Calories burned standing calculator
See how much more you burn on your feet than sitting down, for your body.
Updated
Your result
For an hour of standing (standing still) at 65 kg:
20more than sitting
On top of the 55 kcal you’d burn anyway in that time. In total it uses about 75 kcal.
It’s already part of your everyday level on the TDEE calculator, so don’t add it as exercise.
Calories burned standing: the key numbers
- An hour of standing adds about 20 to 55 extra kcal for a 65 kg person, depending on how still you stand.
- An hour of standing (standing still) adds about 20 extra kcal at 65 kg and 30 at 100 kg.
- The figures come from 4 rows of the 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities, from 1.3 to 1.8 METs: each from published studies.
- It’s part of the everyday level on the TDEE calculator, so it isn’t added as exercise.
Already in your TDEE
This is the kind of movement the everyday level on the TDEE calculator covers. If you do a lot of it, choose a higher everyday level rather than adding it as exercise.
For your body and time
| Activity | More than sitting | Compendium value |
|---|---|---|
| Standing still | 20 | 1.3 METs, Compendium code 07040 |
| At a standing desk | 20 | 1.3 METs, Compendium code 11583 |
| Standing and fidgeting | 35 | 1.5 METs, Compendium code 07041 |
| Light standing work, such as a shop counter | 55 | 1.8 METs, Compendium code 11600 |
| Resting: Sitting quietly | 0 | 1 MET, Compendium code 07021 |
Each figure uses the activity’s cost from the 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities, which gives it in METs of oxygen use per kg of body weight, so the extra scales with your weight. Only the part above resting counts as extra. What you’d burn anyway comes from your own resting rate (Mifflin-St Jeor), not the standard 1 MET: in 769 adults, measured resting burn averaged 0.84 kcal per kg an hour against the standard 1 (Byrne, 2005).
Compare every activity on the calories burned calculator.
More activities: walking, running, lifting weights, swimming, cycling, elliptical, treadmill, hiking, sleeping, yoga, Pilates, climbing stairs, dancing, rowing, gardening, golf, cleaning.
Short answers
How many more calories does standing burn than sitting?
The Compendium puts standing still at 1.3 METs and sitting quietly at 1. For a 65 kg woman that’s about 20 kcal more an hour, or 160 over 8 hours. For a 100 kg man it’s about 30 an hour.
How many calories does a standing desk burn?
The Compendium puts working at a standing desk at 1.3 METs, the same as standing still. Over 4 hours that’s about 80 kcal more than sitting for a 65 kg woman, and about 120 for a 100 kg man.
Should I add standing to my TDEE?
Not as exercise. Standing is the kind of movement the everyday level on the TDEE calculator covers. If you do a lot of it, choose a higher everyday level instead.
Sources
Checked against each source on 22 and 23 October 2026
- Herrmann SD, et al. (2024). 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities. J Sport Health Sci 13(1):6–12. PMID 38242596
- Byrne NM, et al. (2005). Metabolic equivalent: one size does not fit all. J Appl Physiol 99(3):1112–9. PMID 15831804
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. (1990). A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr 51(2):241–7. PMID 2305711