Has anyone trained themselves to fidgit?

vampirequeen1959

I fidget constantly. My feet and toes are curling as I type. My husband says I even fidget when asleep. I've never thought of it as a flaw. A little annoying at times when I need to sit still but not a flaw.

kshama2001

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

I've always been a fidgeter, and perhaps at least partially related, never struggled with my weight until some life changes a few years ago. I made some efforts to break myself of the habit as an adult, but have allowed it to come back since learning about NEAT. I was recently listening to a Lyle McDonald podcast that suggested much of NEAT, including fidgeting, is genetic, and was wondering if anyone who wasn't a natural fidgeter has managed to successfully train themselves to do it. Would you have to think about it all the time? Would you stop moving if you stopped thinking about it?

Just as an anecdotal data point in favor of fidgeting, I've kept pretty tight data for over a year and a half now, and once I moved into a deficit (about nine months ago), have noticed consistently higher weight loss than would be accounted for by my calorie counting. I've had a number of theories about this and NEAT is definitely up there - I work a completely sedentary job, but am almost constantly moving my legs.

I don't fidget per se, but I have trained myself to move more while at my desk. For example, there's a program that I use regularly, and I've trained myself to get up and do something when I start the scan.

The notion of "sitting kills" might be overly alarmist...or it might not be.

https://www.amazon.com/Sitting-Kills-Moving-Heals-Everyday/dp/1610350189

GottaBurnEmAll

I was a fidgeter when I was a kid, but back then, the nuns in Catholic school weren't too happy with that. I mildly fidget now, just toe twiddling.

I have, however, accustomed myself to not sitting. It's not fidgeting, and it's intentional, but I get very antsy if I don't get up and walk around for a while every hour. Sometimes I do it on my treadmill, sometimes I take a walk around the block, sometimes I do stuff around the house.

I think you can accustom yourself to sit less, yes.

EatingAndKnitting

I wasn't a fidgeter until recently. My fidgeting, I suspect, is a medication side effect. I don't remember which one (I'm on a handful for psych issues), but one of them I'm on listed something like "restless movements". It's almost a compulsion, I can stop but it requires conscious thought. I suspect it's partly why (when I stick to my calories) I lose a little faster than I have MFP set for.

Does anyone know how much fidgeting burns? I usually tap fingers/toes or move feet around. Or both. When driving I tap both my thumbs on the steering wheel.

AnnPT77

jesslla wrote: »

I wasn't a fidgeter until recently. My fidgeting, I suspect, is a medication side effect. I don't remember which one (I'm on a handful for psych issues), but one of them I'm on listed something like "restless movements". It's almost a compulsion, I can stop but it requires conscious thought. I suspect it's partly why (when I stick to my calories) I lose a little faster than I have MFP set for.

Does anyone know how much fidgeting burns? I usually tap fingers/toes or move feet around. Or both. When driving I tap both my thumbs on the steering wheel.

I don't have a specific cite (sorry), but I think I remember reading a (small) study that suggested the 24-hour calorie impact could be in the low hundreds, at an extreme, compared to someone very still/placid.

PapillonNoire

I did condition myself to get more movement in throughout the day, though it's a bit more than fidgeting. I shadow box and do little stretches/movements in my cubicle. I park a mile from my office. I pace or jog in place while I watch TV. Rather than taking one trip down the hallway at work to get a drink, a snack, and use the restroom, I'll make separate trips for each. Our file room is in the basement so I'll do my filing, and offer to fetch files for the other members of my team. I try to walk on my lunch breaks. This all adds up to thousands of extra steps per day for me and increased my TDEE by roughly 500 calories.

fr33sia12

I fidget a lot but it doesn't really bother me anymore and if it helps me lose weight then great.

EatingAndKnitting

AnnPT77 wrote: »

jesslla wrote: »

I wasn't a fidgeter until recently. My fidgeting, I suspect, is a medication side effect. I don't remember which one (I'm on a handful for psych issues), but one of them I'm on listed something like "restless movements". It's almost a compulsion, I can stop but it requires conscious thought. I suspect it's partly why (when I stick to my calories) I lose a little faster than I have MFP set for.

Does anyone know how much fidgeting burns? I usually tap fingers/toes or move feet around. Or both. When driving I tap both my thumbs on the steering wheel.

I don't have a specific cite (sorry), but I think I remember reading a (small) study that suggested the 24-hour calorie impact could be in the low hundreds, at an extreme, compared to someone very still/placid.

No worries, I was just looking for an estimate. I was guessing a couple hundred, because I lost about half to one pound a week over what MFP is set to (1.5 pounds).

steveko89

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

steveko89 wrote: »

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

steveko89 wrote: »

@MegaMooseEsq, how many extra calories does your data support? 1%? 5%?

I've never put much stock in in the idea of being able to substantially change NEAT by fidgeting or always parking farther away or making other efforts to increase NEAT as a priority, especially when comparing the potential magnitude to ensuring one has set their calorie level and is logging correctly. However, this data of which you speak has me intrigued.

Not accounting for intentional exercise, I lose weight at the rate expected of an individual at MFP's "active" daily activities (I am clearly sedentary by the MFP model). I've checked this against the USDA body weight planner (a TDEE model), and the difference comes out to maybe 200-300 calories a day (or the calories estimated for someone eight inches taller than myself). Converted to a percentage of my daily intake, that's currently 10-15% of my daily intake. Certainly this could be due to logging issues, being towards an end of the BMI bell curve, or something else entirely, but there does seem to be some science behind the NEAT theory. Whether or not one can consciously increase NEAT is another question, one I am also skeptical about. Thus my post!

ETA: Edited edit because I'm trying to break myself of the impulse to apologize when I get a "woo."

Interesting, thanks for sharing. It's not natural for me to fidget unless severely over-caffeinated. I'll have to try the estimator you mentioned to see. TdeeCalulator.net has my TDEE overestimated by 100 calories or so; maybe that's saying I fidget less than the average.

It's at https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html - I've personally found it much more useful than the MFP estimates and haven't bothered to close my diary in ages. As an experiment, I tried the calculator you linked and it underestimated my TDEE by about 400 calories.

Likewise, I tried the one you linked and got a TDEE almost 500 calories higher than what I've observed mine to be. I think "moderate" activity is valid based on their description and my 3x/week full body weightlifting and 1-2x/week cardio.