One of the most important things we learned while making the Math of Movement poster is that time is precious. We only have 24 hours in a day and we spend two thirds of it working and sleeping. There is precious little time left getting ready for work, commuting in traffic, nurturing ourselves and our relationships, and being active.

But there were four more lessons along the way.

Doing anything at all burns at least double the calories as compared to sitting. Sitting only burns 76 calories while doing even the most mundane chores like sweeping or vacuuming burns a minimum of 150 calories. Of course vigorous exercise is even better and it burns 400 or more calories on average.

Brisk walking is so easy and it helps induce an energy deficit that is not countered by hunger. We likened that to walk more and eat less!

There are three kinds of exercise and they are classified by what they strengthen: heart, muscles, or bones. Aerobic exercise or cardio is what strengthens the heart while lifting weights or using resistance training will strengthen muscles. Bones are strengthened by weight bearing exercise such as walking or running. Swimming for example will strengthen your heart and some muscles but it won’t help strengthen your bones. It is important to mix it up a little and do a couple of activities.

It is easy to get enough exercise if you count up your minutes per day and each week. There are 168 hours in a week and you only need to spend 2.5 to 5 of those hours working out in moderate to vigorous activity to gain health benefits if you are an adult. That is like 2.5% on average. Make a motto  to “keep moving” or employ standing at work instead of sitting.

See all of the Math of Movement items here.

See the study where researchers found that sitting is the new smoking here.