Little Changes Mean a Lot...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Little Changes Mean a Lot...
Tue, 08-24-2004 - 12:56pm
Right now, sitting at your computer, you're burning calories. That's the good news.

The bad news is you're not burning much. If you eat one candy bar while tapping at your mouse, you've swallowed about 230 calories - and it'll take almost five hours sitting at the PC to burn off that one bar, or eight hours watching TV.

Remember this: Doing almost anything for a half hour burns more calories than sitting still.





Activity (for 30 min.)
Calories Burned per 150-lb. person

Watching TV
27

Working at a PC
50

Food shopping
126

Walking the dog
158

Playing tennis
200

Every 3,500 calories you eat turns into roughly a pound of body fat. Burn an extra 100 calories every day for a year, and you've erased 36,500 calories from your system - or more than 10 pounds of body fat. Just as different activity choices matter (check out our Fitness Upgrades), so do little differences in food choices:





Eating...
Instead of...
Every day saves...

1 slice, whole-wheat toast
1 bagel-shop bagel
175 calories per day

2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. regular salad dressing
115 calories per day

1 cup hot cocoa from mix
1 chocolate bar
130 calories per day



Too simple? In a way, it is.

Genetics and hormones affect the rate at which each of us gains or loses weight, and our bodies have self-defense mechanisms against massive weight loss. The first pound you lose is always easier than the tenth or twentieth! But the rates of success for people who've learned how to lose weight and keep it off are better than you might think.


http://health.yahoo.com/search/miavita?lb=s&p=id%3A38161

What little changes can you make today?

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