Who burns more calories? Photo: wavebreakmedia / shutterstock.com
It is clear that sitting is not a combustion machine. But how many extra calories do you burn standing up?? The result might surprise you.
Calorie Consumption Comparison
It is now widely known that constant sitting has a negative effect on our health. ÜWe have already reported on the consequences of a lack of exercise elsewhere. Here it should go now concretely around the calorie consumption, finally many Abnehmwillige ask themselves the question whether more standing can support it in the everyday life with its project.
If you look at the facts, however, disillusionment sets in quickly. In a study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, researchers made this exact comparison. Using special masks to measure oxygen uptake, the calorie consumption of 74 test subjects was determined while typing on a laptop and watching TV while sitting and standing up. The results were as follows:
At Sitting burned by the test subjects on average 80 calories per hour, so about 1.33 calories per minute.
At Standing in contrast, you would burn just 8 calories more, that is, 88 per hour and 1.46 calories per minute.
Other studies came up with an average extra consumption of 7.5 or. 8.2 calories in standing on similar results. According to these studies, standing would only save between 0.125 and 0.136 more calories per minute, respectively burn more calories than sitting.
What that means extrapolated to a workday is shown in the calorie chart below:
Calories burned sitting vs. Standing: Table*
*This table is of course for illustrative purposes only. Individual calorie consumption varies from person to person and depends, among other things, on muscle and fat mass, age and gender.
Conclusion
If you were to stand for 8 hours in a workday instead of sitting, you would, according to the above example burn about 64 kcal more. Extrapolated to a work week, that would still be 320 kcal.
This corresponds to about 100 g of fruit gum, one and a half beers or two scoops of vanilla ice cream. To burn the same amount of calories you would have to walk about 6 kilometers or jog for half an hour.
From a purely caloric point of view, standing only helps you lose weight if you are consistent in doing it and spend several hours a day upright. In addition, you should pay attention to a healthy eating style and sufficient exercise, as well as get rid of bad eating habits. Of course, this does not affect the positive effects of standing on health. So it should not only be a question of calorie consumption whether you integrate more movement in your everyday life and reduce the sedentary spent hours.