Do you ever wonder how far you'd have to run to burn off that dessert? Or how many hours you'd need to spend on the elliptical to burn off that appetizer? If you have, you have good reason to wonder. If you haven't, you need to!
Knowledge is power, and once you learn how much energy and sweat it will take to burn off that tasty treat, you'll have a much harder time eating it, especially on a regular basis.
To burn off common, seemingly small treats, such as one chocolate chip cookie, one serving of potato chips, one candy bar, one soda, a bowl of ice cream or a couple of mozzarella sticks, you would have to run approximately 5 miles per hour for thirty minutes. That's considered a good, average workout. A workout that requires half an hour of your time to burn the 200 to 300 calories that took less than a few minutes to eat.
To burn off treats such as a medium movie popcorn, the typical regular sized smoothie, most regular sized frozen chocolate drinks, a small Dairy Queen Blizzard, a small McDonald's McFlurry, or a medium order of fries or onion rings, you would need to log up to an hour and a half on the elliptical. Each of these items average up to 800 calories. Upsize any of these items to a large and you're headed above and beyond 1000 calories and looking at up to 3 hours on the elliptical just to burn them off.
If interested in indulging in an appetizer such as an Outback Awesome Blossom, a restaurant size order of cheesy fries, cheesy bread from your favorite pizza place, mini burgers (aka "sliders") or southwest eggrolls, plan to walk briskly for 6 hours - and that's even if you split some of these common appetizers with a friend.
Once you start working out, you really don't want to eat anything that is going to make you feel like crap. It's just not worth the bloating and upset stomach...every once in awhile isn't bad. But when you have something yummy and chocolately like Shakeology, you just don't crave the sweets. 140 calories with anti-oxidents, digestive enzymes and the nutritional content of 5 salads....yes please...but let's be honest...I love it because it's chocolate!!! lol
