This is essentially all the calories that a person burns through their daily activity excluding purposeful physical exercise. Think of the low-effort movements that you string together over the course of your day – things like household chores, strolling through the grocery aisle, climbing the stairs, bobbing your leg up and down at your desk, or cooking dinner.

It’s a concept that goes by the name non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, for short.

And even among those who do exercise regularly, NEAT usually plays a bigger role in calorie burning than working out.

It’s not that NEAT should be considered a substitute for more structured bouts of intense physical exercise, which has its own well-established health benefits. But revving up NEAT can be more accessible for some people, especially those who don’t exercise as much, if at all.