24 hours a day. 60 minutes in an hour. 1440 minutes a day. This television addict burns a minimum of 1,584 calories a day. Probably more like … 1728, since I don’t spend all day sleeping in bed. Apparently just blinking my eyes is enough to increase my calorie burn to 1.2, 1.3 calories per minute. On days when I exercise, I burn about 2400-2650 calories, depending on the bodybugg (TM) I use. My daughter’s violin teachers always told her, “Practice only on the days you eat.” Clearly, if I want to eat, I need to exercise, every day I plan to eat!
Research has shown that people who fidget lose more weight than those who are calm and still during the day. Looking at the data uploaded from my bodybugg (TM), I wonder what brilliant yahoo came up with the idea to do a full study on rats, rather than just plugging a few hundred people into this device and telling half of them , “Go ahead and restless.” I increase my calorie burn rate by .1 to .4 just rolling around in bed, for crying out loud.
But here’s the sad and disappointing news: The calorie burn rate achieved during a training session doesn’t really last, at least for those of us who aren’t particularly inclined, by nature, to fidget. Not at all. I know we all want to believe, fantasize, that a good workout increases our slow metabolism by a few calories per hour, and that the effect lasts until the next day. The sad truth is that in the hour after this morning’s Boot Camp at 24 Hour Fitness, I burned about 25 calories more than in the hour before I woke up. I attribute those extra calories to driving, talking, walking, and carrying my gym bag.
The good news: just standing up, making lunch, burned almost 100 more calories per hour!
Does your job make you fat? My job is certainly not helping me lose weight; I sit at a desk most of the day, using a PC. If you work a sedentary job, you have eight professional couch potato hours to deal with. So what can we do about it?
1. Put it in a brown bag and exercise during lunch. This helps in three ways: First, you control calories and portion sizes. Pack your lunch the night before or after breakfast when you’re not hungry. Second, you get up and get active. Don’t just gobble down that sandwich on your desk, get up and get moving. Hit the gym if there is one nearby and do at least 20-30 minutes of energetic cardio. Take a walk around the block or around the office building. Third, you save money, as eating out every day, even at the corporate cafeteria, gets expensive.
2. Park further from the entrance. Even short walks add up. This guarantees you one in the morning and one in the evening. If it’s sunny in the morning and it rains when you leave, you might even run well!
3. Take the stairs. This seems obvious, but the elevators are convenient and … well, not enough work? No. Take the stairs. If you work downstairs, add a few flights of stairs to your lunchtime walk.
4. Sit down, stand up, fidget. Try working on a few squats every time you sit or stand during the day. Or stand up on your toes ten times, each time you stand up. Do some push-ups from the edge of your desk or against a wall, or some tricep dips in a guest chair (don’t try this in a wheelchair, whatever you do, or you’ll fall flat on your face). pathootia). Use every errand or bathroom break as a cue to get some exercise.
5. Exercise after work. Take your gym bag and stop at the gym on the way home. If you go home first, you will most likely want to take your shoes off, relax, and sit still. Instead, try to break a sweat first, so you can go home, shower, change, and really relax, guilt-free.
6. Do sit-ups or leg lifts while watching TV. There is no television for you unless a part of you is constantly on the move! (And don’t tell me your arm is constantly moving as it carries popcorn from the bowl to your mouth. I tried that one. I’ll give you the same looks I have.)
7. Track every bite of food that goes into your mouth. Don’t tell me it’s “too tedious”. I know. Don’t tell me it’s inconvenient to remember. I know. Just do it. Because all of us who have done it religiously, day after day, will tell you that, honestly, logging every IN calorie is almost as important to increasing calories, if the goal is to lose weight. If you want to lose a pound a week, you should be in deficit of about 3,500 calories a week. If you want to lose two, you should be in a deficit of about 7,000 calories in one week. If you want to lose three, see your doctor first. You don’t want to go below what your body needs, just to maintain vital functions like breathing and circulation. Drink plenty of water, try to get as much nutrition as you can into each calorie you eat, and take a multivitamin.