YANKEES I KNOW. WHAT ARE METS?

The Yankees, I know.  I have been a fan since I was 10 years old, maybe even earlier.  Mickey Mantle was still on the team when I started paying attention.  And he wasn't the DH, as that ridiculous idea hadn't been invented yet.

The Mets, I know (and have always 'hated')   

But until recently, I had not noticed the word, 'mets' on exercise equipment.  The explanation is very technical and I have simply reproduced an entry from wikipedia.com to offer a definition.

• Scope of usage of the MET concept 

• MET (Metabolic Equivalent): The ratio of the work metabolic rate to the resting metabolic rate. One MET is defined as 1 kcal/kg/hour and is roughly equivalent to the energy cost of sitting quietly. A MET also is defined as oxygen uptake in ml/kg/min with one MET equal to the oxygen cost of sitting quietly, equivalent to 3.5 ml/kg/min. 

• Moreover MET is used to provide general medical thresholds and guidelines to a population.A MET is the ratio of the rate of energy expended during an activity to the rate of energy expended at rest. For example, 1 MET is the rate of energy expenditure while at rest. A 4 MET activity expends 4 times the energy used by the body at rest. If a person does a 4 MET activity for 30 minutes, he or she has done 4 x 30 = 120 MET-minutes (or 2.0 MET-hours) of physical activity. A person could also achieve 120 MET-minutes by doing an 8 MET activity for 15 minutes.

• Physical activity	MET
  Light intensity activities	< 3
  sleeping	0.9
  watching television	1.0
  writing, desk work, typing	1.8
  walking, 1.7 mph (2.7 km/h), level ground, strolling, very slow	2.3
  walking, 2.5 mph (4 km/h)	2.9
  Moderate intensity activities	3 to 6
  bicycling, stationary, 50 watts, very light effort	3.0
  walking 3.0 mph (4.8 km/h)	3.3
  calisthenics, home exercise, light or moderate effort, general	3.5
  walking 3.4 mph (5.5 km/h)	3.6
  bicycling, <10 mph (16 km/h), leisure, to work or for pleasure	4.0
  bicycling, stationary, 100 watts, light effort	5.5
  sexual activity	5.8
  Vigorous intensity activities	> 6
  jogging, general	7.0
  calisthenics (e.g. pushups, situps, pullups,jumping jacks), heavy, vigorous effort	8.0
  running jogging, in place	8.0
  rope jumping	10.0

As I understand this information, watching TV has the equivalent MET (Metabolic Equivalent) of 1.0.  Bicycling on a stationary bike with very light effort has a MET of 3.0.  The body needs three times the energy for biking as TV watching.  However, it could also be said that WATCHING TV FOR 3 HOURS would equal the energy needed to bike (lightly) for one hour.  JOGGING REQUIRES 8 TIMES the energy than TV watching.  However, if one could watch TV for 8 hours, one would use the same energy as a one hour jog.

CONCLUSION:  Although many of us use exercise to assist in weight loss, as we know that vigorous exercise will burn calories - SIMPLY LIVING BURNS CALORIES TOO.  This should not be a surprise as for many people that hardly exercise at all - we still burn nearly 2000 calories per day.

RIDICULOUS CONCLUSION:  You could watch one season of '24' and really burn some calories. Each episode without commercials runs about 42 minutes.  There are 24 episodes x 42 minutes/episode which is 1008 minutes.  This translates to about 17 hours.  So, if you sat on your couch and watched one complete season of '24' you would 'burn' even more calories than you would doing TWO HOURS OF VIGOROUS CALISTHENICS.  A 17 hour TV watching marathon would be a very dubious achievement. It doesn't really seem very practical.  Especially as a weight loss idea, as most of those 17 hours of TV watching would likely be augmented  by 17 hours of  TV SNACKING!  It's probably just best to burn some extra calories doing an actual physical activity.

Sit down, watch an entire season, 24 episodes of '24'  (17 hours) and you will burn even more calories than you would doing TWO HOURS OF VIGOROUS CALISTHENICS.  (NOT VERY PRACTICAL)

THURSDAY MENU

breakfast    apple & hard-boiled egg                                                              158 calories
lunch          Panera Soba Noodle Bowl w/Chicken                                         390 calories
dinner         two salmon burgers, spinach salad w/balsamic, pumpkin soup  372 calories

total calories consumed 921 calories

calories burned
6AM LaQuinta StarTrac Elliptical 30 minutes    310 calories
6PM  Home StarTrac Elliptical 31 minutes         420 calories

total calories burned 730 calories

net caloric consumption 191 CALORIES

...and one more thing...

Here is something else somewhat confusing.  I was very happy to discover the same brand of elliptical machine at the hotel I had stayed at the last two nights.  I set the machine with precisely the same settings that I do at home.  I was disappointed that in both of the two workouts on that machine I was only able to log a 310 calorie workout.  It seemed odd to me.  When I returned  home yesterday for my early evening session on the elliptical I was able to last for 31 minutes and log 420 CALORIES.  The question that I have for myself is this:  Why such a discrepancy between two machines with the same settings?   HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE?  

Tomorrow,  Saturday,  is the day that I look forward to with tremendous anticipation.  I only weigh myself once per week.  It is very exciting and gratifying to get a numeric value for my efforts the week before.  Basically it is my version of  'report card' day.   Unlike in school when my report card was not always reflective of my potential,  I have prepared well.  I am expecting a good grade.  


SEE YOU TOMORROW!