By James Fell
AskMen
Many of us are mindless eaters. The office is especially bad for this, but do you realize just how many calories you're consuming with one effortless grab? Perhaps more importantly, do you realize just how much exercise it takes to burn those things off? Here's a metabolic chart using three popular forms of exercise: running, cycling and weightlifting, in order to determine how long it takes to burn off 15 snacks if you're a 180-pound dude.
For this 180-pound man, the following (roughly) applies:
-- 1 hour of intense weightlifting burns 450 calories
-- 1 hour of moderately fast cycling (14-16 mph) burns 750 calories per hour
-- 1 hour of fairly fast running (8 mph) burns 1,000 calories per hour
Interestingly enough, we're basing our calculations off calories and not fat because fat doesn't matter as much as calories in terms of how long it takes to burn off. The reality is that calories -- not fat -- show things that people think might not be so bad (like pretzels) can actually be really bad.
Fat is only an issue if it's trans fats. If you're not overweight, then the amount of fat in your diet (as long as not trans) is not that big a deal. The calories are where you're wasting your gym time.
15 Snacks You Eat At Work That Take You Way Too Long To Burn Off The Calories Slideshow
1. Pretzels
Total calories in just 10 pretzels = 227 How much exercise to burn this off? -30 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -18 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -14 minutes of running at 8 mph
2. Starbucks Blueberry Muffin
Total calories = 380 How much exercise to burn this off? -51 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -30 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -23 minutes of running at 8 mph
3. Del Monte Dried Fruit Mix
The "per serving" is only 110 calories, but that's only one-fourth of a cup. Realistically, a 180-pound man could easily scarf back a full cup of this stuff. So let's be realistic and show the man serving for what it really is: 440 calories for a full cup. How much exercise to burn this off? -59 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -35 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -26 minutes of running at 8 mph
4. Tropicana 12-Oz Bottle Of Orange Juice
Total calories = 170 How much exercise to burn this off? -23 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -14 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -10 minutes of running at 8 mph
5. 1 Bag Of Buttered, Microwave Popcorn
Total calories = 210 How much exercise to burn this off? -28 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -17 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -13 minutes of running at 8 mph
6. Nutri-Grain Apple-Cinnamon Cereal Bar
Total calories = 120 How much exercise to burn this off? -16 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -10 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -7 minutes of running at 8 mph
7. Chocolate Power Bar
Total calories = 240 How much exercise to burn this off? -32 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -20 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -14 minutes of running at 8 mph
8. Half A Cup Of Dry-Roasted Peanuts
Half a cup is not much. It will go down fast. That's why this number is shocking: Total calories = 427 How much exercise to burn this off? -57 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -34 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -26 minutes of running at 8 mph
9. Rockstar Energy Drink
Total calories = 280 How much exercise to burn this off? -37 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -22 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -17 minutes of running at 8 mph
10. Starbucks Peppermint White Hot Chocolate
I went for the most ridiculously high-calorie Starbucks drink I could find on a list of ridiculously high-calorie Starbucks drinks. It's about the same as drinking five beers. Total calories = 730 How much exercise to burn this off? -97 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -58 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -44 minutes of running at 8 mph
11. Starbucks Bagel With Cream Cheese
Of course, it depends on just how much cream cheese you slather on that sucker. And sometimes what companies puts on their website isn't in line with how much the server decides to smear on there. Usually the server is more generous. But, whatever, here are the numbers: Total calories in the bagel = 280 Total calories in the cream cheese = 130 Grand total = 410 calories How much exercise to burn this off? -55 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -33 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -25 minutes of running at 8 mph
12. A Chocolate Glazed Doughnut
Total calories = 260 How much exercise to burn this off? -35 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -21 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -16 minutes of running at 8 mph
13. Pecan Butter Tart
I used to work in an office that had these all the time in meetings. They taste awesome. They also require a lot of exercise to burn off. Total calories = 370 How much exercise to burn this off? -49 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -30 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -22 minutes of running at 8 mp
14. Large Chocolate Chip Cookie
You know those big, gooey suckers? Just one is OK, right? Well, they have… Total calories = 196 How much exercise to burn this off? -26 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -16 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -12 minutes of running at 8 mph
15. The After-Work Beer(S)
Who are we kidding? You don't have just one, right? Let's be realistic and say it's at least two. The typical beer has 150 calories (in a 12-ounce bottle), so slam back two of those, and it's… Total calories = 300 How much exercise to burn this off? -40 minutes of (intense) weightlifting -24 minutes of cycling at 14-16 mph -18 minutes of running at 8 mph
