Thursday, January 27, 2011

Put down the Hot Chocolate!

Ever wonder how you got where you are and why it's so hard to fix those little habits that hold you down? Two years ago I suffered from a serious case of depression in which I self medicated myself with LOTS of food. I didn't really start working my way through things until last February. I had a lot of self analysis and relationship analysis. I wrote about this a lot during the beginning of last year.

This one however has scientific research to back it up. For some reason women think it's ok to eat a little more if they've worked out that day. I know isn't that strange? But, there have been tons of studies that point to this.

As we've finally had out first snow storm I reflected on last years "Snowpocolypse" in which I did some funny things. When you have over 100 inches of snow in four weeks there is lots of shoveling to be had. Every time I went out to shovel I would come inside and decide that I deserved some hot chocolate and cookies. Who wouldn't? It's cold, you need some comforting treat and you just burned calories you normally wouldn't, right?

Well ladies, I'm hear to tell you don't do it. I have a caloric study going on right now that I will tell you more about letter but I have a little snipit to share.

First, when it's cold and snowy outside you are more likely to be less active inside. You want to curl up with a good book or watch a movie. You may not go out to run errands or other things that may be part of your normal activity level.

Second, you are not burning as many calories as you think shoveling that snow.
I went out and shoveled some seriously heavy snow last night. I burned 185 calories. That's not even enough to cover a cocoa and a cookie. What it's really doing is offsetting the fewer calories you're burning by laying around.

So, choose your beverages carefully and find a small piece of chocolate instead of the cookies. You're healthy body will thank you.

6 comments:

  1. I need to stop at Costco and get that thing you've wearing. I would love to know how many calories I'm actually burning. I still have a half a tin of butter sugar cookies, the grand kiddos need to come over more often and eat them. Hot cocoa....hmmm. I wish it didn't taste so good and have so many calories.

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  2. Oh man, hot cocoa is one of my many nemesis. My mom sent me a surprise box of 12 different Stevens gourmet cocoas a couple of months ago because I mentioned to her that I couldn't find any good hot cocoa in Virginia. It's a huge temptation for me. Oh, but I love it!

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  3. Well if this doesn't make me glad I skipped the hot cocoa after shoveling yesterday, especially considering it was a light snow and easy to shovel. I'm curious about this device you are using, is it a pedometer? Please tell us more.

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  4. I've been going out and shoveling the ice rink that my husband made around the corner from our house. And of course, hot chocolate has to follow such an activity, right? Well, I tried making it with water instead of milk to cut down on the calories, but I gotta tell you, it wasn't nearly as satisfying. Meh.

    As an aside, when I was pregnant with Lily I used to make big 24 oz cups full of hot chocolate all the time in my last trimester. No wonder I looked like such a heifer at the end!

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  5. Marci,

    Thanks for the reminder to watch our little habits. I try to save the hot cocoa for the end of the day on a day when I've eaten healthy and have exercised. And the cookies, well they've proven themselves consistently to be my nemesis.

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  6. It's hard to see on paper but it's so true! Having a heart rate monitor has woken me to the reality of how many calories or how FEW calories I really burn when I am working out. It's time to FACE REALITY GIRLS!! We can do it!

    Thanks Audrey:)

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