Take a Stand on Losing Weight

I hope you’re sitting down. Wait…on second thought, you might want to spring to your feet, at least when you’ve finished reading this. Why? According to a new study on obesity, you stand a lot to lose by sitting too much. In fact, the act of sitting too long or too often may be contributing to the extra padding around your waistline.

Researchers at Iowa State discovered a few surprising facts about the differences between sitting and standing in terms of weight loss. During the course of the study, there was no significant difference in resting metabolic rates between the obese or lean participants in the study. This finding was unexpected since it has always been theorized that leaner people have higher metabolic rates. However, they also found that the overweight women in the study group had a tendency to sit for 2.5 more hours per day than their slimmer counterparts. The overweight group also demonstrated that they spent half as much time engaged in any physical activity as the trim group. As a result, the women in the obese group burned an average of 315 calories less than the lean group per day.

Aside from the effects of less activity in general, there’s another good reason to stand more and sit less. The researchers found that sitting for extended periods impairs the circulation of lipase, an enzyme that metabolizes fat and cholesterol independent of exercising. While standing, this enzyme kicks into high gear and absorbs fat into muscles. But, while sitting, the circulation of lipase is closed off and fat and cholesterol are instead redistributed into the blood stream and eventually stored as body fat.

We’re not talking about just a little fat being at stake either. During the study, blood samples were taken from the same person after eating the same foods, but they were taken at times when the study subject ate while either sitting or standing. Guess what? The blood samples taken while the food was consumed while standing were clear, but were visibly cloudy when munching took place while sitting.

There’s more…

In addition to deterring dietary fat from being converted into body fat, spending more time standing than sitting also helps to prevent diabetes due to improved utilization of glucose in the blood. In fact, several studies have shown that people who struggle with their weight and who sit a good deal have at least twice the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.

Standing more also improves HDL levels—the ‘good’ kind of cholesterol. In fact, people who sit too much or too long typically experience a 22% decrease in HDL levels compared to those who don’t.

Need more to chew on? The simple act of standing over sitting can help you burn off 60 more calories an hour.

Here are a few tips on how to get a leg up on standing more and sitting less…

- Whenever possible, stand for an activity instead of sitting. You can watch the kids play or cheer on a sporting event while being on your feet as you can from a folding chair or park bench.

- Take frequent breaks at work to stretch your legs. Better yet, see if your boss would be willing to let you trade your desk chair for a treadmill, a trend that’s growing in popularity in many workplace environments today.

- Stand up while gabbing on the phone, or even while watching television.

- Walk rather than drive or taking public transportation whenever you can.