I am definitely not a health nut, but thanks to a series of unfortunate incidents I’ve had to become “health aware” over the past several years. This doesn’t mean I’m one of those people who likes exercise, who runs to the forest to pick fresh berries, and who looks down his nose at people who eat steak. Far from it. I love steak, but I do have a responsibility to myself to try to stay fit and healthy. I don’t look forward to it, but I have to do it.
For me, I’ve found that the most tolerable cardiovascular exercise is riding a stationary bike. Being a big guy – I’m six foot, 180 pounds – it’s easier on my joints than jogging. And I’m not about to start doing the stair master, or joining an aerobics class.
My girlfriend, on the other hand, has been a jogger for more than ten years now. And it shows – she burns calories much faster than I do on the bike. A half hour of jogging registers nearly 450 calories burned for her; for me, on the bike, it’s closer to 300, if that.
In addition to jogging calories burned, there are also the calories you burn by building and toning muscles in your legs. Jogging builds muscle faster than the bike. Muscles burn more calories than fat, therefore, your jogging calories get an exponential boost the more muscle you build.
According to the experts, you’ll need to burn 3,500 calories in order to shed one pound. That means if you total 500 calories while jogging per day, and if you jog everyday, you’ll theoretically lose one pound per week. Done the whole year, it can add up to around 50 pounds – and that’s no small feat! But there’s more you need to know. Aside from the exercise, you’ll also need to watch your diet.
The average person consumes about 2,000 calories each day. Supposing you eat this much and you’re still gaining weight, it means that 2,000 calories is too much for you. Your balanced consumption rate – which is the number of calories you need to consume to make your weight level off – is probably around 1700. That means even if you log 500 calories jogging every day, eating 2,000 calories will only give you a calorie deficit of 200 – which means you’ll lose one pound every 17 or 18 weeks. This can be a trap for some dieters, since exercise can actually stimulate the appetite.
