Just standing may be an important component of total daily calories burned. A recent study showed that compared to lean women, obese women sat more and stood less.  They also spent half as much time moving around as the lean women. Still, the researchers calculated that if the obese women sat less, stood more, and doubled their weekly activity time, they could burn about 315 more calories a day.

How can this be? One answer is obvious. Your body burns more calories standing than sitting. One-third more to be exact. That’s because the large muscles in your legs and back are fighting gravity to keep you standing erect.

Less obvious but implied by this study, is that people who stood more also moved more. Perhaps the saying, “You have to walk before you run” should be adapted to, “You have to stand before you walk.”

A third intriguing explanation has to do with fat-burning enzymes that naturally occur in your body. According to new research from the University of Missouri-Columbia, when you sit, these enzymes seem to shut off. This prevents stored fat from being put into the blood stream to be used as an energy source.  The research also seems to indicate that when you are seated, fat that is already in the blood stream prefers to be stored in the fat tissue instead of being burned by muscle.

While this latter explanation is intriguing, more research is needed. Also, you shouldn’t trade in your long walks for standing all day. If you are already physically active, stay active and when you are not exercising, sit less. If you are not active, stand up more. Here are ideas for making a stand for good health:

1. When the phone rings, stand up for the duration of the call.
2. You know those “standing” meetings that occur regularly on your calendar? Make them truly standing by not sitting! Send this blog post to your friends or work colleagues – perhaps they will stand with you!Stand in the stands.
3. Who says you have to sit to watch your child’s soccer game?
   

What ideas do you have for standing more? Add your thoughts in the comments section below.

This is one of those “duh” stories.  

In a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers reviewed the results of 26 studies in which pedometers or step counters were used. They found that using step counters was strongly associated with increases in physical activity. That is, people who used step counters increased their activity by over 2,000 steps compared to their own baseline level or compared to people who did not wear a step counter. In addition, using step counters was associated with reductions in body mass index (BMI), an indicator of body fatness, and blood pressure.

It's a “duh” story because if you move more, you burn more calories. You burn more calories, you reduce your weight. What is interesting is that this study showed that a relatively simple, inexpensive tool can help people move more — and weigh less.

We at The Cooper Institute have known about the value of step counters for a long time. Over 15 years ago, we conducted one of the first studies in which step counters were used to help people set goals and track their physical activity. We have since used step counters in many other studies and educational programs. Still, it is good to have a definitive paper in a prestigious journal that goes to thousands of physicians and other health professionals. We hope that more clinicians will recommend step counters to their patients.

If you don’t have a step counter, get one. If you do have one, here are ways to have fun with it.

Fun with Step Counters

Step Around Your Block

1. Guess how many steps it is from your home to the end of your block.
2. Check your step counter before and after you walk the distance. How close was your guess?
3. Try it again. How many steps does it take to go around your whole block?

 Take a Cue for Physical Activity

1. Decide how many steps you want to have on your step counter by lunch time.
2. Check your counter at noon. If you haven’t reached your goal, take time during your lunch break to add some steps.
3. Set another goal for five o’clock. If you haven’t reached your five o’clock goal, the step counter will cue you to get moving!

One Step Counter, Two Friends

1. Ask a friend to join you. Walk for five minutes. Guess the number of steps you walked.  Have your buddy guess, also. Check the step counter. Whoever comes closest to the actual number without going over gets to wear the step counter for the next 10 minutes.
2. Guess the number of steps on the counter after 10 minutes. Continue on the rest of your walk. Make up different time intervals (three minutes, 11 minutes, etc.) for counting steps.  Each time, the person who comes closest wins the right to wear the step counter.
3. At the end of your walk, who wore the step counter the most times?

Have you ever used a step counter?  If so, how did it help you?

When you go shopping, you start out with a certain amount of cash in your wallet (or ATM account!). Your goal? Get as much as you can for as little cash as possible. You’re hunting for bargains.

When it comes to making food choices, you should be a “bargain” shopper, too. No, we are not talking about a grocery cart full of 99-cent Ramen noodles. The bargains we mean are “caloric bargains.”

Think of your daily calorie allotment as the same as the money in your wallet. Each day, you only have a certain amount of calories you can “spend” on food and beverages. So you want to spend your calories wisely on low-calorie, nutritious foods. What are “caloric bargain” foods?  Generally, foods that are minimally processed and rich in fiber or have a lot of water. For example:

•    Fruits - fresh, frozen, and canned without added sugar or syrup
•    Vegetables – especially high water content vegetables such as tomatoes, greens, squash
•    Whole grain pastas, rice, cereals (ready-to-eat and cooked) and breads
•    Very lean meat, poultry and fish
•    Nonfat dairy products
•    Broth-based soups

Remember, not all low-calorie foods are nutritious. Take jelly beans for example. Ten jelly beans have only 103 calories. But other than a simple carbohydrate, sugar, the jelly beans don’t provide any nutrients.

