How Much Foie Gras…
Nov 4, 2007 general food, health
This is completely random, but while I was out running today I was thinking about how horribly high in fat and as a result calories a lot of gourmet foods are. Specifically I was thinking of foie gras — something that has to be towards the top — and just how many pounds of foie I could consume if I went on the all foie gras diet.
When I got home I realized that my total yearly running mileage after today’s run is exactly 2200 miles — exactly 50 miles per week on average.
So with a convenient number to multiply by, I turned to this Runner’s World article which is generally considered to be one of the most accurate in regards to calories burned walking/running for my baseline.
It’s actually a great article and one worth mentioning. A lot of people think that the number of calories you burn running and walking are precisely the same, but that’s actually not the case. While walking a few miles is obviously better than nothing, studies show that effort does, in fact, matter.
I bring it up because people will see some astronomical figure when they use a treadmill, elliptical machine, etc. and think they’ve burned that many calories. The reality is that they didn’t burn as many calories as the machine said they did as the simple act of you just sitting their reading this burns some calories. What you see on those machines is gross calorie loss, and what you need to concern yourself with in weight loss, or simply maintaining weight, is net calorie loss.
Basically the article says you burn ~ .63 x weight per mile of running vs .30 x weight per mile of walking.
One of the most disappointing things in all of this is that the more you do any activity, the more efficient your body becomes, and as a result, you don’t actually burn as many calories as you once did — so you have to go even further or longer.
But anyway, at the end of the day, my personal net burn per mile is about 100 calories.
So, just how much foie gras will I get to consume on the all foie diet?
At 130 calories per ounce, I can eat 105 pounds. Awesome!
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