Here’s How Long You Need To Walk To Burn Off Your Favourite Foods

If these stats don’t inspire you to make healthier choices, we’re not sure what will!

Many committed exercisers assume that regularly indulging in desserts or fried food won’t expand their waistline. They’re burning off a tonne of kilojoules during their workouts, after all.

While that may be true for marathon runners or professional athletes, that’s actually not the case for walkers. While your daily walk may do a world of good for nearly all of your vital organs, it doesn’t burn as many kilojoules as other forms of exercise, which means your diet choices are still important for weight maintenance.

Don’t believe it? Here’s how long it would take a 75kg, 35-year-old woman to walk off a variety of popular foods and drinks. If these stats don’t inspire you to make healthier choices, we’re not sure what will!

When you sit down to breakfast

Stick to this: 1 cup Fibre One cereal = 500 kilojoules

Skip that: 1 cup of granola = 2,500 kilojoules

Granola may seem healthy, but it’s a total sugar bomb, packing 2,500 kilojoules per cup! Swap it out for a wholesome, low-sugar cereal, and you’ll only have to walk 24 minutes to burn off your breakfast instead of 2 hours.

At a cafe

Stick to this: 750mL unsweetened iced coffee = 20 kiljoules

Skip that: 600mL vanilla latte = 1,712 kilojoules

Ditch the sugary flavour syrups and milk to save 1,700 kilojoules and an hour and 18 minutes of exercises. You’d need to walk for an hour and 22 minutes to “undo” the grande mocha, while it takes just one minute to work off a similar size iced coffee.

At the fast food joint

Stick to this: Medium order of hot chips = 1,686 kilojoules

Skip that: Medium order of onion rings = 2,255 kilojoules

Fried food shouldn’t be your go-to appetiser or side dish, but when you do decide to indulge, opt for the hot chips. You’ll only have to walk for an hour and 21 minutes to undo a typical, medium-sized order. Onion rings, on the other hand, require you to move for nearly 2 hours.

During dessert

Stick to this: Apple = 95 calories

Skip that: Chocolate chip cookies = 397 kiljoules

Save the cookies for special occasions and make a piece of fruit your daily sweet indulgence. It only takes 19 minutes to walk off a medium apple, while you’d need to spend 47 minutes strolling to work off three medium sized cookies.

Sourced from Prevention Australia