Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Losing weight by standing

Yesterday I saw a link to an ABC News story from November 28 that sitting deposits dietary fat around vital organs, while standing carries it to muscle tissue where it is burned. When we sit key enzymes involved in fat burning just totally shut down. The effect happens despite daily exercise. The rise in obesity has been paralleled by more hours of sitting. The recommendation is to stand and "putter" more. Here is the link (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/story?id=3922069&page=1) to the full story.

My suspicion is their "full story" is a media friendly extrapolation of a far more complex study involving a host of factors. Ignoring those unmentioned factors and focusing on the one easy one seems to be a constant source of trouble for many folks trying to latch on to the next fitness miracle.

I was watching a PBS show on the Greeks and they were talking about how they would stand for 12-14 hours a day. They said this contributed to the classical Greek look.

One thing I have looked at doing is getting an exercise ball as a chair in my office.

My suspicion is their "full story" is a media friendly extrapolation of a far more complex study involving a host of factors. Ignoring those unmentioned factors and focusing on the one easy one seems to be a constant source of trouble for many folks trying to latch on to the next fitness miracle.
You really ought read the story at the link.

I did.

Look, I'm not suggesting that there isn't merit to this, just that it's a piece of a very large puzzle. I've overheard two co-workers today who seem to think it is the next magic bullet.

I stand or am walking 60 plus hours a week at work (I'm a kitchen manager). It makes a difference I'm sure, but the next "magic bullet" I'm not sure of. I know that it makes the endurance side of cycling easier at times, and believe me it hinders recovery days when I've really pounded myself into the ground. But I've been working a job like that one for the last 7 years and until this year I've gained weight every year.

One thing I have looked at doing is getting an exercise ball as a chair in my office.

I wondered about this - would that do any good?

I wondered about this - would that do any good?

At a minimum it would give some workout for your core. It would require you to hold yourself up straight. The other positive is that you could stretch your back out with it when it gets tired.

I had back surgery over 20 months ago and have had a standing work station ever since. (Doctor's orders for going back to the office.) Even with standing almost all day 4-5 days a week, my weight just keeps creeping upward. If standing is helping, I shudder to think of what I would weigh without it!

One thing I have looked at doing is getting an exercise ball as a chair in my office.

Like Dwight Schrute!


Any "The Office" fans here? That is one of the funniest intros ever when Dwight gets the exercise ball as his chair.

There's a documentary coming out about the evils of the corn industry. As I was reading a preview one thing struck me odd, they referred to an NYC cabbie who claimed to have lost 100#'s by simply cutting out soda...I know high fructose corn syrup is bad, but are they doing people any favors by over stating things like this?

Some people have 4-5 sodas a day. Depending on size that could be almost 1000 calories that could be cut without doing anything else. If he was drinking that much of it I could easily seeing dropping weight pretty quickly. After all isn't those little things that could make the difference between the weight creeping upwards or creeping downwards?

[cue The Historian here but] It's still not an excuse to blame the corn industry per se...but they sure don't make it any easier.

Would he actually lose weight or would he simply stop gaining? I find it hard to believe he wasn't eating a
bunch of other crap as well.

I used to drink 4 or 5 sodas a day (heck the cafateria at my work gave it away) easy and I stopped altogether and that didn't promote any significant weight loss.

As someone who has lost alot of weight (as many here have) I am somewhat offended by someone promoting the notion that it's as easy as not drinking soda.

I'm not saying it's easy for everyone - but for some people it may be that easy if that's what's pushing their daily sugar/calories over a certain limit. I guess that's if you believe that weight gain/loss has anything to do with calories which is a separate (http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=231402) topic (http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=264075) covered (http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=264792) in a few spots (http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=363446) ;)

My money is on the fact that by cutting out all the extra sugar/salt that he wasn't as hungry and didn't eat as much here and there in small enough ways that's hard to notice. In effect that's still linked to the soda but not as directly. Then again we tend to look at nutrition and weight as a system where one effects the other.

To lose weight you can't just stand, you've got to be walking. I worked at Target for 6 months always walking around and lost ~35 lbs. Then I got a job at Radioshack and was still on my feet all day, but had no where to walk as those stores are very small. I put back on the 35 and then some over the course of a year.

I used to teach at a 13 story high school which required me in between classes to go up and down several flights of stairs in order to find students. I lost an incredible amount of weight and ate the worst I ever have in my life. I miss that :D

I stand or am walking 60 plus hours a week at work (I'm a kitchen manager). It makes a difference I'm sure, but the next "magic bullet" I'm not sure of. I know that it makes the endurance side of cycling easier at times, and believe me it hinders recovery days when I've really pounded myself into the ground. But I've been working a job like that one for the last 7 years and until this year I've gained weight every year.
Kitchens are universally acknowledged as dangerous places for anyone trying to control body weight. Cooks regularly taste things, maybe even snack on things. Are you able to resist ingesting extra calories at work that might account for your yearly gains in weight?

I will be curious to see more research on standing versus sitting and weight control, and even to test it myself. While several posting here have summarily discounted any benefit to standing in weight control, the researchers did identify an enzyme that controls whether fat is carried to the muscles where it is burned or deposited around major organs. That enzyme stops carrying fat to muscle when people sit. This is something no one had noticed before. Magic bullet or not, it seems to be significant.

Kitchens are universally acknowledged as dangerous places for anyone trying to control body weight. Cooks regularly taste things, maybe even snack on things. Are you able to resist ingesting extra calories at work that might account for your yearly gains in weight?

Well you know what they say, "never trust a skinny chef.":)

Seems like standing must burn more calories than sitting, and involve more muscle activity... but I don't know that that would be enough of a difference to experience any real change in your overall condition without other changes.

I also lamentably feel like there are people who change weight very rapidly when changes are made, and others who may change composition, but don't get much of a weight change underthat same circumstances.