You can also enter your exercise and see how many calories you burn.
I love this feature of it, because it reminds me that I can't just work out and eat whatever I want, because the bad news about working out is that even though it's really awesome and good for you, it doesn't actually burn that many calories. My half hour runs are basically one cookie. Stupid.
And if you're wondering if my half hour runs burn the exact same amount of calories as work does, you would be right. Seriously. I entered in "Sitting--Light Office Work," for 480 minutes, and the government told me that burns 368 calories, exactly the same amount as "Running--5.2 mph," for 30 minutes. Isn't that crazy? So basically, instead of going running, I could just come home and sit at my computer for 8 hours and burn the same amount of calories. So I'll probably start that up. JK, MOM. (Because remember how on the phone today you were like, Yes! Working out is so much faster at calorie burning than sitting! And I was like, Yeah!)
Speaking of half hour runs, which I usually do, today I ran for one full hour and never stopped, something I haven't done since last May. Go me!
But the point is this: the most wondrous feature that mypyramid.gov has to offer is indeed the physical activity entry page.
Please, all of you, go to the website and register just so you can check it out. You will not be disappointed.
I understand that the premise of this is to get really specific, so you can choose exactly what activity you did. But . . .
There's a section called "Home Activities," so I clicked on it to see what kind of stuff they have, thinking, yeah, I would like to get credit for the calories I burn while vacuuming. But here are some of the activities you can select:
- Building a fire inside
- Cooking Indian bread on an outside stove--What on earth does that mean?
- Maple Syruping/Sugar Bushing--only people in New Hampshire get this one, I guess.
- Reclining with Baby
- Standing--Bathing Dog
- Walk/Run--playing with animals
- Walk/Run--playing with children--they need to know who was there when you walked or maybe ran.
- And, my personal favorite--BUTCHERING ANIMALS. First of all, how many people are really butchering their own animals? Dwight Schrute? Second of all, are those people really wondering how many calories it burned? Really? I can't get over that.
Here are some other gems:
From the Religious Activities section
- Eating at Church (because it's holier than eating at home, and therefore more exerting)
- Praise with, spiritual dancing in Church/Run (this just makes no sense)
- Sitting, reading religious materials at home. (See eating at Church)
- They also have 4 different options for walking speeds at Church.
From the Self Care section
- Having hair or nails done by someone else, sitting
- Taking medication, standing or sitting
- SITTING ON TOILET--I am so serious. That is one of the options. You better believe I put myself down for 10 minutes.
From Dancing (I realize it's just a typo, but it's funny)
- Ballet or Modem, Twist, Jazz, Tap, Jitterbug
From Transportation:
- Flying an Airplane
- Riding a Bus
- Pushing a Plane in and out of Hangar
From Miscellaneous
- Standing--Drawing (Writing), Casino Gambling --WHAT?
- Retreat/Family Reunion Activities--so like hanging out and telling stories? I don't get that.
Also, there are categories called Inactivity Light, AND Inactivity, Quiet. From the quiet one:
- Lying quietly, doing nothing, listening to music
- Lying quietly, watching television
- Sitting quietly and watching television
- Sitting quietly/Smoking, listening to music. SMOKING? Seriously?
And we'll end this with my favorite one of them all. This is going to knock your socks off.
From Water Activities:
- Canoeing, Harvesting and Knocking Rice Off Stalks
8 comments:
I really liked the planning menu option from the main page. I think it helps more to map out what you will eat the next day rather than being like "oh, what do I eat? Something healthy? Do I have healthy things? Wow, those _insert_unhealthy_thing_here_ sounds good and way easier to grab than thinking of something else." Because that's what I do. Big fan of this government idea. Even if it is just an effort to reduce health spending costs before they skyrocket with congressional ideas.
DUDE.
MYPYRAMID.GOV IS DA SHIZ.
Also, yes, the boys were telling me I had a dead bird on my head because of that headband.
The also had lots of comments on my bangs which they hadn't seen yet.
Most thought the bangs were pretty cool. Some kids like Bryan (who also made the dead bird comment) said things like "Why did you go chop off the front of your hair? It doesn't look very good."
Also, me and Blair decided to color my hair last night. The kids were about half and half on if they liked it or not. A few kids just said, "you don't look that cool." I also had about half a dozen kids ask why I painted my hair.
Also, I'm going to bake some bread outside WHILE washing the dog. So . . . . double calorie burner?
there are no words. this is A-mazing.
I went there, to the pyramid, last year. and I was keeping close track of my calories. but when I put toast, I didn't know if it meant with or without butter? or something like that? so then I added butter. but I didn't know how much butter. I just remember getting flustered.
haven't been there since. but it appears I need to revisit. mostly because I have been knocking rice off stalks lately.
Wow, who thought of all that? I am not sure but if it is from a .gov website I am pretty sure we all paid them to do that. Amazing stuff.
I enjoyed reading that. I looked at it and thought to myself, I'll just read the beginning, but then I read it all because it was so amazing. Why are they such RANDOM things? You'd think the common, everyday activities would be on there, but no they've got weird stuff going on.
Holy wonderful. I will have to start using this. The options are endless and incredible.
I just have to say I am laughing out loud right now and almost snorted Ben & Jerry's out my nose. I am so on my way to check that site out!
I agree with Shel. I thought oh this might be mildly amusing...ummm I laughed out loud thrice to be precise. Yes that rhymed. What about sining and dancing with a child while wearing a princes dress, talking on the phone, and trying to cook. How many calories would you give that?
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