I did this with Halloween candy last fall and now it's time to give you the Easter candy report. Shape magazine lists the 5 candies you should avoid! Hope your Easter baskets aren't too full of the listed candies. If so, add a few more indoor cycling classes to your program this week.
While you're reading that article, look at the right side of the page at the calorie burn tool called "You Ate It, Negate It". You can enter what you ate and what kind of exercise you prefer, as well as your weight, and it tells you how long you have to exercise to burn off what you ate.
I chose a simple bran muffin as my treat. Calorie Count gives it 344 calories and a nutrition grade of B-. Another website gives the Starbucks Apple Bran muffin 350 calories.
In the Shape calorie burn tool, I entered Bran Muffin and Spinning (under Gym/exercise class) and it said I'd have to exercise for 72 minutes to burn that muffin. Then I entered cycling at 14-19mph (under endurance exercise), which is a decent clip but not too fast, and to me is a better guestimate of what kind of effort you put out in a typical moderately hard Spinning®/Indoor Cycling class. This time I'd have to exercise for 52 minutes to burn off one bran muffin. At 10-14mph it equals what they assume you'd burn in a Spinning class (72 minutes). Hmmm, not that I condone very hard classes all the time, but I think they are assuming people don't work very hard in indoor cycling classes.
This is a far cry off from what some instructors, trainers or programs are preaching, or even what Shape magazine tells you in another separate article that claims you can burn 500 calories in 35 minute Spinning® class! This last claim is truly ridiculous, especially since the posted class isn't that hard. Yes, it has some sprints, but do you really understand how hard you have to work to burn 500 calories?
*sigh*
When will there be responsible claims in the fitness industry?
The good news is that we have an amazing tool for burning calories and staying fit - our indoor cycling classes! Even if we don't over-exaggerate how many calories our students will burn.
Happy Easter!
6 comments:
I'm afraid to see how much a donut would "cost" me, although it's a neat tool that you can use to guess-timate.
500 in 35 minutes? Wow. And those "sprints" are really more like surges, but hey- who's keeping track?!
I knew it !!! I keep thinking I am alone in this calorie nightmare... people keep telling me they burn /500 600 calories in their 45 minute classes and I am bewildered .... I blame the 220 thing ...avoid the muffin ... muffins make muffin tops !!
Are different body weights included in the calculation of calories burned in the same length of time & same exercise?
Le, They ask for body weight, so it must be a part of the calculation. Maybe I'll experiment with different body weights and see what the relationship is.
How freaky is it that you just posted this and I emailed you the same question almost simultaneously! I just got a metabolic test done to see how many carbs/calories I would need to keep with me on a century ride. I can burn a max of 338 calories per hour! I was misled and can't even imagine how depressed this is going to make my riders who ask on occasion. I blame the 220 thing, too!
That's really an nice article. It's very helpful for me, but my kids eat lot of easter chocolates they really can't get hands on it. Thanks for sharing this post!
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