Calorie Matters
As I sorted through my inbox this morning I mindlessly opened an article about whether running a mile burns the same amount of calories regardless of your pace.
I got through about half of the first paragraph when I realized, ‘I don’t really give a shit’.
I spent most of my twenties devouring just this type of information and you know one thing I took away from all those personal training equations and fitness magazine articles? The realization that whether I just burned 200 as opposed to 220 calories does not make me less hungry, more hungry, more tired, skinnier, happier, fitter, more accomplished, or most importantly, more in tune with my body’s needs.
All that information I gained in my twenties about portion sizes, calories burned during different activities, and resting metabolic rate is still with me and I’m sure I utilize it everyday subconsciously. But I no longer have much interest in giving it a lot of thought time and I haven’t broken out the food scale or calculated how many calories I burned during a specific activity in a very long time.
Knowledge is power. I believe it’s empowering and healthy to know how the calories in vs. calories out equation works as well as understanding the full benefits of exercise and a healthy, whole foods diet. This is not just for people trying to lose weight, it’s your body, the only one you have, you should want to read the manual and stay up-to-date on maintenance! What I don’t think is empowering is knowing that you just burned 220 calories running those two miles instead of 200 (unless maybe you are some uber-crazy athlete who needs to be really careful to eat enough to sustain the hard).
As a trainer and fitness advocate I love sharing my knowledge of nutrition, the calorie equation, the best exercises for various goals, and why everyone should be interval training 😉. This stuff fascinates me but the thing I want to share the most is a love for movement and whole foods and a desire to stay in tune enough with your body that you feed it what it needs when it’s hungry, stop just before full, and rest when you’re tired.
