[three14]

I'm curious if there's good data on what constitutes a "sedentary lifestyle" over time. In the early 1900s, I suspect people with desk jobs had a lot of small activity over the course of the day that we can now avoid. I take an elevator, drive for errands, and look up just about anything without leaving my desk. I don't even have to cross the room to turn on the modern equivalent of the radio. I don't have to get anything from a filing cabinet except for perhaps a few times a year. Is that the same as "sedentary" of old?

[simiones]

That's an interesting observation and you may well be right that people in the past were more active in this way.

On the other hand, the contribution small levels of exercise (such as getting up from your desk and walking at a normal pace, even climbing a few flights of stairs a couple of times per day) to calorie consumption is likely to be almost nothing - a few dozens of kcal over the course of a day at best. I know that there have been studies for example of the additional kcal consumption from a standing desk compared to a normal desk, and the result is almost non-existent, less than 10 kcal over the course of a workday.

[three14]

The question is whether the small-scale activity has an impact on hunger, though. Very anecdotally, when I'm active, I have an easier time feeling full.