Not all high-nutrition foods are low in calories either. The avocado, for example, is a wonderfully nutritious fruit (yes, fruit!) packed with healthy oils, vitamins, and minerals. But a medium avocado packs 306 calories.  We’re not saying you should never eat avocados, just in moderation. Spend most of your daily calories on the “caloric bargains” described previously.  

What are “caloric bargain” foods that you like? Use the comments section below to add your ideas.

When somebody tells you to “take 10,” it usually means take a break from the task at hand for 10 minutes. There is a different, healthy take on this common command.

For over 10 years, advocates for increasing physical activity have emphasized the importance of accumulating multiple, small bouts of physical activity over the day. This can be in addition to or a replacement for a single, longer exercise session.  New, updated physical activity guidelines suggest the length of the short bouts should be about 10 minutes per session to get health benefits. Instead of one 40-minute workout you could walk briskly for 10 minutes four times throughout the day. No sweat. No leotards. How convenient.

The “take 10” physical activity recommendation is sound advice. But don’t forget, any movement (even standing!) is better than no movement for burning calories. So even if you don’t have 10 minute to “take 10” to move, just stand up!

So the next time someone tells you to “take 10,” take it as your prompt to stand up and move around for 10 minutes.

What are creative ways you recommend for people to "take 10?"  Add your ideas below. 

If every person living in New York City chose a McDonald’s cheeseburger instead of a Big Mac for lunch today, they would save over 1.9 billion calories — IN ONE DAY! That’s equal to about 274 tons of body fat. No wonder the NYC public health department has legislated the listing of calorie counts on certain restaurant menus.  And just last week the legislation was upheld after the New York State Restaurant Association sued to stop it.  Read a press release.
 
While this is a great step, we argue that this is only part of the solution. The other part is that people need to know what their daily calorie limit is so that they can know how a 1,420 calorie lunch fits – or not – into their total calorie allotment for the day. Let’s look at this more closely:

A man walks into a Burger King in Chicago. He orders the combo meal with the Whopper, large fries and a large soft drink. Grand total: 1,550 calories. He doesn’t even have a clue that he just ate 74% of his total daily calories in one meal.

A second man walks into a Burger King New York City. This restaurant lists the calories of each food item on the menu board. He sees that the Junior Whopper, medium fries, and a medium soft drink all have fewer calories than the big combo meal. Grand total: 970 calories. Better than the guy in Chicago but he still ate nearly 50% of his daily calorie total at lunch.

A third man walks into the same Burger King in NYC. He has learned from the Stand Up & Eat Calorie Calculator that he needs about 2,000 calories per day to stay in calorie balance. He decides that he wants to keep his calories about 1/3 of his daily calorie total (about 660 calories) so he orders the grilled chicken salad and uses ½ of the ranch dressing packet. That adds up to only 335 calories so he orders a diet coke and a small fries for a grand total of 565 calories. He has about 100 calories leftover to add to another meal or snack.

Here’s our argument. Providing calorie information on menus is a good idea. At least people can see and compare the low to high calorie options. But a recent report from the International Food Information Council stated that only 11% of American adults know how many calories they need in a day. So we need to make people aware of just how many (or for most of us, how few) calories we need each day.  

Let’s hope NYC – and other places – are successful in getting calorie labeling in restaurants. In the meantime, calculate how many daily calories you need. Send the calculator to people whom you think need to know their calorie limits.  

Would it make a difference to YOU if restaurants listed calorie information on the menus? Add your comments below.

Welcome to the Stand Up(more) & Eat(better) blog. This blog is produced by Cooper Institute staff because we are passionate – and knowledgeable – and opinionated – about helping people attain calorie balance through active living and health eating. A couple of times a week you’ll see posts on practical information related to:

• cutting down on fats
• getting portions right-sized
• really thinking about what you are eating (yikes!)
• moving more
• creating opportunities for healthier living in your home, neighborhood, community, state, nation, and world  
• and other calorie balance topics

We'll also give our two cents on latest research findings, government policies, and silly or ingenious things people do to keep their lives in or out of calorie balance.

This blog is also a place where people who are interested – for whatever reason – in calories in (aka food and drink!), calories out (fidgeting to football) and calorie balance (preventing weight gain) can share their ideas, comments, opinions, and interests. What we learn from you will help drive further development of the Stand Up & Eat blog and web site, so we’re eager for you to take a stand and share your voice.

What is on your mind regarding calorie balance?  Let us know in the comments section below.