3500 Calories ... May as Well Be 35 Million

Day 146
3500 Calories ... May as Well Be 35 Million


Yay! It 's warm! The days are longer. The leaves and grass are unbelievable shades of green. It's shorts season. (arrr ... sound of putting on the brakes ...) Yikes! shorts season already? 


I month or so ago I had this all figured out. Feeling all empowered by staying with my no-buy challenge, I decided to tackle this extra pounds problem head-on. I can do this! I researched and found that it takes approx. 3,500 calories to make or lose a pound. That didn't sound too bad. I hate starving so I decided that I would simply exercise 3500 calories away each week and, voila! By June my cutest clothes would be back into rotation. I even made myself a little chart on a whiteboard to track my progress. It's just math, plain and simple. 


Next step- how much does each activity burn? I was pretty shocked to learn that not as many calories are burned as one may think. For example, one full hour of Zumba burns 500-700 calories. I decided to always round down even though the class is super-intense. Two days per week I wog (a hybrid walk-jog that we invented) around our lake. Again, 500-ish calories. It came down to me exercising 7 days per week, 500 calories, or about an hour each day. A bit of wind out of my sails, but OK- I can do this.


I can not do this. I can not exercise 7 days per week. It just doesn't work for me right now. 3500 calories may as well be 35 million calories. It can seem that unattainable. As I gazed down at my white, expanding thighs encased in shorts yesterday, I felt defeated. Will I ever get the upper hand on these pounds? With a few spring events looming, I faced my closet this morning. Better to know now if I have to cancel based on a too-small wardrobe. And guess what! The dresses seem to be fitting! Either I am doing something right or some tiny little seamstress fairies are living in my closet letting out the seams. Then I realized that I may not be burning 3500 calories, but I am burning at least half that. Not a pound a week, but a half pound. And that counts! If you ever feel defeated, hang in there. Don't beat yourself up. Baby steps are better than no steps. One-half pound ... yay!