5 Easy Tricks to Burn More Calories at Work

Your metabolism is the amount of energy (calories) your body uses to maintain its weight and body composition. Your metabolism is made up of three components. The first is the basal metabolic rate (BMR), second is the thermic effect of food (TEF), and lastly, the activity and non-activity thermogenesis.

Sitting at a desk at work can be devastating for your metabolism. Not only does sitting for long periods of time predispose you to risk for various diseases and muscular imbalances but it also promotes a loss in lean body mass, which directly influences your BMR. Additionally, sitting for long periods of time at work can drastically reduce your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT).

NEAT are the calories expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating, or actively exercising. It can range from shopping, playing an instrument to even fidgeting in your chair. Your exercise and NEAT accounts for around 15-50% of your daily caloric expenditure.  Because NEAT is so important to our metabolism, it is also important to make sure that you set cues for yourself to increase the amount of NEAT exercise at work since you may spend eight hours or more of your day in the office. Here are five tips to increase your caloric expenditure at work by raising you NEAT.

1. Take the stairs

Whenever possible, park on the lowest level of your office building or garage and take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Walking up one flight of stairs can burn anywhere from five to 15 calories depending on your weight. A few flights of stairs a day could lead to an average of six pounds of weight loss in a year.

2. Get a standing desk

Sitting for prolonged periods of times promotes weak glutes and back musculature and promotes tight hip flexors and anterior deltoids. Try using a standing desk to avoid these muscular imbalances and burn some extra calories. Standing while working can increase caloric expenditure by 25-45%.

3. Take walking breaks

Rather than sitting in a break room or chatting at your desk, try getting outside and taking a walking break while you talk to a friend, listen to music or browse your phone.

4. Ride your bike to work

Break out the old bicycle and ride it to work once or twice a week. If you’re only several miles from your workplace, you can potentially avoid traffic while burning additional calories.

5. Chew gum

It may seem like a very trivial task but a study by the Mayo Clinic discovered that chewing gum can result in approximately 11 calories burnt an hour. That’s nearly 500 calories a week if you only chewed gum at work Monday through Friday.

These examples may seem simple and easy to do, which they are, but if performed regularly they can account for burning hundreds of calories which can either keep your weight in check or help you achieve your weight loss goals. It is always important to remember that despite your efforts to improve NEAT you must exercise regularly and maintain a balanced diet.