Do You Really Burn More Calories While Standing?

There is a small but significant difference between the calories you burn while sitting vs. standing still, but they add up.
While standing more than sitting in themselves may not help you lose a significant amount of weight, it can certainly help you maintain your current weight and reduce certain health risks. Read on to learn more.

What’s the difference in calories?

When you stand, you burn anywhere from 70 to 95Trusted Source calories an hour. It all depends on your sex, age, height, and weight.
Sitting, by comparison, only burns 65 to 85Trusted Source calories an hour. The difference may not seem large, but it adds up over time. You could burn anywhere from 15 to 30 more calories just by swapping 3 hours of sitting for standing.
Note that males generally burn more calories because they typically have greater muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the faster you generally burn calories.

How to calculate how many calories you burn a day

The Harris Benedict Equation determines how many calories are burned. This equation takes your height, weight, age, and activity level into account.
The Compendium of Physical Activities assigns a number representing the metabolic equivalent (MET) for activities you perform, which aids in calculating how many calories you burn in a day.

Why do you burn more calories standing?

Your body burns more calories when you’re moving. Sitting or lying down burns the fewest number of calories.
When you’re on your feet, you activate your muscle mass. This muscle mass helps you burn more calories.
Do your height and weight affect how many calories you burn?
It probably goes without saying that physical exercise burns calories. Your body also burns calories by performing basic functions like breathing and eating.
Your metabolism and the number of calories your body needs for essential functions can change based on your muscle mass, weight, height, and age. The bigger you are, the more calories your body burns per day for these essential functions.
Your age can also factor in to how many calories you burn. Most people lose muscle as they age. The less muscle mass you have, the fewer calories you burn.

Other benefits of standing instead of sitting

In addition to burning calories, standing can reduce your risk of:
• diabetes
• heart attack
• stroke
• cancer

Is it possible to stand too much?

As with any body posture, standing for too long can actually do more harm than good.
How to add more standing time to your routine
You may find it helpful to start by adding an extra 10 to 15 minutes of standing time to your day and gradually working your way up from there.
How you add these minutes is up to you. A general rule of thumb is to stand for at least 1 minute after every 30 minutes of sitting. After a minute has passed, you may choose to stand longer or resume sitting until another 30 minutes are up.

At work

Here are a few ways you can stand more at work:
• Try a standing desk versus a sitting desk.
• Stand up when you take a phone call.
• Consider having a “stand-up” style meeting instead of sitting.
• Set a timer to stand for a certain number of minutes every hour.

At home

Standing more at home may require some changes to your routine. Start with these:
• Talk a walk around the house every half hour or hour.
• Stand when making a phone call, texting, or using the Internet on your smartphone.
• Take a nightly walk before engaging in more sedentary leisure time.
• Watch your favorite television show while standing.