Moving a little more

[kimberkit]

Over the weekend, I read Move a Little, Lose a Lot. The central premise is this: we are a sedentary culture. But if you take just one look at people who spend all day on their feet -- who don't do a lot of cardio, or weight lifting, or whatever -- they stay thin[ner]. Why is that? Because if you're on your feet, you're burning a bazillion more calories than you are when you're sitting down.

I thought about that, and considered my sitting versus standing day. Then I resolved to shift my day to standing or even walking more often.


My standard day looks like this:

Wake up, roll over, ask Neil to turn off alarm clock. (Lying down)
Check email, do LJ. (Sitting)
Look over physics homework from night before, check to make sure I didn't make some really silly error. (Sitting)
Shower (Standing) and pick out clothes.
Take bus to class (Sitting, but knitting, so with some option of movement)
Sit in class, listen to lecture, take notes (Sitting)
Take quiz, mumble under breath about how much TA sucks (Sitting)
Walk to train (Movement at last!)
Take train to typing job. Type. (Hours more of sitting)
If have clients, take train back to office. (Sitting)
Set up and do massage (Movement that makes me happy)
Come home slightly buzzed but cranky about having to do physics reading and homework again. Sit, wait for Neil to serve me dinner. Watch TV while eating (Sitting).
Cuddle with Neil (Somewhat movement-y)
Rebuff further advances because I am stressed over physics. Do physics. (More sitting all around).

Rinse, repeat.

I thought about that, and all the times when I sit, and don't do anything. It's not bad to sit down for a quick break, especially because my feet get cranky with me if I stand for too long, but sitting for literally 80% of my day means that I never burn any of the calories I could burn while standing up.

Okay... well, fine. So why do I care? I like the way I look now at my current weight. But...

1. If I stand more, I will decrease my low back pain and neck/shoulder stress -- the strain that comes from bending over my books all day. I will build the strength of my postural muscles and the relief of not being in a kind of low grade pain is probably worth it.
   
   
2. Standing up will burn belly fat, claimeth the book. I would like for my clothes to not cling to my belly. If I manage to go down a size, bonus, because I have more size 8 and 10 clothes than I do size 12 clothes, but mostly I want to be more hourglass-shaped. I think I'll look even better naked then.
   
   
3. I think I'll be more energetic if I am up and about more. This will probably lead to less stress and more cuddling, and the bonus in the happiness factor plus extra sex factor is not to be laughed at.
   

So, without any insane fitness goals, I am planning:

• To check email and do LJ while standing up. I rearranged my desk so that the keyboard and monitor go up. (I cleaned up my desk while I was at it).
  
  
• To read physics while standing and moving (I have not figured out a way to rearrange my homework time so that I can stand and move while doing it, but passive reading is totally doable moving)
  
  
• To walk to class rather than take the bus, since I wake up early anyway and usually just spend the time websurfing rather than doing much.
  
  
• To clean up the kitchen directly after Neil cooks -- he does it in the morning, often, but there is no reason I can't do it right after; he just usually beats me to it because I am lazing on LJ and emailing in the morning.
  

Comments

[drlynch.livejournal.com]

This is totally why I really had to reduce what I was eating after leaving Utah. When I was at that move job, I could basically eat an unlimited amount and was really lean. Those were the days.

[kimberkit.livejournal.com]

If when we last saw you was accurate, you are STILL really lean, but you would know about any theoretical (non-visible) weight gain ;)

[drlynch.livejournal.com]

I may weigh about the same, but I am clearly more soft and bigger around. The pants don't lie.