Move a Little, Lose a Lot: New N.E.A.T. Science Reveals How to Be Thinner, Happier, and Smarter

By James Levine, MD and Selene Yeager

Escape Your Desk Sentence!

Dr. James Levine, one of the country’s top specialists in obesity, says America suffers from “sitting disease.” We spend nearly ten to fifteen hours of our day sitting–in cars, at our desks, and in front of the television. The age of electronics and the Internet has robbed us of the chance to burn up to 1,500 to 2,000 calories per day, leaving Americans less active (and much heavier) than we were thirty years ago. We are facing a human energy crisis.

What you need, according to this doctor’s orders, is to get moving, or nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). NEAT is as simple as standing, turning, and bending. Research proves that daily NEAT activity burns more calories than a half hour running on the treadmill. Just by the very act of standing and moving, you can boost your metabolism, lower your blood pressure, and increase your mental clarity. It’s about using your body as it was meant to be used. Move a Little, Lose a Lot gives you literal step-by-step instructions for small changes that equal radical results:

• Give at the office–burn 2,100 calories a week just by changing your daily work routine.
• Hey, Einstein–just like the scientist who thought up his most famous theory while riding his bike, you can increase production of new brain neurons in as little as three hours.
• Tired of being tired–reduce fatigue by 65 percent with low-intensity NEAT workouts.
• Don’t forget–an Italian study showed active men and women were 30 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 20, 2009
• ISBN: 9780307452160

Reviews for Move a Little, Lose a Lot

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dare you to read this and not want to walk. I found it an interesting read, and a lot of it made sense. I do sometimes wonder why people phone people in the same building as them rather than going over and talking to them, and this argues for that, that we should be moving, that our sedentary lives are killing us and that we should walk more, move more, energise ourselves.

Food for thought

[stige_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has already had a big impact on my life, just two weeks after I finished. Levine's advice is very good and should be taught and practiced in schools, homes and workplaces across the nation. Five stars for that.

As a book there are several flaws that detract from the score. I bought this as an e-book. The book is packed with paperwork to complete (trackers, contracts, lists) with no good way of completing the paperwork. This led to me dropping a lot of the paperwork-related exercises, since it seems wrong to sit in front of the PC for hours to make up for this flaw.

The book is also packaging NEAT slightly too much, and at times it feels more like a sales pitch than advice rooted firmly in science. If it had dropped the need to hype it would have been a better experience to read. So three stars as a book.