Man Up Saturday- 3500 Edition.

Disclaimer:  You are reading the blog of a very stupid girl.  A stupid girl that does not claim to be a dietician, an exercise scientist, or even very smart at all.  With that warning, I had a very stupid idea.

Someone I know posted their marathon time on Facebook by way of their phone app.  It listed the calories burned during the race which was around 2700.  Impressive.  But one pound of fat has 3500 calories in it.  And running a marathon is hard work.  If I ran 26 miles, I'd hope to have burned at least one pound of fat from my reserves.  So I decided that I'd try to burn 3500 calories in one day to see if it was possible.  This probably isn't actually how fat is metabolized or even worth trying but game on.  My calorie counts are as accurate as I could make them most of them taking into account my weight, mileage, speed, and distance.  This really isn't a very accurate science though so each total is probably off by some.  I'd like to think they underestimated me and I actually burned hundreds more for each activity but sadly I doubt that is the case. 

 Man up Saturday

I started out the day with a run.  Three with my little champ and three on my lonesome.
Total for the morning: 723

Next up was rollerblading.  AKA, the best way to exercise ever.  I won't get off my rollerblading boat.  It's great.  If you hate to exercise, try it.  It is so fun you don't even realize you're working out.  I feel fast and weightless and if you find a really great trail there are lots of downhill parts where you zoom through and feel like a pro.  Another stupid idea of mine was rollerblading 26.2 miles one day.  Without water.  Without food.  Without any brain cells that told me it was really dumb.  I finished.  And everyone I meet is very impressed I skated 26 miles.  Not really. 

First up though was stretching and re-hydrating.  Vogue is calling.  They wanted to congratulate me on the most amazing sock award.

Don't bother criticizing those socks.  They are awesome.  And yes, I prepare food on those counters. 

I had to go by Citrus Park to drop off some stuff for a friend so I decided to use the Upper Tampa Bay Trail which has never been my favorite because of all of the roads that you have to cross but I was close and didn't feel like driving all the way to the Suncoast Trail.  It is totally awesome now and they built entire new parts that go under roads.  The whole day was beautiful.  Cold and windy, but so beautiful.

I do need to find some kind of belt for my keys and fuel though, stuff was everywhere.  Oh wait.  A fanny pack.  Boom.

Calories burned while roller blading (12.7 miles/ 76 minutes): 1085

A girl on a mission.

My arsenal of weapons for the day.  Skates, Brooks, yoga mat.  Don't mind that unopened wedding gift.  We've only been married 5 years.  Matt is gone a lot.

I had about 3 hours until the next activity on my schedule and it was such an amazing day, staying inside napping seemed foolish.  Luke wanted a walk and I wanted to show my neighborhood my amazing fashion skills.  We'll call this look, "Florida Cold Snap Chic".  At least Luke has swagger.

Afternoon walk (1.67 miles/25 minutes): 142

I don't sing Florida's praises from the roof tops very often, but Saturday She was just lovely.  Find me a rooftop.

Last up for the day was a Bikram Yoga class.  20 something poses in a room heated to 105 degrees for an hour and half.  It was really hard.  Not relaxing like I'd hoped but I had a lot of calories to burn to hit my 3500 so I worked as hard as I could with the energy I had left.  And I left a sweaty mess.   It was interesting that the class was mostly men.  Most yoga classes I take are 90% women.  It was "man up Saturday" after all.  I highly recommend Evolation Studio in South Tampa.  I took a class from Gary and he was great.  There were about 10 of us and he would walk around giving instructions and assisting each of his students constantly.  Amazing.  You know what else was amazing?  Their lobby.  That is all tile work.  Can I live there?

Bikram yoga calories burned: 954

Total calories burned: 2,904

I gave it my best effort and I actually felt pretty great.  I had enough energy to somehow watch the last Twilight movie with a friend.  I have no shame.  I wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be and didn't end up going to bed until around 10:30pm which was strange.  I felt a little dehyrated today despite drink tons of water so good thing we don't have to boil water anymore.  Not like I did in the first place. 
This whole experiment got me thinking about weight loss in general.  It's no wonder that so many people give up their diet and exercise plans so quickly.  It is hard work losing weight and if there is someone you love or like trying to change their life to come to a healthy weight, encourage them.  It's a long road and calorie free french fries haven't been created yet (I'M WORKING ON IT!).  I worked really hard today and ate really well and didn't burn a pound.  With that said, someone better say I look 2,900 calories thinner today or I'm going to be furious.

To make that whole stupid idea even crazier, I did it the day before working at Idlewild's Mission Day for FCA.  No big deal.  Just 7am-1pm of standing up talking to people.  I would have sacrificed french fries for a year for a chair.

A day of physical exhaustion followed by a day of mental exhaustion.  I'm exhausted.
 
But the Missions Day was great.  I met so many amazing people including one CrossFit superwoman who puts together CrossFit fundraisers for charities.  I am tempted to try CrossFit because she made it sound like a blast but I'm terrified of pushups so I think I'd probably die.

If you want to feel really tiny, take a picture with FCA Tampa staff.  You turn into a shrimp.



I love these people so much.  They listened to me complain about how hungry, thirsty, tired, and sore I was all morning.