You can burn up to 300 calories a day by foot tapping. Like any movement, tapping your feet burns calories. However, these movements are generally subconscious habits, so if you’re not a natural foot-tapper, it’s tough to make foot-tapping a part of your calorie routine. You’ll get more reliable calorie-burning benefits and far more muscle tone gains by hitting the gym than tapping your feet while you sit in your office chair.
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How Many Calories Does Tapping Your Feet Burn?
One study found that a minute of foot-tapping burns about 0.62 calories. Of course, this number fluctuates based on your body weight, as well as how fast and aggressively you tap your feet. A heavier person will burn more calories by foot-tapping than a lighter person.
- Tapping your foot burns about 0.62 calories per minute.
- Foot tapping will burn 37 calories an hour.
- 8 hours of foot tapping burns 300 calories.
On average, you’ll burn about 37 calories in one hour of nonstop foot tapping. This corresponds to about 300 calories if you tapped your foot for 8 hours in a single day.
Do Fidgeters Burn More Calories?
A study published in Science found that among test subjects who were provided 1,000 extra calories per day, some gained more weight than others. Why? The researchers theorized that the study participants who gained less weight burned up to 800 calories a day by fidgeting. They found that as calorie intake increased, some subjects burned that extra energy by fidgeting, also referred to as engaging in NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis).
- One scientific study theorized that fidgeting can burn up to 800 calories per day.
- Remember, fidgeting is often a habit that one cannot simply decide to start or stop.
The thing is, humans often don’t choose whether or not they fidget. Whether it’s a learned habit or a genetic trait, it affects some individuals more than others. If you’re not a fidgeter, it’s very unlikely you can train yourself to fidget all day to burn hundreds of calories.
Can Fidgeting Replace a Workout?
Fidgeting can burn some excess calories, but it’s not really a substitute for hitting the gym. First of all, you may fidget more on some days than others, and since you usually do it without thinking about it, there’s no way to track your activity level. So, you may not always burn 300 calories per day by tapping your foot.
- Fidgeting burns an unpredictable amount of calories depending on how much and how actively you fidget and tap your feet.
- Tapping your feet repetitively burns relatively few calories.
- Fidgeting won’t help build overall muscular strength and cardiovascular health.
- The benefits of exercise go far beyond simply burning calories.
More importantly, fidgeting and toe-tapping don’t provide any of the other benefits of a workout. Active exercise builds muscle, strengthens tendons and ligaments, battles bone density loss, and improves cardiovascular health. Tapping your toe at your desk won’t deliver any of these positives.
What Weird Things Burn Calories?
Remember, everything burns calories. Breathing and the contraction of your beating heart are two examples of actions that burn calories that we cannot stop ourselves from doing. The same goes for small activities. Whether you’re drumming your fingers, shaking your leg, or walking your dog, you’re burning calories.
- Every activity—voluntary or involuntary—burns calories.
- Breathing is an involuntary activity that burns calories.
- Voluntary activities—from snapping your fingers to running a marathon—all burn calories.
- The more strenuous the physical activity, the more calories it burns.
If you want to burn more calories, the simple rule is that the more strenuous an activity is, the more calories it will burn. You’ll burn more calories laughing than simply sitting in silence, just like you’ll burn more calories running uphill than walking on a flat surface. If you want to burn calories and improve fitness, incorporate more activity into your life.
Does Moving Your Feet While Sitting Burn Calories?
You can burn an extra 37 calories in an hour by tapping your foot. However, you can also burn calories through any physical activity. All forms of fidgeting and restless behavior burn more calories than simply sitting still. However, moderate exercise is more effective at reducing or reversing weight gain than simply fidgeting. If you want to burn extra calories, build overall health, and increase your metabolic rate by engaging in regular exercise. The energy expenditures of standard exercise are far more predictable and beneficial than tapping your toe.
