Your Binge Eating Habits - You can't afford the time or the calories

Last night, for the first time in my life, I ate a whole small container of ice cream. Ben & Jerry's Half Baked Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Creams Mixed with Fudge Brownies & Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. That's the full title, by the way. Took me about as long to type that as it took for me to eat the whole tub.

I was not PMSing. I was not unhappy. I was not suffering heart break or bored. I ate a whole container (500ml or roughly a pint) because I had never done it before and I wanted to know what it was like. Haven't we all just wanted to say, "F-it! I just don't care any more!" Well, here is the cost of throwing that proverbial caution to the wind.

It's likely no surprise that the cost of curling up with Ben & Jerry is 1,160 calories or about 58% of a 2,000 calorie diet and 56 grams of fat, about 88% of a recommended fat intake. Then, I wanted to see what it would take to burn it off. So this morning I did a pretty decent workout.

I did a zone 3 (medium intensity), 20 minute warm-up run and dynamic stretch. Ten short sprints in the sand to get my heart rate up. Then 30 minutes of hill intervals at zone 4 to 5 (high and very high intensity). And finally, I did an outdoor strength training session at a local playground with 3 sets of 10 reps of dips, pull-ups, push-ups and high knees. I added some more running for a total workout time of 1:20. And my caloric burn? A lousy 685 calories. Basically, I would have to do two-thirds of that workout again just to break even.

I know some of you out there are thinking about my fabulously revved-up metabolism and how I'm burning off those cookie dough chunks even though I'm not working out. It's true that since I've started strength training, my ability to passively burn more calories has improved. But it hasn't improved that much.

So I say, forget "a moment on the lips, forever on the hips." I think it's better to think about the time and incredible intensity required to make up for such an indulgence... 15 minutes of eating = 2.5 hours of working out. I can't afford this additional workout time. Can you?


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Fit, Fabulous and 40 is dedicated to anyone who is committed to staying fabulous by eating well, keeping active and maintaining a positive frame of mind. This takes work, so let's do it together. Drop me a comment any time, pass on tips and tricks or just follow along. You don't have to be 40, but you do have to be fabulous!