A friend of mine who dances Zumba ( I know, I tried to stop her, but she's very herd-oriented) came to me a while back to help her understand why she wasn't seeing the dramatic changes in body composition she was promised when she started her dance class. Being the class- act I am, I didn't respond with "I told you so" or "why don't you ask your dance leader." No, I generously offered to accompany her to class and take a look . After witnessing a horror show worse than "House of 1000 Corpses", I quickly figured out the problem.
First, my friend ( at about 150 lbs.) was probably burning through 300-400 kcals during her class, not the 1000(!) she told me she was. I asked her where she got the 1000 kcal figure, and it was from her class marketing materials. Sheesh. Second, she and her class buddies were going out for a Smoothie King Smoothie after every class as a reward. The bottom line? Her medium Slim 'n Trim strawberry Smoothie, at 560 kcal, was adding between 160-260 kcal to her daily total. 'Nuff said.
People just don't have a realistic attitude about how much exercise is needed to burn off the foods they ingest. For example, a Five Guys regular fry(9oz.) will cost a 150 lb.person 1 hour and 35 minutes of biking at 9 mph. A Pinkberry large frozen yogurt will require an hour and five minutes on the elliptical at a moderate pace. And a 5oz. red velvet cupcake? 2 hours and 5 minutes of strength training.
The lesson? Know how many kcals you're really expending. And your "reward" should be the health and fitness you achieve through the exercise you do, not an unhealthy "reward" that counteracts your efforts.
"My mother says ' When you gonna live your life right?' oh, mother dear, we're not the fortunate ones, And girls, They wanna have fun..."
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