Ben Greenfield argues that eight hours of daily sitting cancels out your calorie deficit and exercise routine. Weight loss requires constant low-intensity movement throughout the day, not just gym sessions. He recommends post-meal walks and brief exercise bursts, plus redesigning your space to force more motion.
The brutal truth is that for many people, sitting for 8 hours a day does just not expend enough energy to counterbalance breakfast, lunch, and dinner and snacks, no matter how much exercise you're doing at the beginning or the end of the day. Even in people who exercise, say hit the gym before work or hit the gym after work, habitual sedentary behavior such as sitting at work all day long without moving is associated with metabolic syndrome, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and premature mortality. The solution? Well, move more, especially when you're at work, which is when most people tend to move the least. While a formal hard gym workout at the beginning or the end of the day isn't technically necessary for weight loss, low-level physical activity throughout the entire day is, including things like pre- and post-meal walks and brief exercise snacks during the day like air squats, jumping jacks, or push-ups. Hack your environment in such a way that you're forced to constantly move.
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