Rain, cold and calorie burns

So the weather has turned on us. No longer do we have those wonderful warm sunny days. Now we have to contend with the regular, usual, mundane Vancouver rain.

Of course the rainfall that we had earlier this week was definitely exciting as we have never seen a such a torrential downpour in a very long time. In addition to the rain, we also have to contend with the cool temperatures. The cool temperatures and the wetness do pose a challenge when I do my 1 hour and 15 minute walks, but in some ways the change in weather has helped with my workouts. As it is colder and wetter, I am more inclined to walk faster, so I am getting more of a cardio work out. With the increased pace, I am slowly getting to a point where I am covering the same distance in an hour instead of 1 hour and 15 minutes.

My reasons for walking fast is two-fold. First of all, the faster I walk, the faster I can get back inside where it warm. Second of all, walking fast, allows me to keep warm while I’m out in the cold. It’s a total win-win situation.

Now that I’m working out in cooler weather, I now have to wear different clothes. I have traded in my T-shirt for a nice fleece. Whenever I go for my workout I always make sure that I wear a jacket with a hoodie. This way if my ears get cold, I can just pull the hood over my head. As for the rain, well, I’ll have to see how it goes. I am really not a big fan of being wet, so I’m not really sure what I will do if it is pouring down rain. May be I’ll take an umbrella or I’ll decide to do some treadmill or elliptical work in the gym.

I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

The true motivator for continuing the walking workouts is that it is a good way to de-stress after work and I find it to be much more painless than going to the gym and doing something intense. In addition, it gets me outside into the crisp air and I will admit, I do like the crispiness of autumn, especially after sitting in an office most of the day.

I know that people often wonder just how much calories can be burned from just doing something as low impact as easy as walking. If you’re wondering, check out this calorie calculator at: http://www.internetfitness.com/calculators/calburncalc.htm.

I do not make any claims on how accurately this website calculates calorie burn, but it does cause you to think a little bit more about the activities you do on a daily basis. The activities that they have listed include gym activities, training activities and daily life activities such as raking the lawn, gardening and even sex!

So check out the website and let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing all of your comments.