Question for scientists (or those with nothing better to think about)

[WebMaster]

I was on my rowing machine the other day, and I was a bit hungry; so while I was rowing, I was munching cake. Now I'm not in the least bit overweight, so I row mainly because it's nice to exercise after being sat at a PC all day, not because I'm trying to lose weight.

Well, I was wondering. What speed would I need to row at to maintain equilibrium between the calories i'm burning and the calories I'm consuming in the cake?

Similarly, if I was jogging and eating cake, how fast would I need to run to maintain equilibrium? What if I was eating celery? What if I was eating lard?

[MilkTrayMan]

A very major Variable = An individual's Metabolic Rate...

[WebMaster]

Good point MTM. My rowing machine claims to show calories burned, but I don't really see how it can

[tiglet]

Don't you know the fundamentals of dieting - ANY food eaten when standing up or taking exercise contains no calories - ask any woman

[Hippy-chick]

And it only has calories if somebody else sees you eat it, I was told.

[Spiceskull]

I have to ask...how can you row and eat cake (or anything else for that matter) at the same time? That said...some cake is highly calorific, whilst other cake is less so...

And celery...don't get me started on celery...there is a myth propounded that celery has negative calories, ie, you burn more calories eating it than it contains...this is simply not true, as anyone with half a brain would realise...

However, there is mileage in the argument that eating (moving arm to mouth) chewing and digesting would use as many, if not more, calories than those contained in the celery...

I'll get my anorak on the way out the door...

[WebMaster]

Heh yeah, I'd heard that it was a myth about the celery thing too ... but I assume it's still very low in calories (unless you dip it in butter)

It's quite easy to eat and row at the same time. As I row forward, my hand is just in reach of the table so I can grab a handful of cake as I'm passing.

Maybe I'll write into New Scientist

[tiglet]

Or the Guiness Book of Records.

[WebMaster]

I've done a bit of research (and bearing in mind this is completely unscientific since the figures are so vague). Seems you'd burn around 600 calories per hour on a rowing machine. One of my McVities Ginger Cakes contains around the same number of calories, so one of those per hour would balance out.

If I was eating cake constantly, I figure it'd take perhaps 15 min to demolish one cake (rowing is slower when you're chewing). So I'd need to row four times faster.

The figures for jogging seem to be about the same - around 500-600 calories per hour, for a 150lb man jogging at 8mph. So if I was jogging and eating cake at the same time (which isn't easy), I'd need to run at around 25mph.

A kilogram tub of butter contains around 7,000 calories. If I was eating one tub of butter per hour, I'd need to be 'jogging' at over 80mph to burn of the calories. This is getting a bit silly now.

[MilkTrayMan]

Hmmm...So exercise actually makes people put weight ON??...


...lol...