Become a "NEAT" freak.
Use stairs rather than escalators or elevators.

James Levine, a research physician at The Mayo Clinic, has tread exciting new ground on obesity. He believes that many who lose the battle of the bulge have a low NEAT factor: a phenomenon in which the body doesn't burn calories at an adequate rate during the day.

NEAT actually stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and represents the calories a person burns doing a normal routine (sitting, standing, sleeping, etc.).

In a study published in the journal Science in 2005, Levine's team studied 10 obese people and 10 thin people, controlling every calorie both groups consumed. They monitored each movement by having them wear clothing that contained motion-sensing technology.

Participants were told to follow their usual routines. Researchers found that the overweight group burned an average of 350 fewer calories a day; they tended to sit 150 minutes more each day than those in the thin group. Thin people tended to get up more and stay more active.

Here are ways to improve NEAT:

At work. Try not to sit as much. Make it a point to stand up when you take a call. At the top of each hour, stroll through the office for a few minutes.

Everywhere else. Think about the tasks that require daily attention, and make them more movement-oriented. Use stairs. Wash dishes by hand. Ditch the remote control. Opportunities for NEAT vary, but we all can find ways to move more.

Tedd Mitchell, M.D., president and medical director of Dallas' Cooper Clinic, writes HealthSmart every week.