How many calories do I burn a day?

This week has been a fitness struggle for me. After pretending I was still in college for the weekend, it was hard to get back into the swing of things. The extent of my exercise for the week was moving from my bed to the couch and occasionally walked to work. After a whole week of no exercise, I'm starting to get a tad antsy.

While couch surfing, I looked into how my daily activities contribute to my fitness goals. Walking to work, standing on the Metro train, walking up and down the stairs to my apartment, cooking, cleaning. All the real world stuff we have to do.

Normally, I'm not a calorie counter, pound focused individual. But sometimes its nice to know how much you're getting out of your workout. So to put all these things in perspective, 1 pound=3,500 calories. 

Run v. Walk

Speed walking! My friend and I had contests this summer-I lost [Image]

Runner's World has a nice article from 2005 comparing the calorie burning power of our two cheapest exercise options. In general, running burns about 50% more calories per mile than walking. So for 1 mile a woman burns about 100 calories running a 9:30 mile, verse about 50 walking a 19:00 mile. Do a little math and running for an 1 hour burns about 450 calories. Walking burns about 150 calories per hour. For me, my daily walking commute is about 2 miles, so I'm burning only 100 calories per commute.

Amby Burfoot, the author of the article, did a little experiment of her own to compare fast walking to running. When she crunched the numbers, she found that walking at a pace 12 min or faster is better than running. I'm not sure about other people, but at a 12 min mile I'm basically jogging it out on my short legs, so I think I'm gonna stick with running.

Stairs

I usually walk a total of 6 flights of stairs daily. According to LiveStrong the average woman can burn about 800 calories an hour running stairs.

I will never run stairs for an hour. That sounds like my own personal hell. My knees would probably just give out after about 30 min and someone would have to push me around in a wheelchair for the rest of the week. Not to mention, I doubt I will ever run stairs in a skirt and blouse while going to work.

When I feel ambitious, I even walk up the escalators [Image]

However, they break it down for us mere mortals. Walking up or down the stairs burns about 7 calories a minute. I would guesstimate I spend about 5 min on stairs a day, so I'm burning about 35 calories a day by taking the stairs. They end with this little tidbit:

"By taking the stairs for five minutes a day five days a week, the typical person can expect to lose about 2.5 pounds in a year."

Other Activities

Here is a quick list of other activities and the calories they burn [Source]. These are all weight dependent, so I'm listing the numbers for my own weight (125 lbs).

Working at a Desk: 106 calories/hour
Watching TV: 46 calories/hour
Cleaning: 270 calories/hour
Cooking: 150 calories/hour

Check out Self magazine's calorie counter if you want a more specific amount.

My Totals:

So my calorie total is about 935 calories/day. Of course this does not include such things like the calories my body burns purely to survive. This is called the basal metabolic rate, which is basically defined as the calories an individual would burn if they didn't move from bed all day. It varies with gender, age, height, and weight, but DiscoveryHealth has a calculator. My BMR is 1402 calories per day.

So my grand total....2337 calories per day!! Obviously the FDA does not think of people like me when they suggest a daily calorie intake of 2,000. I would shrink into nothingness if I actually did that.

Why Run?

One of the places I used to run [Image]

I started my love affair with running when I was about 16. My house backed up to a national wildlife preserve and there were so many trails to choose from. I loved the isolated freedom that came from running down those trails, the amazing views, the wildlife. It was completely invigorating.

3 Ingredients to Aviod

So I'm not that into dieting. And when I say not that into I really mean I love food.  I believe everything tastes good with enough butter, salt, and garlic, and that the proper number of meals a day is around 5. Right now you're probably thinking: "This girl has the crappiest eating habits ever." Well I got you....

After spending 18 years in the care of my health nut mom (who I secretly appreciate for teaching me how to eat delicious and healthy food), it's hard to avoid eating healthy. It's pretty simple: buy fresh ingredients, cook fresh food, and eat all the different colors.

"Born to Run"

So last night I saw an old college friend for the first time since graduation. Ok, so maybe I use the term "old" loosely here considering I graduated like 4 months ago. But I digress...

My friend brought up this book, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, and we then ended up in an epic discussion that lasted two hours.

[Image]

I have never read the book, but its definitely hit the to-do list after this conversation. My friend said, "This has inspired me to start running". Which is a pretty big deal considering I'm not sure if my friends has done any exercise since like high school. So that is a ringing endorsement.

Exercise VS The Common Cold

I woke up this morning feeling off. Just a little scratchy throat, a slight cough. You know, the stuff you kind of blow off thinking it's just a bad morning.

This is the bugger that's killing me. Looks kinda like the ocean with starfish...[Image]

Fastforward about 12 hours, and here I am, cocooned in my bathrobe with a mug of tea, pretty convinced I'm going to die. Just kidding about the death part. But it got me thinking about something my college trainer always said: "Exercising when you're sick will help you feel better faster, unless you have a fever."

Part of me thinks they just told us this as an excuse to keep pushing us, so I think it's time to do a little Internet research.

Top 5 Reasons I Want to Be Fit

1. Pride

What can I say? When I look into that mirror I want to be like "Hey girl, check out that sexy bod." I want to be proud of what I look like and comfortable in my own skin. Call me vain or shallow I don't care you know everyone thinks about body image. I have always had a very positive body image and I want to keep it that way. This is why I don't look at the scale. Weight is a number that means nothing to me. For me its when I am in a bathing suit and look athletic.

Injury Prevention: Shoulders

Note to the wireless universe out there: if you want your body to be in good shape, don't be an athlete. Seems like a smart plan, hours of conditioning, playing, and weightlifting should make having an amazing bod easy. That's a dirty lie. What actually happens is the total destruction of your body, making you feel like a senior citizen. Hence the hip injury prevention exercises. And now the shoulder prevention exercises.

I never did these in college but watched all my hitters go through this every day. I thought it looked way more fun than my own rehab workouts. I feel like I'm about to prove myself wrong.

7 Ways to Increase Your Intensity

The 2 week marker was a big deal for weights when I played in college. We got new exercises, and I would be like "Thank God! I don't have to do step-ups anymore!!!!" (I hate step-ups). Besides being a great confidence booster, changing the workout every two weeks is crucial to avoid The Plateau. The Plateau is an evil place where you are working hard but go nowhere.

This is what happens with plateaus. Frustration, followed by quitting. [Image]

Increasing intensity is the key to avoiding this dreadful place. Usually this means increasing weight and variety of workouts. However, since my "gym" consists of a yoga mat, 5 lbs dumbbells, and the streets of DC, I have to get a bit creative.

Injury Prevention: Hips

I've got bad hips. Apparently it has something to do with the way I walk, or the way my skeleton is, or just because I'm weird. But apparently most people are in the same boat as I am.

Common Hip Injuries

As a victim of daily hip pain, I decided to do some quality self-diagnosis via the Internet. Here are some common ones. Disclaimer: if you're actually in pain, you should probably go see a doctor.

Exercise Some Self-Control

I don't think I've ever kept a New Year's resolution. Why? It's probably a mix of I never seem to come up with good ones and I completely lack self control in most aspects of my life. So I decided to see what I could do about this and did a little research.

My idea of willpower, being sucked away by dementors and restored by chocolate! [Image]

Willpower is a muscle

 

Well this is surprising. I always pictured willpower as something more ethereal- like a soul.