You have survived the holidays and now are resolved to target those holiday pounds that seem to find you every year about this time. Maybe a new perspective on the use of "dietary rewards" will help launch your 2011 fat fighting mission. Have you ever innocently thought, "I earned that piece of chocolate cheesecake since I didn’t miss a workout this week.  I'll just exercise a few more minutes and skip the latte."  So we skip the math and indulge.  Before you grab the fork, you may want to ask, "got time?"    

Sure it only takes a few minutes to devour the cheesecake but how long to work it off? Given that an average slice of chocolate cheesecake contains 500 calories (860 calories from Cheesecake Factory), let’s examine our options for balancing the scales.

Option 1: Burn Off Those Extra Calories by Adding a Workout

To burn those extra 500 calories, a 150 pound person would need to schedule additional exercise such as:

  • swim laps vigorously for 45 minutes
  • walk (4 mph) for 85 minutes
  • moderate intensity exercise for 60 minutes on the elliptical
  • run (9 min/mile) for 40 minutes

And unfortunately, these estimates are a bit conservative because they represent the total calories burned during the exercise bout. If you skipped the work out and instead sat at your desk, you would still 1.2 calories (150 pound person) per minute anyway. So if you sat for 60 minutes instead of exercising on the elliptical, you would have burned 72 calories (1.2 calories/minute X 60 minutes = 72 calories) of thos calories anyway.  The 500 calories burned during 60 minutes of elliptical exercise includes both resting and exercise energy expenditure.  That means you need to subtract 72 resting calories from the total calorie burn.  The elliptical workout really burned only (500 – 72 calories) 428 calories above the resting condition during 60 minutes of exercise.  So to burn off the the whole cheesecake, including the crust, you would really need to exercise an additional 10 minutes for a total of 70 minutes to work off all of those extra 500 calories. Most web sites that estimate caloric expenditure during exercise don’t correct their totals for resting caloric expenditure.  

Option 2: Cut Calories Somewhere Else

You could always skip a meal or cut back on calories throughout the day or week in anticipation of the cheesecake. This works too but be careful that you don’t cut out important nutrient rich foods like fruits, grains and vegetables from your diet on a regular basis. Just remember, you would have to cut out approximately 7 apples, 5 bananas, 8 ears of corn, 12 servings of green beans, or 5 slices of whole grain bread to offset those 500 calories. This would rob us of many of the disease fighting (phytochemicals) nutrients in our food. So it is important to focus on cutting foods that are not critical to good health.

Option 3: Cut Calories and Exercise Longer

We could also opt to exercise a little longer while cutting back on some of our caloric intake but in a less drastic way. This often works best for someone who has difficulty finding time for more exercise in an already hectic schedule.

Option 4: Get More Lifestyle Activity

Throughout the week, add little bits of activity to each day like:

  • Return the shopping cart to the storage area in the parking lot or better yet to the store
  • Select the parking spot furthest from your office no matter how many slots are available
  • Walk to your co-workers office instead of emailing or calling them
  • Make a trip to the restroom which is farthest from your office
  • Use the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator
  • Take the kids and pets to the park for a nature hike or walk the kids to school

It all adds up! You can use a pedometer to track your progress after getting a baseline measure of your current number of steps/day.

Option 5: All of the Above

I am not suggesting we totally eliminate "dietary treats", just that we need to put the reward process into perspective so we can determine the best way to maintain body weight and stay healthy while enjoying some of life’s pleasures. Sometimes that chocolate cheesecake doesn’t seem as appetizing when I can’t find the time for an extra workout. Other times it tastes really AWESOME!