Anyway, everyday I am regaled with trivial facts about random things. Apparently today Uncle John was in the mood for romance. Two of the seemingly pointless facts I learned are:
"Mating soapberry bugs remain locked in embrace for up to 11 days, which exceeds the life span of many other insects."
"You burn 26 calories with a one-minute kiss."Since it has been forever since I've seen Chris and I know this is something he would enjoy, I have decided to figure out how many calories I would burn if I kissed someone for 11 days. Math-minded friends, I will even show you my work. Please correct me if I am wrong. (And please let me clarify, I meant that Chris would enjoy helping me solve the mathematical problem, not the 11 days of kissing.)
So to start it's 26 calories/1 min
60 min/hr x 24 hr/day = 1440 min/day
1440 min/day x 11 days = 15,840 minutes in 11 days
15,840 min/11 day x 26 cal/min = (drumroll please)
411,840 CALORIES IN ELEVEN DAYS!!
Now, for the sake of arguement, let's say you need to sleep for 8 hours a day and let's take another hour off for quick food and bathroom breaks. If my calculations are correct you would still burn 257,400 calories during those 11 days. Using an nice guesstimate of how many calories a girl like me could burn while running (approximately 472 per hour), it would take me over 545 hours of running to burn the same amount of calories. THAT'S LONGER!! That's like 36 days if you include the same breaks! And between you and me, running for 15 hours a day does not sound all that appealing.
So I guess the moral of the story is twofold. First, the next time you want to loose a few pounds, just find someone who really likes to kiss. And second, the soapberry bug must be incredibly fit.
7 comments:
You have a wonderfully unique mind.
Thanks for making me smile.
Of course, the huge cost of lipbalm after the 11 days might make the calorie loss seem secondary.
I'm rather skeptical about these values. I checked out a number of other websites, which suggests the value given for an hour of running is low (derived from your values, other sources give anywhere from 550 to 720 calories per hour burned running/jogging at 5 mph.)
Kissing, on the other hand, is generally considered to burn anywhere from 1 to 5 calories per minute.
Some of the sources I used (using the sample bodyweight of 130 lbs., from the website you linked):
http://www.healthstatus.com/cbc.html - gives values of 8 calories per minute (cpm) for running at 5 mph, and 1 cpm for foreplay (no kissing listed on this site).
http://www.preventdisease.com/healthtools/articles/various_activities.html - lists cpm burned by jogging (9.75) and kissing (1.04).
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html - gives 8 cpm for 5 mph run, 1 cpm for kissing, and, incidentally, 1 cpm for kneeling in prayer.
So, on average, it would seem that you burn 8 times as much calories running as you do kissing. Anyone want to come for a run with me? Not that I'd complain if someone wanted to try to prove me wrong with some kissing... :P
Jen - thank you and you are welcome
May-b - I hadn't thought of that
Matt - Well I just have trouble believing that Uncle John could be so off with his estimate but I suppose it's possible. And the cpm from running very much depends on how fast you run which is why I said "a girl like me". You would burn a lot more calories running then I could.
I suppose there is only one way to find out. A field study. We're gonna need a scale, some running shoes, some lip balm, several sets of couples who can get two weeks off of work...
Well, in all cases I was using the figures listed for running at 5 mph, which is what you were using for your calculations, as far as I can tell. I would burn more calories than you because I weigh more, and am typically running between 7.5 and 10 mph.
Given that all of the other sources I've seen are an order of magnitude different from that in your book, I'd be inclined to think that Uncle John is out to lunch.
See what happens when you bring running into it? I just can't stay away. This also might explain why I don't have a girlfriend...
(With a pretend stern voice) You'd better just mean that Chris is going to help you with the math!
:)
Oh Julia! I was starting to doubt Uncle John and you have restored my belief. I was running away the other day and while huffing and puffing I thought "It would be so much easier to just kiss someone right now".
If I someday set up a field study, would you and your husband consider being one of the couples?
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