24 hours in a day. 60 minutes in an hour. 1440 minutes a day. This couch potato burns a minimum of 1,584 calories a day. Probably more like… 1728, since I don’t spend all day sleeping in bed. Apparently just blinking is enough to increase my calorie burn to 1.2, 1.3 calories per minute. On days I exercise, I burn between 2,400 and 2,650 calories, depending on the bodybugg(TM) I use. My daughter’s violin teachers always told her, “Practice only on the days you eat.” Clearly, if I want to eat, I need to exercise: I plan to eat every day!

Research has shown that people who fidget lose more weight than those who stay calm and still throughout the day. Looking at the data uploaded from my bodybugg(TM), I wonder what brilliant Yahoo came up with the idea to do an entire study on rats, instead of just hooking up a few hundred people to this device and telling half of them , “Go and move.” I increased my calorie burn rate by 0.1 to 0.4 just by turning over in bed, for God’s sake.

But here’s the sad and disappointing news: The rate of calorie burn achieved during a training session doesn’t really last, at least for those of us who aren’t particularly inclined, by nature, to fidget. No problem. I know that we all want to believe, to fantasize, that a good exercise increases our slow metabolism by a few calories per hour, and that the effect lasts until the next day. The sad truth is that in the hour following this morning’s Boot Camp at 24 Hour Fitness, I burned about 25 more calories than in the hour before I woke up. I attribute those extra calories to driving, talking, walking, and carrying my gym bag.

The good news: just standing up, making lunch, burned almost 100 more calories per hour!

Does your job make you fat? Surely my job is not helping me lose weight; I sit at a desk most of the day, using a PC. If you have a sedentary job, you have to deal with eight hours of work break. So what can we do about it?

1. Put it in a brown bag and exercise during lunch. This helps in three ways: First, you control calories and portion sizes. Pack your lunch the night before or after breakfast when you’re not hungry. Second, you get up and get active. Don’t just munch on that sandwich at your desk—get up and move. Go to the gym if there is one nearby and get at least 20-30 minutes of vigorous cardio. Take a walk around the block or around the office building. Third, it saves money, since eating out every day, even eating in the corporate cafeteria, gets expensive.

2. Park farther from the entrance. Even short walks add up. This guarantees you one in the morning and one at night. If it’s sunny in the morning and rainy when you leave, you might even have a good run!

3. Take the stairs. This seems like a no-brainer, but the elevators are convenient and… well, isn’t that enough work? No. Take the stairs. If you work on the ground floor, add a few flights of stairs to your lunchtime walk.

4. Sit down, stand up, move around. Try to work in a few squats every time you sit or stand throughout the day. Or get up on your toes ten times, every time you stand up. Do some pushups from the edge of your desk or against a wall, or some triceps pushups in a guest chair (don’t try this in a wheeled chair, whatever you do, or you’ll fall flat on your face). patootie). Use every errand or bathroom break as a cue to get in a little exercise.

5. Exercise after work. Take your gym bag with you and stop at the gym on the way home. If you go home first, chances are you want to kick off your shoes, relax, and be still. Instead, try breaking a sweat first, so you can go home, shower, change, and really relax, guilt-free.

6. Do sit-ups or leg raises while watching TV. There is no television for you unless a part of you is in constant motion! (And don’t tell me your arm is in constant motion as it transports the popcorn from the bowl to your mouth. I tried that one. I’ll look at you the same way I did.)

7. Keep track of every bite of food that goes into your mouth. Don’t tell me it’s “too tedious”. I know. Don’t tell me it’s inconvenient to remember. I know. Just do it. Because every one of us who has done it religiously, day in and day out, will tell you that honestly recording every calorie IN is almost as important as increasing calories BURNED, if your goal is to lose weight. If you want to lose a pound a week, you need to be in a deficit of about 3,500 calories a week. If you want to lose two, you should have a deficit of about 7,000 calories in a week. If you want to lose three, consult your doctor first. You don’t want to go below what your body needs, just to maintain vital functions like breathing and circulation. Drink plenty of water, try to include as much nutritional energy as possible in each calorie consumed, and take a multivitamin.