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The growing obesity rate of Americans is one of the items that struck me in Trek Bicycle boss John Burke's slideshow to other bicycle makers the other day.
Burke showed a series of slides, represented at right, showing the increase and geographical range of obesity rates among adults Americans in the past 15 years.
If you're in the obesity range — 30 pounds overweight for a 5-foot-4 adult — or you want to hold your weight steady, you might be interested to check out a calorie calculator that estimates how many calories are burned by different activities.
For instance, I discovered that one hour of cycling at 12-14 mph burns 594 calories, while one hour of blogging (writing) burns 72 calories.
Calorie calculator
The Health Status website's calorie calculator compares the rate of burned calories for more than 2 dozen activities, computed by weight.
Here's a comparison of cycling activities computed for my weight (150 pounds):
Bicycling (leisure) — 270 calories/hour
Bicycling (mountain) — 576
Bicycling (12-14 mph) — 594
Bicycling (14-16) — 720
Just for comparison, I burn 144 calories to drive a car for an hour.
Checking out the Daily Energy Expenditure for my age, height, gender and weight, I learn that I need about 2,100 calories a day maintain my weight. To lose a pound (not necessary in my case), I must burn 3,000 to 3,500 more calories than I take in; vice versa to gain a pound.
I figure we're all cyclists, so we know that riding makes us fit and keeps those extra pounds in check and prevents us from joining 34% of Americans who are overweight. We just need to do it.
Little changes
Losing weight by bicycling can be done. I know it's an extreme case, but remember Morton and Priscilla Houlistan, who are bicycling around the US to lose weight? In the first month and a half, Priscilla dropped 47 pounds, going from 343 pounds to 296. Husband Morton went from went 199 to 183 pounds.
The couple, who have traveled from Key West to Williamsburg, Va., so far, will post their May 11 weigh-in on their Little Changes. Just comparing photos of the couple as their trip progresses, I'd expect a huge loss.
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