Stand more, sit less
In short, obese women sat for two and half hours more than lean women and stood for two hours less than lean women each day. Obese women also spent about half as much time each day in activity of all sorts (walking, climbing stairs, etc.).
The upshot was that obese women burned about 300 calories fewer each day than lean women. Note that none of these women were athletes but more or less sedentary people. Those engaged in high levels of exercise were excluded from the study population.
It’s significant that the women’s resting metabolic rate–the energy cost (calories burned) of just existing–was about equivalent. That is, the obese women didn’t start the study at a metabolic disadvantage. They burned fewer calories simply because they moved less.
Bottom line: we can burn more calories by adjusting our posture. We can stand (or walk) while talking on the phone; we can take the stairs rather than the elevator; we can park at the far end of the parking lot when we go to work or go shopping; we can walk to a colleague’s office rather than call her on the phone.
Even such small adjustments in behavior make a huge difference.
