Calories Burned Sitting vs Standing: The NEAT Way To Be More Physically Active

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Being tethered to a desk all day for work can impact a person’s physical fitness and make them more sedentary. Enter, the standing desk. Raising your workspace encourages you to stand more, and sit less but does this really impact your physical activity?

According to research, yes! This study showed that standing burned on average 8 more calories per hour than sitting did. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider that amount over a 40-hour workweek, and the average person could be burning 320 more calories just by swapping out their desk!

This phenomenon is referred to as NEAT and it is one of the most underrated components of physical fitness and weight loss.

What Does NEAT Mean?

NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis, and this is the calories you burn doing activities throughout the day that are not specifically exercising. Your body needs to burn calories for everything you do from breathing to sprinting and everything in between. NEAT comes from everything we do that is not sleeping, eating, or exercising.

Walking to and from your car, typing at work, going grocery shopping, walking the dog, playing with your kids- ALL of this movement adds up and greatly impacts how many calories you burn a day whether you know it or not.

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Why Is NEAT Important?

Whatever your goals, NEAT is a very important part of your physical activity. If you have weight loss or fat loss goals, NEAT can greatly increase the number of calories you burn in a day- without much additional effort. This is the secret to losing or maintaining your weight without spending hours in the gym every day because someone who is physically active can burn more than 1000 more calories a day than someone who is sedentary!

Aside from weight loss, increasing your NEAT comes with all the added benefits of increasing your physical activity. You can reduce your risk of heart disease, lower cholesterol, improve blood pressure, have stronger bones and muscles, and have more energy than being more sedentary.

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Physical Activity vs Exercise

People often think that if they exercise consistently, they are physically active but exercise is only half of the equation. Because physical activity is determined by the total amount of movement you do in a day, being physically active is dependant on both your exercise routine and your NEAT.

Just like exercising is not a good reason to stay sedentary the rest of the day, increasing your NEAT is not a good reason to skip out on exercise. They are both valuable components of your overall physical activity.

Exercise specifically is structured and has a specific goal (ie strengthening the muscle or improving cardiovascular health) while NEAT makes up the rest of your physical activity to contribute to the health benefits previously mentioned.

It’s not always possible to increase the amount of exercise you do- either because of the difficulty, because of time constraints, or because it dips into the time you need to recover. NEAT however can be greatly increased by making small changes to your routine and might be the key to improving your physical activity.

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How To Move More

At a Desk Job:

• Use a standing desk. Get on your feet while you work! Standing up takes more energy than sitting and you can take it to the next level but standing on a balance board (like this one or this one). 

• Sit on an exercise ball. Sitting on an exercise ball encourages you to fidget and use your core strength to stay upright at your desk. This is the same exercise ball I recommend for having in your home gym! If that’s not for you, this exercise ball chair has some more stability and back support!

• Try out an exercise bike or treadmill desk. According to this same study, people who walked while they worked burned 180 more calories an hour compared to sitting. Even if you only walked for half of your workday, that adds up to thousands of more calories burned every week! You can casually peddle while you work using this TikTok famous bike desk, or get walking using a treadmill desk like this one.

• Set an activity timer. Set a timer on your phone or use a time cube to remind yourself to stand up and take a lap or do some light stretching around the office every 20-60 minutes. Not only will this time pressure technique help keep you more productive but it will give you several quick movement breaks a day!

• Use under desk exercise equipment. If your office space doesn’t allow for standing desks or exercise desks, there are more compact options that fit under traditional sitting desks and keep your legs moving while you work. This under desk peddler turns your office chair into a recumbent bike, or you can get a foot fidget device (like this one or this one) to encourage movement.

• Take your meetings walking. Need to chat with a coworker or two? Don’t sit in a conference room, take your meetings walking around the block or within your office building.

• Stand or pace while on the phone. Make it a rule that every time you’re on a phone call, you’re on your feet. Take this to the next level by pacing around while you talk to get some extra steps in.

• Take a walk after you eat your lunch. Light walks after meals can help improve your digestion and energy levels. Conquer that mid-day slump by taking a quick 5-10 minutes walk around the block after you finish eating your lunch.

