50 kg — 26 Extra Calories/Hour Standing

At 50 kg (110 lb), standing desk work burns 26 extra kcal/hour compared to sitting (standing 94 kcal/h vs sitting 68 kcal/h, per Ainsworth 2011 MET values). Over a typical year, this totals ~18,112 kcal—roughly 5 pounds of fat.

Standing burns ≈ 26 more kcal/hour than sitting at 50 kg (110 lb).
Swap 3 h of sitting for standing each workday → ≈ 79 kcal/day, 394 kcal/week, 18112 kcal/year (~5.2 lb of fat).
SITTING
68 kcal/h
STANDING
94 kcal/h
EXTRA / HOUR
+26 kcal
EXTRA / YEAR
18112 kcal

ADJUST FOR YOU

EXTRA CALORIES BURNED
+79 kcal/day · 18112 kcal/year

How this is calculated

Energy burn is estimated from metabolic equivalents (METs): light office work seated is about 1.3 MET, standing light work about 1.8 MET. Hourly burn is MET × body-mass(kg) × 1.05. The difference is the extra you spend by standing instead of sitting.

Reality check: a standing desk is a posture and movement tool, not a weight-loss device. The extra 26 kcal/hour is real but modest — the bigger wins are less prolonged sitting, better circulation, and an easier path to staying upright.

Calories by body weight

WEIGHT + / HOUR + / YEAR* DETAILS
50 kg
110 lb		 +26 kcal 18112 kcal ► VIEW
55 kg
121 lb		 +29 kcal 19924 kcal ► VIEW
60 kg
132 lb		 +32 kcal 21735 kcal ► VIEW
65 kg
143 lb		 +34 kcal 23546 kcal ► VIEW
70 kg
154 lb		 +37 kcal 25358 kcal ► VIEW
75 kg
165 lb		 +39 kcal 27169 kcal ► VIEW
80 kg
176 lb		 +42 kcal 28980 kcal ► VIEW
85 kg
187 lb		 +45 kcal 30791 kcal ► VIEW
90 kg
198 lb		 +47 kcal 32602 kcal ► VIEW
95 kg
209 lb		 +50 kcal 34414 kcal ► VIEW
100 kg
220 lb		 +52 kcal 36225 kcal ► VIEW
110 kg
243 lb		 +58 kcal 39848 kcal ► VIEW
120 kg
265 lb		 +63 kcal 43470 kcal ► VIEW

* assuming 3 h/day standing, 230 workdays/year.

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FAQ

Does a standing desk really burn that much extra?
Yes, but modestly. The difference (68→94 kcal/h) comes from active postural muscles engaged while standing. Ainsworth 2011's MET values (1.3 sitting, 1.8 standing) are the research baseline. Importantly, this isn't a weight-loss device—it's 26 kcal/h, or about one small apple per day.
Why focus on standing if weight loss is minimal?
Breaking up sitting matters independently. Healy 2008 and Owen 2010 show that frequent interruptions to sedentary time improve metabolic markers even when total daily activity stays constant. Standing desks' real benefit is the habit of postural variation—not calories.
What's the non-obvious insight about standing desks?
People assume standing burns calories. It does, slightly. But the research consensus (Buckley 2015) emphasizes that the real win is movement patterns: 2+ hours of standing accumulated throughout the day reverses metabolic damage from prolonged sitting—independent of the small calorie burn.

参考文献

  1. Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, et al. (2011). 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(8):1575–1581.
  2. Buckley JP, Hedge A, Yates T, et al. (2015). The sedentary office: an expert statement on the growing case for change towards better health and productivity. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(21):1357–1362.
  3. Healy GN, Dunstan DW, Salmon J, et al. (2008). Breaks in sedentary time: beneficial associations with metabolic risk. Diabetes Care, 31(4):661–666.
  4. Owen N, Healy GN, Matthews CE, Dunstan DW (2010). Too much sitting: the population-health science of sedentary behavior. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 38(3):105–113.