August 12, 2004
I just looked it up, and a person my size burns about 900 Calories in an hour of swimming. So that Blizzard I like to treat myself to from time to time is gone by the time I get done swimming. That's good to know, I suppose.
I looked up some other sports, and found a few surprises. Dancing (that's a sport?) surprised me with how little energy it expends -- trying to dance for ten minutes leaves me more tired than an hour of swimming. Golf lists rates that include walking with your bag instead of hopping in the cart (you know, the way they did it before they invented civilization). Water skiing seems odd -- it must be harder to hold onto the ropes and stay balanced than I think it is -- but the one that got me was bowling. Bowling. The "sport" where you spend at least half your time sitting on your ass and drinking beer. How on earth is bowling going to burn 200+ Calories/hour in someone my size?
