200
I went to the gym with Philip today. I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill doing the “fat burning” workout. I made my little legs walk about 2.7 mph. That’s quite a brisk walk for someone my height. I don’t run anymore after injuring my knees playing varsity soccer. Our coach used to make us run stadiums all the time and those steps were just way too tall for me to try to running up. So I don’t run at all anymore. Anyway, so there I was, walking my little heart out, sweating like a pig. The first 15 minutes were fine. I amused myself by watching the gauges on the machine tell me how fast I was walking and how many calories I was burning. The second 15 minutes were a bit tougher. All the treadmills are conveniently facing a wall of mirrors so you can watch your out of shape self jiggling along. Lovely. I discovered that Nicky B and I have the same legs. Fat thighs on a baby – very cute. On me, well, not so much. I tried to distract myself watching the subtitles on the soap opera on TV. I started wishing for an Ipod. I checked my heart rate. I tried not to look in the mirror. I contemplated the wisdom of trying to exercise. Really, if God had wanted me to exercise, he would have made me Florence Griffith-Joyner or Mary Lou Retton. Honestly, I think God likes me as a couch potato. When the man on the treadmill next to me left, I turned around and stuck my tongue out at my husband. That was when I noticed that there was a woman on the machine behind me. Heh heh. Oops. Finally the work out was over. I sludged through 1.3 miles, uphill, both ways. I burned 200 calories. I was sweating. I hate sweating.
So on the way home I got thinking. One Poptart, not one package, but ONE Poptart is 200 calories. How long does it take to eat one Poptart? Maybe a minute. And it took 30 minutes of sweaty, heavy breathing, elevated heart rate excercise to burn it off. Kind of puts it in perspective, doesn’t it? A Big Mac has 704 calories. That’s an hour and a half on the treadmill! One homemade chocolate chip cookie has 138 calories. I don’t think I can eat just one cookie. Now I’m not going to go crazy counting calories. Frankly, I’m too busy to be bothered. But it really does make you think. Because really, are you just going to eat the one Poptart and leave the other one all alone? Of course not. You’ll try not to eat the other one, but a single Poptart isn’t that big. You’ll find yourself still hungry and go eat the second one, for a grand total of 400 calories. Yikes.
Check out this site: What Does 200 Calories Look Like? Pictures of different foods worth 200 calories. So many good/better choices out there. If weight loss or healthier eating was one of your New Year’s resolutions, you’ll definitely want to see this.