• Switch up your commute. Can you add activity to any part of your commute? If you can walk or bike to work, maybe taking public transit is still more active because you’ll be walking to and from the bus stops/train stations you’re using. Switching it up just once a week could be a major boost to your NEAT!

At Home:

• Do your house chores regularly. Walking around your kitchen to put away dishes, sweeping or vacuuming, and even folding laundry while you watch TV are all ways to keep you moving with the bonus of keeping a clean house!

• Stretch or do light exercises during commercial breaks. Take the opportunity during commercial breaks to stretch and adjust your posture - you don’t want a sore back from binge-watching Netflix all weekend! Stand up and swing your legs around or even challenge yourself to do a plank until your show comes back on!

• Walk or play with your dog. Your dogs need exercise too and you know they love to go for walks so oblige them and grab the leash! Alternatively, throwing their toys to fetch, playing a game of tug, or even wrestling are all ways to not only increase your physical activity but also that of your fur baby!

• Have more sex. Sex absolutely can improve your physical activity, so go get your partner and make increasing your NEAT a team effort!

• Take up gardening. Mowing the lawn, weeding, moving decorative rocks or bags of mulch around is exactly the kind of manual labor that makes up NEAT! Even limiting your gardening to indoor plants means you have to carry a water jug around once a week and all of that movement counts!

• Have a dance party with your kids. Turn up the tunes (it doesn’t have to be from CoComelon!) and get grooving. Shake your hips, move your feet, and lift your kids up and down to the beat. You’ll have loads of fun, tire them out before bedtime, and improve your physical activity all at once!

• Add some light stretching to your morning and evening routine. Stretch for a few minutes right in bed as soon as you wake up and make it a habit to do some light stretches as you’re going to bed for the night. You’ll not only feel more relaxed and comfortable but you’ll be adding extra movement to your day.

On the Weekend:

• Do something active with your partner or a group of friends. Grab your partner or meet a group of friends for a hike, do a bike ride to brunch, or go kick a ball around at a park. Try something new every weekend to keep things interesting!

• Go shopping. Shopping is essentially walking around! Compound that with trying on clothes and it can feel like a full workout sometimes- except it’s not, it’s NEAT!

• Go exploring. Wherever you live, there are always opportunities to explore. Walk around your neighborhood, explore a new section of the city, or wander around the countryside. You may find something new around you that you didn’t know existed before.

• Join a community rec league. Most cities have community rec leagues that are great ways to stay active and meet new people! Pick a sport you’re interested in like softball, basketball, or kickball, and search to see if there is a community league in your area!

Anytime/Anywhere/Everywhere:

• Take the stairs. If you have an opportunity to take the stairs over using an elevator or escalator, take it! That is some valuable NEAT time! Even if you only take the stairs a few flights and take the elevator the rest of the way, it is better than nothing at all.

• Go the distance. Park further away from store entrances when you are running errands. You can double the distance you have to walk by parking on the far end of the parking lot and it doesn’t take that much more time to cross it.

• Fidget while waiting. Find yourself standing in line at the grocery store or the bank? Fidgeting is a great way to increase NEAT. Test your balance by standing on one foot, roll your shoulders, or stretch your neck while you’re waiting your turn.

• Don’t drive when possible. Car dancing counts as NEAT, but you could bump it up by ditching the car wherever possible. Can you walk to nearby restaurants or the gym? Can you bike to friends’ houses or work? Look for ways to be more active when you are out and about- including how you get to and from the places you’re going.

• Offer up your help. Does your friend need help to move? Can you carry groceries for a neighbor? Can you volunteer in your city to pickup trash, plant trees, or deliver food? Offer up yourself to help out those around you and get some extra movement in while you’re making someone’s day!

• Take on a step count challenge. An easy way to track your NEAT is to keep an eye on your step count using a smartwatch or Fitbit. You can take on a step count challenge through fitness apps or programs like StepBet to push you to rack up more steps throughout the day!

+References

1. Creasy SA, Rogers RJ, Byard TD, Kowalsky RJ, Jakicic JM. Energy Expenditure During Acute Periods of Sitting, Standing, and Walking. J Phys Act Health. 2016 Jun;13(6):573-8. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2015-0419. Epub 2015 Dec 21. PMID: 26693809.

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