How I burned 650 calories after Christmas

At Christmas Eve, I received several text messages from fellow runners wishing me and my family the best for the season. One text message came with a reminder though.

“An average noche buena is 1500 calories. You have to run about 15KMs to burn it out. Ha Ha. Have a great Christmas and many more running years to come. Make running a way of life.”

I am not sure if I packed 1500 calories during the noche buena. Probably close after eating roast chicken, beef stew, ice cream, brownies and sandwiches. Whatever the number was, I just wanted to burn them out.  But I was not able to run the following day, December 25. Instead, I found time to run the day after Christmas.

Based on the advice, 15K was the target. Unfortunately, I can’t run that far yet and my schedule is just for a short run. I did a 6K today.  Not enough and I still have those calories from Christmas.

Fortunately, burning calories did not end after the run. Another oppurtunity came when Quennie was about to leave for the office. I have just freshen up and still high after my morning run.

Gab keeps crying whenever Quennie puts him back on the bed after feeding him. After several tries of putting Gab to bed, Quennie handed Gab to me.

“Gab still wants to sleep but doesn’t like to be placed on the bed. Don’t put him down.”  With that, Quennie gave me a kiss and left.  And here’s the chance to burn more calories.

Here’s summary of how much calories I burned a day after Christmas.

Running – 360 calories. At least, that is what my running watch says. This is usually based on age, weight and duration of the run. It doesn’t include the actual effort or heart rate which is a more accurate measurement. But burning 360 calories is good.

Carrying Gab – 200 calories. Gab surely wanted to sleep more. He slept for 1 hour and 30 minutes. I was standing the whole time with Gab’s head resting on my shoulder. And he is about 10 kilos already. It’s a PR!

Singing While Carrying Gab – 40 calories. The only way for Gab to sleep while I carry him is to play the song Count on Me by Bruno Mars over and over and over. I I While I don’t think that singing consumes a lot of effort, try singing the same song for 90 minutes and I’m sure I have burned some calories in the process.

Rocking while singing while carrying Gab – 50 calories. I can’t just stand still. I have to move around when I carry Gab to sleep. And he loves being rocked. This is where my dancing skills gets into good use.  I just want to mention that my legs were getting wobbly after the first 60 minutes.  I need more core exercises.

So there you go. 650 calories burned today. I am still short by hundreds of calories. So this means I have to run 6Ks and carry Gab for 90 mins for the entire week.

Hmmm… I think I’d just follow the first advice and run that 15K instead.

Happy Holidays.  😀