opinions on standing verse sitting

nhendri

I am a receptionist and sit all day. Well sitting there is making me sore and my butt flat so I made the decision to push my chair away from my desk. I do this every morning for about 3-4 hours. It make me feel better and I am not trying to count it as calories burned but it make me wonder " Am I burning more calories each by standing". I personaly think I am but was wanting to know what others think. Like I said I am not counting this as exercise but I am interested to see how it will effect my weight loss (on top of the cardio I am doing daily).

mlagena

hmm, i would think so because you are supporting your weight and not your chair. plus, when you have to get something you'd turn around and/or walk instead of roll! :happy:

Azdak

Standing or sitting, you still are essentially motionless. There is zero effect.

nbingham

Although I can't say that you're burning more calories by standing than sitting, here is PROOF that sitting all the time is bad for you:


http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_19/b4177071221162.htm

bethgood

Standing does burn more calories than sitting. When standing, you are engaging the leg, abdominal and back muscles that keep you upright. When sitting, you may be using your back and abdominal muscles if you are not leaning against the back of the chair, or you may be completely reclining against the chair and hardly engaging any muscles. As you may remember, when you signed up for Ftiness Pal, the web site asked it you spent most of your time at work sitting, standing, walking, or doing heavy manual labor. The reason is because you do expend slightly more calories standing. But I think you're right not to try to count these extra calories - since a few hours of standing won't use a lot of extra calories. But it will speed your weight loss along a little bit, not to mention it's probably good for your body not to spend all day in a sitting position!

countrymama08

If you are able you could also get a big balance ball and use it as your chair part of the day. It would really engage your core.

nhendri

Lol I had a ball and sat on it at work. I ended up taking it home because my coworkers are unhappy people that like to give me a very hard time :laugh: I now sit on it when I do homework and watch tv