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by It should be no surprise that the terms American and fitness are becoming increasingly difficult to use in the same sentence. More than 4 million Americans are already considered "extremely-obese; Obesity differs from simply being overweight; obesity is linked to excessive fat stores. The description is no longer confined to just adults, as obesity is increasingly afflicting American children as well.
As I am no longer in the Army, and therefore not being held to a fitness standard, I began pondering just how much energy my body was burning per day. Was my newfound career in corporate America leading me down an irreversible path? To determine this, I wore a heart rate monitor for the duration of my work day. The monitor features a calorie burn computer based upon the wearer’s age, weight, BMI and fitness level. (NOTES: Items in italics represent the activities I share with a sedentary person. "Cooling" refers to additional calories burned until my post-activity heart rate returned to a 110 bpm reference.)
- 100 calories burned per hour sitting in a chair "working"
- 5 calories burned riding an elevator up twenty-seven flights
- 100 calories burned per hour watching TV or surfing the Internet at home
- 750 calories burned for eight hours of sleeping (according to the Fitwatch Calculator)
- 220 calories burned in twenty minutes walking 11/4 miles downhill to my bus (+50 calories burned "cooling")
- 60 calories burned walking one New York City block (west-east) (+10 calories "cooling")
- 25 calories burned walking up five flights of stairs (+35 calories burned "cooling")
- 315 calories burned walking 11/4 miles uphill from my bus (+75 calories burned "cooling")
- 150 calories burned walking a dog for twenty minutes (Note: It was a slow walk, the dog is very old.)
- 660 calories burned in forty minutes of weightlifting
- >900 calories burned in fifty minutes on an elliptical trainer
The results generally confirm the obvious – that physical mobility equates to energy burn and sedentary activity does not. It was surprising, however, to realize how even small amounts of activity could have such large gains in overall calorie consumption. If I were to eliminate walking to my bus, never use the stairs and skip days at the gym, my personal calorie burn would quickly dwindle into a deficit.
A typical, non-active person will essentially burn slightly more than 1500 calories during their waking day simply by sitting at work, walking short distances to and from their car and watching TV. Going to and from the parking lot and garage are barely enough to raise the heart rate to a baseline 110bpm for more than a few moments, hardly constituting real physical activity. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Americans have grown enormous; we barely move and yet still eat three large (often unhealthy) meals a day plus an assortment of snacks and soft drinks. This results in a massive calorie surplus beyond the energy requirements a person needs for healthy living.
Similarly tagged OmniNerd content:
- How Would You Implement Health Care, by VnutZ over 2 years ago
- Bias in Doctors' Continuing Medical Education, by Brandon over 4 years ago
- The Risks of Taking the Pill, by Brandon over 4 years ago
- The Obese Just 'Greedy', by willwaddell almost 5 years ago
This article was edited after publication by the author on 11 Feb 2010.
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Right on by Anonymous :: NR0
I’m going through the same train of thoughts.
Some missing information by guyvia :: NR3
Can we get some general statistics about your current condition (age, height, weight, etc)?
I don’t want to be too personal, but I am trying to figure how you got over 900 calories from a 50 minute elliptical trainer. The one I use (certainly not scientific) normally reports me at 750 – 800 if I burn it for an hour.
Rather interesting to note.. by ldsudduth :: NR6
From the website here, that my particular favorite sport burns calories per hour like this (based on a 150lb person):
It’s not surprising; pro tournament level anglers can make upward of 200 casts per hour. I probably average somewhere around 60 casts/hour. Although, I do wonder on the Ice Fishing if they took into account shivering and teeth chattering?
Retraining again... by gnifyus :: NR6
It’s springtime again in Massachusetts and it’s time to shake off the winter lethargy and get in some kind of shape again. Every year now for roughly the last 20 years, I somehow gradually let myself get out of shape in the winter, and gain 10 to 15 pounds… somehow.
