Posted on: Thursday, January 17, 2008
It might be the simplest way to lose weight ever — simply laugh more, stand and pace when you're on the phone, gesture when you talk, and lower the heat. According to Dr. James A. Levine of the Mayo Clinic, you can burn an additional 100 to 150 calories per hour by incorporating Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis into your life.
What is that? Basically, it's moving around more. Here are a few ideas to help you get moving in the new year:
Gesture and fidget: Talking with your hands and your body, foot tapping and hair twirling all burn calories. Levine has shown that those who fidget and gesture more can burn as many as 350 extra calories per day, which could add up to 36 pounds lost per year.
Laugh more: Have you seen "Tootsie," "Annie Hall," "Blazing Saddles" or "Duck Soup"? You might consider getting those and a few other comedies on DVD. A study at Vanderbilt University demonstrated that laughter burns 10 percent to 20 percent more calories, which means that 10 to 15 minutes of laughter per day could increase total calories burned by 10 to 40 calories (as much as 4 pounds lost in a year).
Stand up: Standing burns about 50 percent more calories than sitting. So, by standing while talking on the phone, working at your computer or reading the paper, a 155-pound person can burn as many as 50 more calories per hour. Pace while you talk and you can burn another 35 to 40 calories per hour. Staples (www.Staples.com) sells a standing desk called the Balt Ergo E. Eazy Sit/Stand Workstation for about $420. It's important that the desk have a separate keyboard platform to keep it ergonomic. There also is a Sit Stand Computer Desk (model EH-46572) for $349 at www.ergonomichome.com.
Walk while you work: A new desk called the Walkstation by Details (Steelcase) lets you use a standard personal computer while walking on a treadmill.
"The Walkstation is not intended to provide a gym-style workout in the office; its purpose is not to cause users to raise their heart rates or work up a sweat," Levine says.
The idea is to increase movement. The machine looks like a regular treadmill with a metal frame, on the front of which is a desk area with adjustable arms holding a screen and a keyboard and mouse.
Levine estimates that if people replace sitting computer time with walking and working, energy expenditure could increase by 100 calories per hour. So if you replace time spent sitting at the computer with walking computer time for two to three hours a day, everything else being equal, you could lose 44 to 60 pounds per year. Levine recommends starting slowly, walking 15 minutes every hour and during all phone calls. For the rest of the time, use the desk while seated and increase the walking portion gradually. The Walkstation costs about $4,000 to $4,500. For further details, go to www.details-worktools.com/index.php.
If you already have a treadmill and want an alternative, try the Walk N Work treadmill workstation (www.thewalknwork.com) for about $500. And if you feel like a project, you can build your own treadmill desk for about $50 (www.treadmill-desk.com has instructions).
Get a stepper for under your desk or to use while watching TV: Using a mini-stepper under your desk could increase your energy expenditure. According to a study by Levine in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, by using the stepper you could burn an additional 100 calories per hour. If the stepping device were used to replace sitting for two hours per day, weight loss of 40 or more pounds could occur. Gaiam (www.gaiam.com) makes a mini-stepper for about $70. A company called Gamercize (www.gamercize.net) offers a stepper (GZ PC-Sport) that can actually control the power to your computer — you can set it up so that your mouse or keyboard shuts down when you stop moving. The cost is about $200 plus shipping from the U.K., but you should check their U.S. retailer: www.thinkgeek.com. You also can pick up the Stamina InStride Electronic MiniStepper from www.Amazon.com for about $60.
Drink cold water: Your body temperature is approximately 98.6 degrees and ice water is about 40 degrees. To maintain a constant internal temperature, your body has to bring that ice water up by about 60 degrees, and, by definition, it takes 1 calorie to raise the temperature of 1 liter of water by approximately 2 degrees. That means that to raise the temperature of 1 liter of ice water by 60 degrees, your body would burn about 30 calories. Two liters, about eight glasses of water, would burn 60 calories.
Get out in the cold: You burn more calories when it's cold.
According to Andrew J. Young, of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass., "There are two factors that could cause energy expenditure to increase with falling outdoor temperature. First, if shivering is elicited by cold, then energy expenditure increases. However, different people have differing shivering-response sensitivity, and intensity of shivering will be influenced by magnitude of decrease in body (deep core and skin) temperature, which in turn is influenced by body size and fat content that vary widely among people, as well as clothing worn."
Additionally, there is a likelihood that you could have a slight increase in calorie burn (about 3 percent to 7 percent) from your body re-warming itself from cold air touching your skin and warming the cold air that goes into your lungs, adds Wayne Askew, a professor of nutrition at the University of Utah.
Charles Stuart Platkin is a nutrition and public-health advocate, and author of "Breaking the FAT Pattern" (Plume, 2006). Sign up for the free Diet Detective newsletter at www.dietdetective.com.
