The Mayo researchers reported a striking difference in activity
levels between lean persons and overweight ones. Their study did not
involve deliberate exercise; it measured—with the sensors—how
much people moved about naturally and spontaneously.
5
The heavier ones tended to sit, while the lean ones were more
restless and spent two more hours a day on their feet—standing or
walking. The difference translated into 350 calories a day, enough for
the heavy people to take off about 14 to 18 kilograms a year, if they
would get moving.
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The researchers believe the tendency to sit still or move around is
biological, governed by genetically determined levels of brain
chemicals. And that tendency influences weight—not the other way
around, they say.
Plenty of experts have been advising people to find small,
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relatively painless ways to burn extra calories, like taking the stairs
instead of the elevators and parking at the far end of the lot to make
themselves walk a bit. As to why the usual weight loss remedies
frequently fail, Dr. Levine said, it is because people have a hard time
sticking with exercise programs and diets. He argues that the very
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number of diet books and weight-loss plans is proof that none of
them work.