According to the Mayo Clinic study, the average person burned 100 extra calories every hour while walking slowly at 1 mile per hour rather than sitting in a chair.

Dr. Levine of the Mayo Clinic believes that if individuals were to replace 8 hours a day of sitting at their "normal" desk with a Treadmill Desk, and if other components of energy balance were constant, a weight loss of 57 pounds a year could occur.

Research being conducted by James Levine, M.D. at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester has begun to reveal the many benefits of walking and standing throughout the day instead of sitting. His work has shown that standing and walking can increase daily calorie expenditure in a way that will contribute to improved measures of health and weight. Just standing in place will cause you to burn 20 calories per hour more than sitting. Some offices are being equipped with special walkstations so workers who spend hours in front of a computer can walk slowly (as slow as 1 MPH will do it) while continuing to walk as they would if they were sitting at a traditional workstation. These offices are also working to facilitate the holding of meetings while walking instead of sitting. For a person walking at the leisurely pace of 1 MPH that translates into 100 to 130 calories/hour more than sitting and for an 8 hour day this potentially could lead to losing 40 pounds per year.

I have been experimenting with this standing approach to daily living during the business day. I have found that it contributes to my 18,333 daily step goal. As I stand I tend to move about and surely add to my step count. My personal experience has shown that this number of steps and now adding 20 calories per hour more by standing instead of sitting is helping me to maintain my healthy weight by burning all of the calories I consume each day. Given that I am now at a healthy weight my primary gmoal is to remain in what is referred to as a net zero state of calorie balance so that I just maintain the 45 pounds I have lost over the years.