Kate Garraway, 59, skips the gym for NEAT: can 9-minute moves and 6,000 steps a day transform you?

TV presenter Kate Garraway, 58, has quietly built her routine around NEAT — the daily movement that happens outside formal workouts. From brisk school runs to afternoons in the garden, her approach squares with emerging evidence that the sum of small actions can rival a scheduled gym session for health impact.

Why Kate Garraway swears by everyday movement

When her schedule is packed, Garraway leans on what she can control: pace and frequency. Years ago she explained that she turned the school pick-up into a fast walk, often most days of the week. More recently, during a demanding period of family caregiving, she spoke about taking ten-minute windows for gentle stretching or light pottering in the garden. Last year, she even shared that a full day of gardening left her happily spent. The pattern is simple: move often, move naturally, and let consistency do the heavy lifting.

She trades long, rigid workouts for frequent bursts of purposeful movement — brisk walks, chores, stairs, and time on her feet.

This mirrors what many physiologists have observed. On a typical day, the calories you burn are driven most by your baseline metabolism and your incidental movement. NEAT — non-exercise activity thermogenesis — can vary widely, but on active days it can approach half of your total daily energy burn. A single hour in the gym rarely matches the cumulative effect of moving for several hours, even at low intensity.

What neat really means

NEAT covers everything you do outside structured exercise: walking to the shops, climbing stairs, carrying groceries, standing while you work, gardening, tidying, and even fidgeting. You don’t plan it as a “workout”, yet it nudges heart rate, recruits muscles, and chips away at long sitting blocks. The physiological upsides include better glucose control after meals, less stiffness, and a smoother path to maintaining a healthy weight without extreme training.

Frequent, low-effort movement can contribute more to your daily burn than a single hard workout — especially if you sit less.

How neat compares with gym sessions

A gym session builds strength, power and cardiorespiratory capacity in a targeted way. NEAT does not replace that. Instead, it fills the gaps between workouts, cuts sedentary time, and makes calorie balance easier without spikes in fatigue or appetite. Put simply: keep your gym days, but make every day an active day.

Practical ways to add neat to a busy day

You don’t need fancy kit. You need cues, convenience and repetition. These small, repeatable moves add up fast:

• Turn the school run or commute into a brisk walk; hold a pace that nudges breath but still allows conversation.
• Climb stairs two at a time for a flight or two; use lifts only when you carry heavy bags.
• Set a standing timer: 5 minutes on your feet every 30–45 minutes of desk work.
• Carry your shopping; split heavy loads between both hands to protect your back.
• Make gardening a circuit: digging, raking, lifting pots, light sweeping.
• Do tidying sprints: 10 minutes before lunch and dinner to rack up steps indoors.
• Walk to local errands within a 15–20 minute radius instead of driving.
• Fidget freely: ankle circles, shoulder rolls, seated marches while on calls.

Think in tens: stack six x 10-minute bouts across the day and you’ve banked an hour of movement without carving out gym time.

A sample neat-first day for you

Use this template to nudge movement into your routine:

• 07:30: 12-minute brisk walk after breakfast to blunt the post-meal glucose rise.
• 09:30: 5–7 minutes standing email block and calf raises at your desk.
• 11:00: Take the stairs up three floors; return by lift if knees grumble.
• 13:00: Walk to lunch (800–1,200 steps), carry it back instead of ordering in.
• 15:30: Ten-minute tidy-up or a lap around the block during a call.
• 18:00: Prep dinner standing; add a two-song kitchen dance while the oven heats.
• 20:30: Light stretch while the kettle boils; two trips to put laundry away.

Target 8,000–10,000 steps on weekdays, then add short hill walks or longer garden sessions at the weekend. If you currently average 4,000 steps, add 1,000–1,500 per fortnight until you reach your range.

Make it effective and safe

Footwear matters. Choose supportive trainers for brisk walks and tasks that involve lifting or lots of steps. Keep your hands free where possible and share loads between both sides. If you sit for work, set an alarm to stand, sip water, and do 10 bodyweight squats or counter push-ups. These “snacks” perk up circulation and posture.

Use pace wisely. Walk so you feel slightly breathy, not gasping. On two or three days a week, extend one walk to 20–30 minutes to build endurance. If joints complain, swap some walking for standing chores or gentle cycling.

Balance NEAT with strength work. Two short sessions a week — 20–30 minutes of presses, rows, squats, hinges and carries — protect muscle, bones and joints. Midlife bodies respond well to this mix: steady daily movement plus regular resistance makes stairs easier, backs happier and shoulders less tight.

Why this resonates at 58

Midlife often means time pressure, caregiving, and unpredictable days. Garraway’s approach shows you can still steer your health by stacking small decisions. Brisk school runs, purposeful household jobs and outdoor pottering create a rhythm that supports mood, sleep and weight management without the friction of a strict programme.

Short, repeatable actions beat perfect plans. If a day unravels, you can still bank steps, stand more, and carry what you usually wheel.

There’s also a mental health dividend. Light, frequent movement breaks rumination, gives quick wins, and brings you outdoors. Many people report better focus after a ten-minute walk than after a coffee. Add a friend or a dog and adherence improves again.

Numbers to guide your week

• Steps: 8,000–10,000 on most days; include 2–3 bouts over 10 minutes.
• Sitting breaks: stand or stroll for 3–5 minutes every 30–45 minutes.
• Strength: at least 2 sessions weekly; 6–10 total sets per session across major muscles.
• Hills or stairs: 2 short climbs a week to build leg power and heart health.

Extra context that helps you act

Weather-proof your plan. Keep a cheap foldable rain jacket by the door, store an umbrella at work, and map two indoor routes for stormy days — a shopping centre loop or stairwell laps. Prepare a “movement drawer” at the office with resistance bands and a spare pair of trainers to remove excuses.

If weight loss is a goal, NEAT helps create a gentle calorie gap without triggering the hunger spikes that sometimes follow hard intervals. Pair your movement with protein at each meal — roughly a palm-sized portion — to protect muscle as the scale shifts. If fatigue lingers, reduce intensity, not frequency: keep moving lightly while you recover rather than stopping completely.

You start noticing things. How a quick tidy-up feels less like a chore and more like a reset. How the walk to post a letter clears your head better than any scroll break. You realise fitness isn’t a plan but a pattern — hundreds of small decisions that build a kind of quiet strength. Even rest changes shape: stretching before bed, soft shoulder rolls while brushing your teeth, a slow reach for a mug in the morning that reminds your body it’s capable.

The reward isn’t adrenaline; it’s steadiness. Your knees thank you for patience, your back loosens, and you stop dreading movement. You look forward to it. You take the long route to the shop because it feels good to move, not because you’re tracking steps. The soundtrack of your day — kettle clicks, the hum of the washing machine, a neighbour’s radio — becomes a rhythm to move within.

And somewhere between those micro-motions, the word exercise starts to sound too formal. It’s just life again, unhurried and in flow. You’re not chasing transformation anymore; you’re sustaining it. The body that once protested now participates. Each day stitches into the next with less strain, more grace — proof that ease can be earned.

Finally, listen to niggles. Knees dislike sudden volume jumps and heavy carries on one side. Progress by minutes, not miles, and vary your tasks. The point is not heroics. The point is what Garraway models: everyday movement, repeated with purpose, that quietly keeps you fit when life is loud.