Having the time restraints that children, family and work put on me really doesn’t allow for a productive gym membership, so I’ve kept in aerobic shape mostly by running 4 to 5 miles, 3 times a week, 3 seasons out of the year. I also mountain bike quite a bit and enjoy that more than the running. We have a treadmill but "man" I hate the thing. No amount of music, TV or other distractions can keep me consistent on that contraption. I suspect there might be a certain amount of "seasonal affect" involved also; not enough to be completely mental, but enough to sort of sap my desire to keep in shape.
Here’s the thing though. My yearly ebb and flow of exercise is getting a little harder to start, and yet my reasons for needing it are growing. Why, you ask? I hate to admit it but I’m finally starting to feel the effects of age a little bit I guess, having turned 41 at the end of last year.
For my birthday my kids picked out one of those heart rate monitoring type watches (are they trying to tell me something?) mentioned in VnutZ79’s above piece. Since this is the beginning of my re-training season it will be interesting to see if, based on past experience, this method is beneficial as opposed to the "go until I’m tired, then go a little more, and then stop" method I’ve been using. I’m not looking for a lot more distance, because I want to save my knees and other joints as long as I can, but another mile added in roughly the same amount of time and getting up to speed in say 1 month instead of 2 would be all I could ask for.
According to this site ; 3-5 times a week for 20 to 60 minutes at 60-90% of age specific heart rate is optimum. Maximum heart rate is generally considered to be [220 – your age] making mine about 180 bpm. My low exercising heart rate would then be [180 X .60]= 108 bpm (walking?) and my high [180X.90]=162bpm. I’ll be honest with you, when I first used the heart rate watch just to try it; I found I was past my supposed upper range in the 165 to 170 range sometimes, and for quite a while too. No wonder I felt tired. (I really wonder what it is after mountain biking up a long hill.) I’ll try to follow up on this to let you know what happens as the "training season" wears on.
Calories to Eat a Human by VnutZ :: NR10
I received an interesting e-mail the other day:
With all the time you have on your hands … try this. My warped son wanted me to find out how many calories are in "people". You know … steak … 8oz. = 230 cal. etc. How many calories are there in the proverbial "pound of flesh"???
Now I know that true calories are measured using a Calorimetry Test with the equation Heat Capacity © = Specific Heat (q) / Change in Temperature (dT).
So – what variables would apply to a human being? Would a safe assumption be to break the body down into its components, use the calorimetry equations and then sum the values?
Calories Skiing by VnutZ :: NR10
I went ahead and wore the heart monitor while skiing this weekend. Five hours of solid skiing on blue hills worked out to about 3200 calories. Not too bad for an activity that includes riding a chair up a hill.
Calculate your daily calorie use by radu5er :: NR0
I suspect that quite a few (but certainly not all) of us who spend our days engaged in computer operations and maintenance and other sedentary lifestyles have accumulated excess weight over the years. Although many ‘fad diets’ have become popular, the equation still envolves a balance between calories in and out.
A site that attempts to evaluate your expenditure (without cost) is:
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calories-burned.php
I have found it to be of help in my effort to lose and maintain a target healthy weight. I hope you might find it useful.
Scientists Evaluate Walking Workstation For Obese Office Workers by Anonymous :: NR0
I saw this article about possibly having treadmill workstations at work, largely as a means to help the obese, and thought it was interesting to think about how it could change the office culture.
Scientists Evaluate Walking Workstation For Obese Office Workers
no way by Anonymous :: NR0
There is NO WAY you burned over 600 calories during 40 minutes of weightlifting. You probably burned about 125 to 175 at the MOST depending on how intense and how much resting was taking place. Weight lifting isnt a cardio activity. You would have to run/jog at a decent pace for an hour to burn 660 calories. Youre data is way off at least on the weightlifting…
Calories Burned by Anonymous :: NR0
Monitoring Calories Burned during your workout routine could be really helpful in keeping you motivated. I use this website that tells you how many calories were burned during the exercise you did that day http://www.fitclick.com/how_many_calories_burned