Burn It Off: How Many Jumping Jacks to Undo a Halloween Candy Binge?
By: Nicole Nichols,
SparkPeople Blogger
11/4/2008 12:04 PM : 66 comments
Halloween may be over, but its sweet treats aren't going anywhere for a while. From your child's bucket of loot to the overflowing bowl of goodies on your desk at work, the temptation doesn't end just because October is behind us. Ninety percent of you say that Halloween candy is tempting, according to one SparkPeople.com poll, and about one-quarter of health-minded adults admit to eating at least 10 pieces of fun-size candy, according to a recent poll on FitSugar.com. It's easy to get carried away with these fun-size, which can trick you into thinking they're low in calories just because they're small. One turns into two, then four, and before you know it, you've eaten 10 or more bite-size candies in a single day! How much damage could 10 tiny treats really do? Find out how many minutes of jumping rope you'd have log to undo a Halloween candy binge.
Of course, it will depend on the specific candy you eat, but let's go with a variety of choices for this experiment. Our 10 total pieces will include one fun size version of each of the following: Reese's Cups (40 calories, 2.5g fat), Snickers (45 calories, 2g fat), Kit Kat (50 calories, 2.5g fat), Whoppers (60 calories, 2.5g fat), Skittles (80 calories, 1g fat), Peanut M&M's (110 calories, 5g fat), candy corn (140 calories, 0g fat), Butterfinger (100 calories, 4g fat), Pay Day (90 calories, 5g fat), and one Tootsie Roll Pop (60 calories, 0g fat) for a grand total of 775 calories and 24.5g fat.
According to SparkPeople.com's Fitness Tracker, a 150-pound woman who performs jumping jacks (at a rate of about one per second) will burn 10 calories per minute. To burn off these 10 pieces of Halloween candy, you'd have to perform vigorous jumping jacks for 1 hour and 18 minutes, which is equal to 4,650 jumping jacks!
Those little candies add up fast. You may not have eaten 10 in a single day, but over the course of a few days, it's possible that many of us have. So next time you are facing temptation, just think about doing jumping jacks until you can barely move and you may be more inspired to do something else with that Halloween candy.
How much candy do you think you've eaten over the last few weeks? Knowing what it takes to burn off a few pieces of candy, will you think twice before you bite next time?
Of course, it will depend on the specific candy you eat, but let's go with a variety of choices for this experiment. Our 10 total pieces will include one fun size version of each of the following: Reese's Cups (40 calories, 2.5g fat), Snickers (45 calories, 2g fat), Kit Kat (50 calories, 2.5g fat), Whoppers (60 calories, 2.5g fat), Skittles (80 calories, 1g fat), Peanut M&M's (110 calories, 5g fat), candy corn (140 calories, 0g fat), Butterfinger (100 calories, 4g fat), Pay Day (90 calories, 5g fat), and one Tootsie Roll Pop (60 calories, 0g fat) for a grand total of 775 calories and 24.5g fat.
According to SparkPeople.com's Fitness Tracker, a 150-pound woman who performs jumping jacks (at a rate of about one per second) will burn 10 calories per minute. To burn off these 10 pieces of Halloween candy, you'd have to perform vigorous jumping jacks for 1 hour and 18 minutes, which is equal to 4,650 jumping jacks!
Those little candies add up fast. You may not have eaten 10 in a single day, but over the course of a few days, it's possible that many of us have. So next time you are facing temptation, just think about doing jumping jacks until you can barely move and you may be more inspired to do something else with that Halloween candy.
How much candy do you think you've eaten over the last few weeks? Knowing what it takes to burn off a few pieces of candy, will you think twice before you bite next time?
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Comments
When I look at tempting food now, I guessstimate the calories and think how long I'd be running or spinning to burn it off. The VAST majority of the time, the muffin, candy or fancy drink is NOT worth the extra workout! LOL!
I can gobble up a massive amount of peanut M&Ms in 20 minutes that would take a solid 60-70 minutes or more of flat-out running! No thanks! - 10/29/2010 8:14:21 AM
swedish fish are my kryptonite...i'm not buying those for our trick-or-treat bowl! ;) - 9/16/2009 10:49:30 AM
no jumping jacks needed here! - 11/5/2008 4:41:54 PM
For Halloween this year I bought treats I wouldn't feel like snacking on. I gave out small change and chocolate covered raisins. I had a rough idea of how many kids would visit, and made sure I gave everything away! - 11/5/2008 3:22:18 AM
- 11/4/2008 4:59:51 PM
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