Saturday, July 18, 2009

Potato Chips


My trainer gave me a fabulous tip yesterday. We were chatting a little between sets, as I cought my breath in preperation for my ball squats (that's where you put a big stability ball behind your back, lean against the wall, and do squats, great thigh workout). I mentioned that I was sitting on a ball at work now, and would find myself bouncing on it constantly. He said, "If a chip a day equals a pound a year, then that has to do something."

What? Did he just say what I think he said? A chip a day, one single, solitary, lonely little potato chip per day, equals one pound! Can it really be that simple? Lets see, so twice a week, I've been getting a particular coffee drink from a famous coffee chain. My drink has 380 calories. So if I cut just 10 of those out per year, there's a pound. Well, what if I stop drinking them all together? That's 11 pounds in a year, just by stopping my twice a week coffee habit and replacing that caffeine with a no cal drink (and yes, my no cal morning drink is full of caffeine, and yes it's soda!)

Gee, if that little change can make such a big difference in a year, what else can I change. Well, my afternoon walks (which I admit I haven't done as often as I should in the past couple weeks, I blame it on the heat, but that's a poor excuse), I burn more than 400 extra calories that I would sitting on my butt for that 45 minutes to an hour. So, lets say I go for an afternoon walk 5 days a week, every week for one year. That's 30 pounds lost in the year!

I knew I loved math for a reason. Seeing these numbers add up is driving home a point for me. If I cut one little thing out a day that I may have otherwise eaten, or replace it with something with slightly fewer calories, I can make a huge difference.

I'd love to hear about other ideas for making small changes for big results. Do you have any tips to share?

Healthy and Happy Living

2 comments:

Jennifer Newman said...

HOLY WOW!! This post is so perfect! My mind is literally spinning at the thoughts. Great post! and good luck with the walking, have you tried indoor walking? I love my Leslie Sansone walking workouts (check them out at walkathome.com)! You can get your walk right in your living room. 1 mile is about 15 minutes and 2 miles is 30 minutes!)

Anonymous said...

Hey I knew I was doing those 2 mile walks at lunch for a reason other than getting outside. Thanks for the reminder :) I never think of exercise on the long term potential.

Stopping by from SITS. I was a couple comments behind you in roll call.