Five Pounds in 24 Hours?

My weight's crept up.

While not exercising.

I hurt my calf while running--not enough warming up, no doubt.

Then I had a cold.

Counting calories, I sometimes was above 3000 in a day.

Too much.

My weight crept from 145 to 148.

Did you know that some online sites say the ideal weight for my height is 135 pounds?

I'm a stick at 135 pounds.

This page says most people my height and age weigh around 145, but then do I want to be most people?

This bizarre thing says that for white men my age I'm in something like the 10th percentile--meaning 90% of people weigh more, it seems.

This one says my BMI (22.7) is 15th percentile for men my height and age.

So I ran for two hours yesterday: from 24th and Potrero to Fisherman's Wharf--and back.

Usually I just run down there, then run a bit more on the Embarcadero, then take a train home.

Today I weighed five pounds less: from 148 to 143.

Yes, well I did run about 12 or 14 miles.

I'm sure it's "all water"--whatever that means.

The trouble is: I want to exercise and then eat all I like.

But apparently I can't.

So how many calories do I burn by running for two hours?

No one can tell me!

Or they do tell me, but the answers vary wildly.

I ate about 3000 calories yesterday--quite moderate really for that amount of exercise.

Getting my heart from 140 to 155 beats per minute for an hour (at my weight) may burn between 600 and 1000 calories. That's some latitude.

So in two hours I either burned 1200 or 2000 calories.

Subtracted from the 3000 I ate, that means I had either 1000 or 1800 calories.

Who knows.

The good thing is: I came home from running and had a salad with tuna and some few cookies. I snacked some more--soup, fruit, popcorn.

But not a quesadilla with steak.

Exercise is not a Get Out of Diet Jail for Free card.

How much an I indulge?

Time and experience will tell.

Is that steak quesadilla 1500 calories? Or 30000?

I may never know.

But I'm back to running, and that is all to the good.

--E. R. O'Neill

What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

This is brilliant.

It just shows what 200 calories of various foods looks like.

As you'd imagine, that's a lot of broccoli.

It's a small-ish bowl of chili.

It's three big eggs.

It's half a burger.

It's 2/3 of a muffin.

It's a mere handful of gummy bears.

It's a couple small pieces of bacon.

It's that simple!

--E. R. O'Neill