Oh, the Burn...

I wear a Body Bugg on my arm. It is a nifty device that tells me with great accuracy how many calories I burn  when I work out, when I am sitting, even when I am sleeping. It is state of the art and helps me to know how efficient my workouts are and also how many calories I can safely consume.

In an hour's workout, I generally burn between 400- 800 calories, depending on what I am doing. Every mile I run uses about 120 calories. (And did you know a single Oreo is 70 calories?!) I also think it is interesting to see the calories I burn doing the everyday, ordinary things, like:

1. Getting into the strange gown with three arm holes at the doctor's office. Who invented this? The struggle,  which at one point trapped me with both arms ramrod straight above my head and the rest of the gown garroting my neck, produces a nice little burn of 37 calories.

2. Shaking things up in a student's world. Because it becomes boring to just TELL students not to run on the sidewalk, I like to occasionally jumble things up by turning and running side by side with them. It not only shocks them into a dead standstill, but  also burns off another 18 calories for me.

3. Doing the chicken dance- the real thing. I'm not talking the go-to staple of wedding receptions. I'm referring to the little dance I do with the real chickens outside when they ruffle their wings as they see me coming and hop in excitement from pointy- toed foot to pointy- toed foot. I join in and they seem to enjoy it as much as I do.  (I do acknowledge I am weird.) Plus I torch another 22 calories.

4. Helping a wheelchair bound woman in the grocery store reach something on the highest shelf. When this upsets the haphazard stocking system and cake mix boxes cascade onto my head before tumbling onto the floor, the resulting pick up time zaps another 13 calories.

5. Skidding across the freshly mopped floor in the dressing room at the gym (because I'm too impatient to wait). The slide and resulting gambol in front of shocked faces to maintain balance and whatever is left of my dignity also burns seven calories.

6. The stopping and restarting of my heart when I unknowingly stand with my back very close to the starter's gun at a track meet. For the resulting cardiac upheaval it seems like it should be more, but still, four calories burned is four calories gone.

What are your big calorie burns of the day?