Your body burns calories all the time, whether you are sitting, standing or walking. Even when you are sleeping, your body needs to burn calories to maintain its basic functions. How many calories you burn standing or walking will depend on several factors, including your sex, age and weight, and the number of calories your body needs to function at rest -- what's referred to as your basal metabolic rate, or BMR.
BMR
Your basal metabolic rate is how many calories your body needs to maintain basic functions, such as the circulation of blood and cell growth and repair. It is dependent on your age, weight, and sex, which also affect how many calories you expend when moving. People who weigh more or have more muscle will burn more calories, even when not participating in activity. As you age, you tend to lose muscle and gain fat, which burns fewer calories. When it comes to sex, men typically have more muscle than women, meaning they burn more calories overall. Your BMR is responsible for burning 60 to 70 percent of your daily calories, according to MayoClinic.com, and is not something that changes much over time.
Standing
Standing and doing light activity, such as office work, will burn more calories than standing quietly like you would when you stand in line. A 150-lb. person will burn about 68 calories in an hour standing quietly, whereas the same person standing while performing some mild activity, such as filing papers, will burn 156 calories in an hour. A person weighing 180 lbs. will burn 82 calories standing quietly for an hour, and the same person doing some mild activity while standing will burn around 188 calories.
Walking
How many calories you expend walking will depend on your pace. A person weighing 150 lbs. will expend around 156 calories in an hour when walking at a casual pace of 2 mph but will use 612 calories when walking for the same amount of time at a pace of 5 mph. A 180-lb. person will use 163 calories an hour when walking at 2 mph and will expend 735 calories in an hour at a rate of 5 mph.
Considerations
Although walking will burn more calories than standing alone will, standing will burn more calories than sitting. If you have to sit a lot, take a few breaks to stand and walk around a bit. Even the act of standing will increase the number of calories you expend. If you are walking for exercise, be sure to increase your pace to burn more calories, and do it at an intense enough level that your heart rate increases. Walking instead of taking the elevator or parking your car far away from your destination can give you a good boost in your daily caloric expenditure too.
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