Fidgeting
The Zucker rat is an amazing animal. Its body weight outstrips lean counterparts in the first 24 hours after birth. Zucker means sugar in German and these genetically obese rats look like sugar babies. These sugar-sweet animals also just sit with their rolls of fat splaying out around them. They hardly move.
Compared to lean rats, Zuckers are immobile.
A recent article in the journal Science stated that extra motion which we call fidgeting, burns enough pounds to keep fidgeting people from gaining up to 30 pounds in a year. Translate that to food. 30 pounds is over 10,000 calories per year or enough calories to have that tall mocha, a scoop of ice cream (the good stuff) or an extra serving of mu shu on a daily basis. I don’t know about you, but right now I am bouncing my legs up and down while sitting at the computer and planning for a vanilla latte.
Are you a fidgeter? Answer the following questions to find out.
1. Do you stand or sit when waiting at the bus stop, doctor’s office, or at the auto dealer?
If you stand, give yourself 1 point.
2. When you are waiting for your car to be fixed or the new tires to be installed, do you pace?
If yes, give yourself 1 point.
3. Do you work in a physical job, like waitressing, construction, nursing?
If yes, give yourself 1 point.
4. While sitting at the computer or your desk at work, do you giggle your legs or perform some other fidgeting movement?
If yes, give yourself 1 point.
5. How long do you sit while at work before you get up to do something, like pick up printouts, get glass of water from the cooler, freshen your coffee, go to the bathroom?
If 15 or less minutes, give yourself 1 point.
6. Do your friends tell you to sit still?
If yes, give yourself 1 point.
If you get 4 or more, consider yourself a fidgeter. If you got fewer than 4 points, try the simple suggestions that follow to increase your activity without actually exercising.
Adding Activity.
How can I increase my fidgeting to burn more calories? Simple activities performed daily adds up to weight lost, just like eating a few extra calories on a daily basis adds up to weight gained. Perform the following fidgeting activities the next opportunity you get.
- Open the door instead of using the automatic door when going to Target or other stores which give you a door option.
- Use the escalator over the elevator and the stairs over the escalator
- Wash your car windows while your gas is pumping
- Don’t use the drive through to pick up food or prescriptions, walk in
- Bounce your legs while sitting at the computer
- Walk at lunch, or at least walk to a lunch spot
- Change the channel with you fingers, not the remote
- Pace while you wait
Calories burned from fidgeting fall into the category of thermogenesis, or the wasting of heat. You could liken the calories spent in fidgeting to the calories our cells sometimes burn in useless metabolism. One theory about genetically lean people is that they do more of this useless metabolism than fat people. Babies and animals have a type of fat called brown fat, which burns calories without building cells or other useful processes. Brown fat is famous for useless metabolism. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find brown fat in adults.
Fat Burning Effects of Green Tea
Are there ways of promoting thermogenesis short of being genetically blessed with overactive metabolisms? Researchers in Switzerland in 1999 found that subjects in the lab given green tea extract in the form of a pill burned 4 percent more calories over the course of one day. For someone eating 2000 calories, 4 percent is 80 calories. Not much- one slice of bread. If you burned 80 extra calories per day over the course of one year, you would lose 8 pounds. Just don’t put sugar in your tea!!
What did these researchers attribute the increase in energy expenditure to? Thermogenesis! What was being burned to cause the increase in energy expenditure? Fat. And how much green tea was consumed? The amount of green tea extract consumed in one day contained the equivalent of 375 mg catechin, a bioactive component of many foods. This amount of catechin equaled about three cups of green tea. But remember, if you plan to add 3 cups of green tea to your diet and are caffeine sensitive, green tea is not decaffeinated. Decaffeinated green teas can be purchased in the regular grocery store and these too contain catechin. So, go to work, sit at your desk, jiggle your legs, and sip a cup of green tea.
And by the way, I was just kidding about the vanilla latte. I can’t afford the calories even if I did start vibrating.