I thought this would be simple

I was pleasantly surprised this morning. I was expecting frigid and windy - in other words -18 which had been predicted earlier in the week. I awoke to a thermometer which read 14! And although windy, it wasn't bad. Even the freshly fallen snow wasn't too bad to run in. The city had done a good job of plowing. Although our pace did reflect the smooshy conditions (slow). Plus Christy was pleasant company (as usual).

So, in a previous post I mentioned the idea that I got from the movie Julia & Julie. Which is to blog everyday on some tidbit of advice/inspiration given by a running calendar.

I thought this would be easy - that is finding such a calendar. In this day of diets, working out, losing weight and The Biggest Loser, I thought it would be VERY easy to find a calendar that had a daily 5 -15 minute workout or SOMETHING. As I liked to say (and still do) in 8th grade... NOT! (Did that come from some movie?)

Seriously, I thought I could just go to Amazon and type in 'daily fitness calendar' and a plethora of calendars would be listed. Again - NOT! I tried many different search words and the best I could come up with was Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous 2010 Daily Calendar. I am not joking. I even did a Google search and came up dry. So, now I am turning to online daily workouts.

Stay tuned to see what I decide or maybe a better way to phrase it what I FIND! (Considering today is January 8th, I am realizing that I may be using this as a delay tactic too!)

Lose It!

Inspiration has just been falling in my lap....

My new "gadget" is an "app" (application for you NOT in the know". I saw it reviewed in some best apps of 2009 article and decided to check it out. It is called "Lose It!" I didn't think it would be that great since it is free and there tends to be a direct correlation between what you pay for something and how well it works (At least that is what my Mom taught me). The reviews were high so I thought I would give it a try.

It is pretty fun so far, but that is not why I am blogging about it. One of the features is that you can enter in your exercise for the day and it will calculate the calories burned. I was showing this feature to a friend and realized that there is an EXTENSIVE list of fitness activities such as Jai Alai (and no, you will be shocked to know that I don't know what that is) to the old standby - Badminton. And of course we all have a Luge course in our backyard (I guess the winter Olympics are coming up) and what I always think of first when I think of a good workout - music playing. And of course... Sexual Activity. Yes, that is right - no exercise list is complete with out Sexual Activity.

Now, guys - don't get your hopes up. And gals, don't worry that your husband/significant other has another "tool in his toolbox" in addition to lingerie to get you into bed more often. According to Lose It! 15 minutes (I always make sure I don't OVER estimate how many calories I burn) of "general, moderate" sexual activity burns up....

wait for it...

Wait For It......

WAIT FOR IT........

5 calories!

Yep! 5!

Oh, I know you are asking, "But wait! 'Active/vigorous' sexual activity must burn up A LOT more!" I won't make you wait for it this time. The ASTOUNDING amount is..... 8 calories. (Am I hearing groans out there?)

Okay - for you love birds out there (Larry/Judy and Al/Sheri) I know you are saying "Come On! give us credit where credit is due! What are the numbers for an hour???? Be ready to groan even louder (and not in a sexual way, because it should be obvious by now that it won't do you any good) 20 calories for moderate and 33 for vigorous. Hmmmm..... as my friend said "I'll take the candy bar instead".

Now, if you are thinking, "Well, it is just WRONG!" I did a little (quick) checking on the Internet and although admittedly it was low, it wasn't so low to totally discount it. for 15 minutes of moderate sex, 2 calculators gave estimates of 12.5 and 22 calories.

I also compared what my Garmin gave for today's lovely run with the Cousins. My Garmin said I burned 582 calories and Lose It calculated 546. So, given the amount of variables that go in to calorie burning calculators, not too far off.

Just something for you all to ponder.

A little bit of excitement on this morning's run. The snow removal people were out in force around Walgreens making it quite difficult to get into the parking lot. We had to go around the block and through the alley. Yes, that qualifies as "a little bit of excitement".