Move More Without Workouts: How Small Daily Habits Burn Calories and Keep Progress Steady
Sep 8, 2025
Exercise is great, but most calorie burn doesn’t come from the gym. You can actually increase the number of calories you burn without setting foot in a gym.
Most of your daily calories burnt come from NEAT — non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or in plain English: all the calories you burn moving around outside of workouts. Here’s how to raise yours without adding more workouts.
What counts as NEAT?
Walking to the shop
Taking the stairs
Cleaning, cooking, gardening
Pacing during phone calls
It all adds up — sometimes more than your actual workouts.
Step targets by lifestyle
Desk job: aim for 5–7k steps per day
Mixed activity: 8–10k
Very active job: 12k+
Small daily habits to raise NEAT
Park further away
Take stairs instead of lifts
Walk during calls or podcasts
Set a “stand up” reminder every hour
Do 5–10 minutes of tidying in the evening
Why this matters
Raising NEAT keeps your calorie budget accurate. Drop steps too low while dieting and weight loss can stall even if you’re tracking food.
How Calorik helps
Calorik syncs with Apple Health or Google Fit so your daily step trend is visible next to your calories. You’ll see the full picture, not just food intake.
