How difficult is it to burn 3,000 calories a day?
Thankfully, it’s probably much easier than you think.
When I joined the bodybugg program about 3 months ago, I learned that to reach my weight loss goals, I needed to burn about 2,500 calories each and every day.
Let’s just say I felt defeated from the get-go. I have a treadmill at home, and it shows distance traveled, heart rate, and calories burned. I recalled burning about 500 calories after an hour of walking or 30 minutes of jogging (neither of which I did very often). I thought to myself, “How in the world will I be able to burn 2,500 calories in a day and work a full time job?”
After wearing the bodybugg for about a week, I realized that burning 2,500 calories in a day is a very attainable goal when you add up all of the little (and seemingly insignificant) activities that most people do every day. For those of you who are not familiar with the bodybugg, it is a device that you wear on your arm and tracks your calories burned using sensor technology
It also helps that the bodybugg also calculates calories burned even when you are not exercising. Who knew that people burn a little more than 1 calorie per minute when they are sedentary or even asleep?
Here was a typical weekday’s worth of activity for me when I first began the bodybugg program:
o Walk from my parking garage to the office (and vice versa – probably about 7 minutes each way)
o Take about a 25 minute walk outside at lunch time (weather permitting)
o Walk my dogs around the neighborhood twice (probably about 20 – 25 minutes)
Believe it or not, I usually hit my goal just doing these regular, daily activities!
After the encouragement of routinely reaching my daily goal for caloric burn, I decided to test myself – could I reach 3,000 calories burned in a day? In addition to the fact that I am very competitive (even against myself in this case), I found a huge motivator for burning the extra calories was the fact that I would be able to eat more calories in a day if I burned 3,000 calories that same day. Let’s be serious here – the ability to eat more than the 2,000 calories a day that was originally allotted to me by the bodybugg program was way more motivating than any competition I might have with or against myself.
So…I decided to make my reality tv habit more constructive by recalling an old mantra spoken to me by many a teacher (and my mother – also a teacher by the way) when I was in grade school – “use your time wisely”. I started walking on the treadmill about an hour a day while I got my latest reality tv fix. This has been the greatest change I have made for myself – and my health – in a long time. I am making real progress in my weight loss, and I am not taking any extra time out of my normal day to work out. I would have been in front of the tv anyway – only I would have been laid up on the couch rather than walking on the treadmill.
I have been amazed at the results of this change. As of now, I burn an average of 3,500 calories per day – and thus I have been able to lose weight at about twice the rate that I had originally planned. I am happy to report that when I got on the scale this morning, I was 23.5 pounds lighter than I was before I began the bodybugg program. Only a pound and a half to go until I hit my goal weight (which I must admit was seemingly unattainable to me before I started the program).
Those of you who read my first post know that I first learned about the bodybugg while watching an episode of The Biggest Loser. Now, as I walk on the treadmill while taking in my favorite shows, I feel like I’m working out right alongside the contestants.
Who knew reality tv could be so good for you? :)
photo by: Jos Dielis
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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
