Makin' it count

Some of you know that my wife and I have recently started a health and fitness program called Ninja Fingers. You can check out the blog at www.ninja-fingers.blogspot.com. As a result of doing this program, I have had to change some of my daily habits, especially when it comes to drinking. As an example, here is a typical day for a wine salesman:

Go around and see accounts, tasting them on wine- normally you taste with them, and very few spit. Over the course of a 6 or 8 hour day, it's easy to consume two glasses of wine.

Stop by an account at the end of the day, and have a beer or two.

Go home, while eating dinner, you notice that you have a couple of sample bottles open and have a glass of wine with dinner.

After dinner, you are sitting there watching TV, and the bottle is still partially full- you aren't going to take the same sample around tomorrow, and it would be wasteful to dump it out, so you finish it, having another glass.

Using the following list, you can determine roughly how many calories are in typical drinks. Remember, if you are into hard alcohol, the mixers very quickly add a lot of calories, especially coke, tonic water, or margarita mix!

Wine: About 100 Calories per glass
Rum/Vodka/Gin- About 65 calories per ounce
Bourbon/scotch/whiskey- about 100 calories per ounce
Regular beer- ranges from 200-400 calories per pint
Light beer (if you can actually drink it)- 100-150 calories per pint

If you run the "typical day" through the calories posted, it is easy to see that a salesman might consume an extra 800 calories per day, just from their drinks!

This obviously is a far-fetched example, as most people (including myself) don't do each of those things every work day. However, I have found that by simply spitting during the day, skipping the after-work beer, and only having a glass of wine with dinner, I have saved myself quite a bit of caloric intake. As a result of cutting back during the day, a healthier diet, and some moderate exercise, I have lost 25 lbs in the last two months, and feel great.

Just something to think about. I appreciate all of my readers, and want to keep you alive, so you can keep reading!

Cheers!