Choosing Enjoyable Activities That Mirror
Your Distinct Personality

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Hello Twinkle Toes!

The exercise bike rested in one corner of the room as Dieter Jack sat with his head in his hands, sweat dripping off his body as he contemplated, "Is all this torture worth the loss of these 75 unwanted pounds?"

Jack had just burned about 25 calories riding the bike - one he was certain had been cursed by Dorothy from Oz.  His knees ached, his back was out of whack, and this bike was beginning to become a pain in his butt, literally.

Before Jack falls off completely from both his bike and his diet plan, let's try to attempt a sweeping Diet Rescue!

Jack really enjoyed his vacation last summer that he took with his best friend, Frank.  They spent a week camping in the mountains, taking hiking trips, canoeing, swimming and fly-fishing.

Since Jack enjoys interacting with nature, if he shifted his focus to enjoying the things that he likes to do, he will be more apt to stay on his activity plan.

Whether it's a walk around the local park OR the block, Jack will burn calories while he is enjoying what he is doing.

As a Fitness Note, Jack can burn about 184 calories biking on a flat surface for about fifteen minutes.  He can burn about 173 calories on a fifteen minute hike.  Eleven calories spells the difference between "hate and love".  (Note that 'HATE AND LOVE" contain a total of 11 letters.)  (My, that's almost witty, isn't it?)

Here are a few other suggestions that may work for Jack and other dieters in search of Pleasant Activity Time:

Index-Activities & Calories Expended

Square dancing, ballet, ice skating - all of these activities are a lot of fun and work excellently in burning calories.

The key to a stronger heart and lungs is to get the heart rate up.

Although a leisurely walk from the car to the store is good, a brisk fifteen minute walk is great.

For those that are employed in labor intensive professions that find their belt fits on a higher notch than they'd prefer, try examining the current daily diet.

So many times, labor intensive positions ensue working out in the heat and cold and it's miserable working on a full tummy, so workers may eat little - or no breakfast, a light lunch, then when they arrive home, they may play catch-up.  Unfortunately, if calorie intake isn't monitored, the weight scales climb - no matter how labor-intensive our day-jobs are.  

It doesn't take a scientific genius to realize that our bodies have the ability to take in several thousand calories per day - and the body can take in more calories than can be burned if we so desire.

BUT, we don't desire weight gain - so we don't want to do that.  

One large milkshake can shake on about 1,000 calories. Combine that with a double-decker cheeseburger and a large fry and we're climbing quickly to that 3,000 calorie rung on the Diet Ladder.

However, when one is tired and just wants to relax and revive, monitoring calories isn't the highest priority, either.  If this is the case, try picking healthier snacks from Mother Nature's Trees. An apple contains about 1/3  to 1/2 the calories of a candy bar.

A cup of hot air popcorn sprinkled with no calorie butter contains less than 25 calories whereas some popcorns contain more than 6 times that amount.

By choosing our activities smartly and coupling that with a smart diet, trimming down becomes more doable, less stressful - and a whole lot easier.

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