For those of us who have resolved to stand more and sit less in the coming year, a new study might temper some of our expectations of the benefits.

It finds that people burn more calories when they stand than when sitting or lying down, but the increase is smaller than many of us might hope. For those of us who overindulged and slacked off on our exercise regimens over the holidays, it also means that being upright is unlikely to help us lose weight.

But it does not mean we should take this news lying or sitting down, the study’s authors caution, because frequent standing is likely to have other, substantial health impacts.

By now, almost everyone has heard about, dabbled with or rolled their eyes at the phenomenon of standing desks. Many of us also wear fitness trackers that nag us every hour or so to get up and move.