Okay, so I'm a cashier at Kohl's, and the standing for hours at a time really takes a toll on me, so days I work, I do NOT workout at all - in fact, I try to stay off my feet as much as possible. My question is, am I burning very many calories while working the register, or should I go ahead and force myself to work out? Like how long do I have to stand to burn a significant amount of calories?

Just standing still doesn't do much in terms of calorie burning. But I can sympathize with wanting to stay off your feet. Perhaps you could take up a form of exercise that doesn't involve being on your feet as much? Swimming would be great for that if you have access to a gym with a pool, or maybe the recumbent bike machines - using your feet, but not putting your weight on them.

Standing all day is tough, and it burns more calories than sitting. At the same time, it's not really going to help you to create the kind of calorie deficit that will help you to lose weigh.

Also, if you think about it, you've been maintaining your current/original weight with all the standing. Your body includes it in your baseline calorie needs. To get fit and to lose weight more efficiently, you need other forms of exercise as well--in particular, exercise that gets your heart rate up. There are lots of kinds of exercise you can do. Find something you enjoy.

The other thing to consider is that if you exercise and get fitter, the standing will be less tough on your body than it is at the moment and you'll feel less physically exhausted by your work.

While standing may be hard on your feet, I'm inclined to believe it's really the extra weight that leads you to feeling like you just want to sit after you get off work. I worked a seated job, and with all my extra weight, all I wanted to do when I got home was to plop down and rest. I had to force myself to get out there and exercise, and keep forcing myself. I had to provide myself with ways to not get out of it so I couldn't think up excuses to get out of it. And eventually, I noticed I had to do that less and less.

Now, I actually enjoy doing things. I don't work anymore...SAHM right now. But I was still working after I lost the weight. And I found myself going out with a friend after work, or doing my grocery shopping some evenings rather than waiting for the weekend. It was like I couldn't sit still. I found myself looking for reasons to get up and move both during and after work.

Part of that was the weight loss, and part of it the energy obtained through exercise. So that even now, if I feel washed out some days and not wanting to exercise, those are days I'll usually push myself to do some kind of exercise. Because I know that once it's done, I'll have this huge resevoir of energy that builds up from the exercise itself. Then I can tackle other things rather than feeling washed out.