Okay, I have to admit – I LOVE CHEESECAKE! If I’m within a forks-length away, I gotta have it. All my great rules like just take the last bite first go out the window. I want it – I want it now – and I want it ALL! And, guess what, I’m going to have it! BUT, and that’s a big BUT (or a big BUTT if I don’t do it right), I have to pay for it. When I say pay, I don’t mean with dollars, I mean with MINUTES! That’s right, minutes! I know that I burn about 5 calories a minutes when I walk a 15 minute mile (keep reading and I’ll show you how to figure how much you burn per minute). That average piece of cheesecake (which is about 2 oz.) is almost 300 calories (that’s almost 40 calories a BITE). If I burn 5 calories a minute I have to pay for that cheesecake with 60 minutes of extra walking that week. The next thing is – is it worth it? For me, now, at my goal weight the answer is yes. For you, if you’re trying to lose weight – only you can answer. If I don’t exercise it off and I add something like that every day (300 extra calories) that would make me GAIN 1/2 a week. THAT’S NOT WORTH IT!!
Okay, so here’s your formula to figure out how many calories you burn a minute. The average person walks approximately 3 miles an hour or a 20 minute mile so we’ll work with that. First — take your weight today times 2 and then divide that by 3. The answer will be the approximate number of calories you burn per mile. Divide that by 20 and you’ll know how many calories you burn per minute. (If you do a 15 minute mile divide your answer by 15 instead of 20).
Next time you want that “extra” – figure out for yourself if it’s worth it. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t – just remember, the choice is ALWAYS YOURS!
