3 Ways to Burn Calories at Work

By Jenny Everett, SELF magazine

Today, the Lose It! crew shares three ways to fry fat at work:

1. Stand UpBeing on your feet in your cubicle for just 5 minutes burns roughly 15 calories. Stand up for 5 minutes every hour to stretch, talk on the phone, shuffle paper or walk to the water fountain, and in an 8-hour workday, you'll burn a bonus 120 calories. That means you could lose 9 pounds in a year.

2. Take the Stairs
According to studies, every time you climb a single step, you burn 0.1 calories. When you walk down the step, you burn 0.05. For every two hours at the office, try walking up three flights, then walking down and returning to your desk. It adds up -- and could even help you live longer. According to a study published in the European Heart Journal, hospital workers who took the stairs exclusively for 12 weeks lowered their body fat by 1.7 percent, their waist circumference by 1.8 percent and reduced their risk of dying young by 15 percent. 

3. Take a Lunchtime StrollThe average person burns about 5 calories walking the length of one city block. Walk around the block three times every day and you'll burn 300 extra calories a week, and lose 4 pounds over the course of a year!