Big news came out of the CDC last week. The fair state of Louisiana has been ranked 2nd in the US in obesity rates (or 49th, depending on how you look at
it). Our citizens report (get that, it’s
SELF-REPORTED!) an obesity rate of 33.4%, barely tucking in under Mississipi
(34.9%). 35.7% of adults in the United States are obese (try not to confuse
this with state statistics, which includes children). What does this mean? One in three Louisianians have reported a BMI
(Body Mass Index) of 30 or higher. In
other words, an obese person of average height – 5’9” – weighs over 203
pounds. By the way, Louisiana also has thehighest average BMI, at 27.1, right in the middle of the overweight range. Keep in mind that the BMI
system is not perfect – it’s based solely on height to weight ratios. As such, it cannot take into account
athletes, whose larger frame may be considered overweight or obese on this
scale (for example, Drew Brees, Superbowl MVP, NFL Legend, Savior of New
Orleans and all-around nice guy, at 6’0” and 209 pounds is approaching the
obese range of >30 with a BMI of 28.3, the upper-end of overweight). But, for taking a population sample, it is
sufficient for gathering reliable data. Much more after the jump...
So, how does the CDC gather this information? In short, by telephone survey. The Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System (BRFSS) interviews some
400,000 adults each year, gathering data on "health risks and behaviors, health practices for preventing disease, and healthcare access mostly linked to chronic disease and injury." Just last year, the BRFSS adjusted the process to include calls to cell phone users. As such, data from 2011 cannot be compared to data collected in earlier surveys. But I digress, and this is boring.
Just before the school year started (I am a teacher), I
stepped on the scale and realized that, over the course of the summer (pretty dry
months for biking to work), I gained 20 pounds.
Yep, I weighed in on April 4th at 156 and kept that number
until exam week when I got sick and couldn’t ride. Since then, I’ve been doing regular training
rides, swimming, running, lifting weights and yoga, amounting to about ten to
twelve hours of exercise every week. And
I gained 20 pounds! 22 pounds to be
exact – I was sitting pretty at 178 on August 1. Mind you, my diet has never been perfect, but
man, I didn’t realize that was possible.
That’s 2 pounds a week for 10 weeks!
SO, when the school year began, I decided that I would do my own sort of
90 day challenge:
1. No use of supplements or dietary aids.
2. No change in diet.
3. No change in exercise routine (running, swimming,
weights, yoga will remain the same throughout, never going over 9 hours a
week.)
4. The ONLY change I’ve made is biking the 25 - 30 miles to
and from work every day. Obviously, this
is a big one. If I WAS cycling 3 hours a
week, NOW I’ll be on the bike 6-10 hours a week. I don’t like to count it as EXTRA workouts,
as it’s not structured, it’s low intensity and I’d be driving otherwise.
So, what are the results so far?
August 1 – 178
August 8 – 175
August 15 – 172.5
August 22 – 169.5
 |
| I am so happy just looking at this. |
Check that math.
That’s 8.5 pounds in three weeks.
Almost three pounds a week! And
don’t think that I’m dieting! Ask my
wife – I’ve eaten about four pounds of M&M’s this month; my facebook
friends may have seen that I enjoyed an entire pizza last night (yes, it was
Kashi, but nearly 1000 calories, nonetheless!); my sweet tooth conquers all as
I defeated a half gallon of ice cream in week two; and I can’t go to bed at
night without a gigantic bowl of Froot Loops.
“THIS IS STUPID – you have a superhuman metabolism and you
do 10 hours of cardio a week.”
Maybe.
But consider the science behind weight loss – Calories in minus calories
burned equals weight loss or gain. So
let’s use our average 5’9”, 203 pound gentleman from before. If he’s been sitting at 203 for a year or two
and is ready to make a change, he can do one of two things to lose weight: EAT
LESS or MOVE MORE. It’s not easy, but it
is simple. He can begin dieting, which
will work so long as he keeps up with it…and doesn’t indulge on occasion to
make up for the dieting…but let’s face it – that’s kind of what we do. His other option is to move more. Let’s say he replaces all car trips under 2
miles with a bike ride: (1) Grocery, (2) Church, (3) Laudromat, (4) Bike Shop,
(5) Restaurant, (6) Girlfriend’s Place, (7) Bank, (8) Bar/Club (don’t judge),
(9) Restaurant, (10) Gym…
The list could go on and on!
Already, this guy has taken 10 plus trips that’ll put him on the bike
for 5-20 minutes apiece, amounting to 50-200 minutes. What would he have been doing otherwise?
Driving. Now, in my experience, shorter
trips by bike tend to lose less time to driving than longer trips, taking
10-20% longer rather than 50-100% longer.
So let’s say he’d be driving for 45-180 minutes. Driving would thereforebe burning some 146-583 calories, instead, he has burned 669-2676 calories,
more than QUADRUPLING his weight-loss potential, whilst only spending an extra
5-20 minutes commuting.
Putting it another way, FOR AN EXTRA 20 MINUTES OF WORK, HE BURNED AN
EXTRA 2093 CALORIES! There is no workout
that can roast that many calories in that amount of time!
By making that small change, he’d drop a pound in under 2
weeks. …-_-…I know, you’re not
impressed. But it only cost him 20
minutes a week. If he added one commute
to work a week…JUST ONE!...based on the national average of 32 miles roundtrip, he’d grab up another 1,982 calories a week. It would cost an additional 98 minutes to
make that trip biking rather than driving.
Add it all up and you’ve got 4,075 CALORIES BURNED IN UNDER 2 EXTRA
HOURS. That’s over a pound a week. At that rate, he’d achieve a healthy BMI of
21.1 and a super-trim weight of 143 pounds in one year. ONE YEAR. 60 POUNDS.
The problem, especially here in the US, is that we don’t
want to work for it. We don’t want to
wait for it. We want a pill that can
drop 60 pounds off of this whole side of beef in 30 days.
The question is, do we have the discipline, the desire, the
PATIENCE to chose another path?
The answer…is out
there. Maybe WE don’t. Maybe WE can’t defeat our McDonald’s diet
with a bicycle.
But can YOU?
No comments:
Post a Comment