I'm a leg bouncer... Does that count as excercise?

I long ago worked out the number of calories a day I burn, and for some reason I always seem to lose a little faster than what the site thinks I will, which leads me to believe I burn a little more than what they think I do.

So I was talking to a friend about it and she pointed out that I am one of those crazy leg bouncers and that she thinks that might make me not a 'sedentary' person since my legs pretty much never stop all day long at the desk.

Can this be true?

Absolutely yes. This is called NEAT or Nonexercise Activity Theromgenesis.  It actually accounts for a very significant amount of calories you burn every day. When compared to a same-size person, if you can eat way more than someone else, the main reason is variation in NEAT.



 

Fidgeters do burn more calories every day than non-fidgeters.

Your friend is right - it is "activity". Some people burn more than others, and fidgeting is one way. Heat production is another - I figure that's why I also burn a few hundred more calories than I should, according to the math (I don't fidget - but i'm a furnace).

I've heard by fidgeting and leg bouncing you can burn about 400-700 more calories a day.

Not sure how accurate that is though. That would sure be nice because I am a fidgeter myself!

How interesting!

I was a leg-bouncer... when I was a teenager, my stepmother kept haranguing me about the leg bouncing, so I stopped leg-bouncing and took up smoking.

Hmm... now that the smoking is gone, maybe  I should take up leg-bouncing again... :-)

For some reason 400-700 calories seems a bit too unrealistic to me. I don't even burn that much in a 1 hour workout; it's hard to believe that simply bouncing my legs throughout the day is going to burn 400-700 calories.

It does seem a little unrealistic you're right. But I am usually up about 16-18 hrs of a full day. So for example say you burn on the lower end- 400 calories from leg bouncing during the full 16 hours you are awake. That's only 25 calories an hour! Seems more reasonable if I think about it that way.

Well, how do I go about accounting for this then? I need to put it into my overall thing because I don't want to overdo the deficit part of the diet... any suggestions on how I should compensate for it?

If I set my dealio to light activity, that is 300 more calories a day - but I don't have an active job, and usually by the time I get home I'm so stressed that I collapse in a ball for 2 hours before I do anything other than walk the dog...

Well between leg bouncing and walking the dog I would consider that light activity.

whats leg bounceing? is that when u twitch ur leg alot

yeah its when your knee bounces or your foot taps or your wave your foot back and forth... I just instinctively do it all day.

If I think about it, I can stop myself, but as soon as I concentrate on something else, it starts up again. Lots of people are like me with that. It gets me a lot of dirty looks.

I'd say that unless you are losing too fast, I wouldn't count it.  That's one of those weird things that you can't really accurately count.  Kind of like walking to your car and back several times a day or something.

oooh yaaaah!!

this post is soooo encouraging and makes me feel happie!!

motivates me to bounce my legs more often!!! hahahahah

You might have an acute form of RLS: restless leg syndrome.

Actually, there's a little controversy over this, probably because of the name. But my friend is a foot bouncer and was told by her doctor she has RLS. We try to make her stop, but then she stops breathing or twitchig somewhere else. (no harm ment, she starts breathing again)

But ya, she's rail thin. I'm assuming it has something to do with it...

i think the 25 calories burned per hour is probably pretty accurate~





Sitting-meetings, general and/or with talking involved
31





Sitting-reading, book, newspaper, etc.
19





Sitting-playing with child(ren)-vigorous
94


bad formatting aside, that is from fitday. the digits are calories burned per hour. now we all know that is just a "guesstimate" but it shows there is a definate difference.

walking to and from your car while at work can burn calories - yet on the other side of the coin, i work up a swet doing housework once a week and don't really count that either. for arguments sake, i totally agree with the 25 calories per hour fidgiting~

*fidgits*

25 calories per hour for "fidgeting"???

then wouldn't bouncing ur legs burn more??

because fidgeting is only using your hands , but bouncing ur legs using ur entire lower body. 

Perhaps we should all start bouncing our legs when we sit!! i do butt cheek clenches when standing. you clench for 3-5 seconds and release and do it over and over it's really good for your buns i saw it on extreme makeover, the trainer said something about it. :)

* stephn1e *

 

hahaha! thanks for making me laugh :) i've heard before about BUTT CHEEK CLENCHES, but ive never been too motivated. but after reading ur post, hahaha, i think from now on, it'll stick to my head hahaha. thanks again!

Sooji:

Fidgeting includes leg-bouncing, sorry.

It's a whole-body fidget.

Maybe you mean futzing, which I understand to be a hand-based activity. :)

* trustwomen *

fidgeting.. i thought it was when you just played around with ur fingers...? maybe im wrong?!!? i've never heard of futzing before lol.

hahahah! good! do it. :)