Calorie burn while standing

misterdenis
misterdenis Posts: 7 Member
edited December 2020 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all,

I’ve been trying to figure something that’s been bugging me out: how many more calories does one really burn while standing vs. Sitting? I ask because I sync my calorie burn with Garmin and have MFP set to auto-adjust. I spent the entire day working stood up yesterday, yet burned less calories than a comparable day before where I was sitting at my desk..?

I did some research and by all accounts, I should have seen at least a slight increase (about 1.2 mets depending on the source), so this makes me seriously doubt the quality of the calculations.

It’s not the end of the world as I’m not too serious about it, it’s more of an estimate. But at the same time, I get a bit over-motivated and completionist with this sort of stuff... So just looking for some input and thoughts.

Thanks!

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,183 Member
    How would your device know you're standing? Think about what sensors your particular device may have: Maybe HR monitor, accelerometer/motion detector, altimeter, GPS, . . . ? Did any of those register something different, compared to when you did roughly the same kind of work, while sitting? (Yeah, if granular enough measurement, altitude differs, but the device doesn't know whether you're standing, or sitting on a higher surface. HR *might* differ a little, but not much, if standing still.)

    Don't mistake a fitness tracker estimate for a calorie measurement. It's still just giving you a statistical estimate of calorie expenditure, based on the various things it actually can/does measure. It's just that it's a more personalized estimate.

    (My Garmin consistently estimates my all-day calories several hundred calories too low, as compared with 5+ years of careful food & bodyweight logging data. It's a model that gives good estimates for other people. It's not malfunctioning - it estimates my calorie expenditure to be about the same as MFP estimates for me. Outliers happen, because statistics. Oddities happen, because the devices only measure so much, and produce results from the measurements that are only as good as the research and programming behind them. Don't expect more than they can deliver.)
  • misterdenis
    misterdenis Posts: 7 Member
    I totally get what you're saying, and that's why I don't expect it to be an absolute science. That said you make a valid point about the sensors I hadn't thought about: I did assume the HR and accelerometer would have detected a difference but looking back you're correct, it's marginal at best.

    I suppose my question should then be: are there any actual benefits to standing (relatively still) as opposed to sitting? I'm just wondering if the whole standing desk thing would be a valid option (no investment on my part aside from changing rooms). And while at it, if I were to dive deeper, how would I get close to an accurate measure of calorie expenditure?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,183 Member
    misterdenis wrote: »
    I totally get what you're saying, and that's why I don't expect it to be an absolute science. That said you make a valid point about the sensors I hadn't thought about: I did assume the HR and accelerometer would have detected a difference but looking back you're correct, it's marginal at best.

    I suppose my question should then be: are there any actual benefits to standing (relatively still) as opposed to sitting? I'm just wondering if the whole standing desk thing would be a valid option (no investment on my part aside from changing rooms). And while at it, if I were to dive deeper, how would I get close to an accurate measure of calorie expenditure?

    My guess would be "yes", small benefit. METS might be your best bet . . . though since the calorie deficit is pretty small, I'd personally just do it for a month or so - heck, do it forever, as research is suggesting sitting lots is bad for us 😉 - and see how things go. If it were me, I wouldn't try to log the difference, just take it as a win.

    More stuff people do, in here:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1
  • MarttaHP
    MarttaHP Posts: 68 Member
    I've found that my Garmin (FR245) is lousy at detecting any additional calorie burn from any non-exercise activity. I once did hours of yard work, with no additional active calories showing up at the end of the day. Merely standing up as opposed to sitting down definitely never registers with the device. My Garmin seems to believe that any slight increase in HR is just a sign of me being stressed out.

    But like AnnPT77 said, minimizing your time spent sitting down is what the health experts are recommending, so if you have access to a standing desk, that's great.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    misterdenis wrote: »
    I totally get what you're saying, and that's why I don't expect it to be an absolute science. That said you make a valid point about the sensors I hadn't thought about: I did assume the HR and accelerometer would have detected a difference but looking back you're correct, it's marginal at best.

    I suppose my question should then be: are there any actual benefits to standing (relatively still) as opposed to sitting? I'm just wondering if the whole standing desk thing would be a valid option (no investment on my part aside from changing rooms). And while at it, if I were to dive deeper, how would I get close to an accurate measure of calorie expenditure?

    Not sure if my maths is right but assuming 1.2 METS is correct for standing then my difference between being at rest and standing would be 13cals an hour.
    (My estimated BMR divided by 24 to get 1 MET then multiply by 1.2)

    If my assumptions are correct then it's such a small number in a maths game of thousands I wouldn't bother to factor it in. A good thing to do for health though.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    All the fitness trackers use BMR rate of burn during times there are no steps.

    Even being awake burns more calories (RMR) than sleeping (BMR).
    Even eating (TEF) is not accounted for in the daily burn. 20-30% of the calories you eat.

    All so minor in comparison to the bigger things, and the potentially bigger errors on food logging.

    Now, I too am annoyed with the few steps in hard yard work - Garmin does pretty good not counting steps of just movement compared to Fitbit I've seen, and a tad more steps wouldn't really be good estimate anyway.
    Just figure that day had a tad more unknown deficit. In a monthly review of figures it likely won't show up.
  • misterdenis
    misterdenis Posts: 7 Member
    Appreciate everyone's input. I really only estimate my CICO but lately I've been constantly hungry and trying to figure out if my calories budget is off in any way. Since I'm not losing weight I doubt this is the cause but I wanted to check all angles and this came up while digging through everything... Just wanted to rule out some gross miscalculation!

    Thanks.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited December 2020
    I don't know that its possible to really KNOW. And I don't think a tracker can really track this. I just have the assumption that sitting burns more than sleeping, and standing burns more than sitting. And walking really slowly on a desk treadmill while doing spreadsheets burns more than standing. SO if I replace lower calorie actions for higher calorie actions some each day, it benefits my TDEE. Whether its 25 calories per day or 250, who knows?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    As an aside, I would caution against standing all day as well...sitting all day isn't good for you, but standing all day in one place poses it's own set of issues. In general, the human body is meant to be in motion...while that is ideal, it's obviously not possible all of the time...but neither sitting all day in one spot or standing all day in one spot is particularly ideal.

    If you do a standing desk, it is best to alternate between sitting and standing...but I'd still recommend getting up every hour to move a little...I usually take a little walk around the floor of my office building...check in on colleagues, get some water, go to the bathroom, etc...maybe do some air squats and pump out some pushups.

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