It's The Little Things That Count

It’s the little things that count.  This very true expression can be applied to more than just appreciating the little things in life.  What if we applied that theory to our health by replacing one small bad snack with one healthy snack and/or take small fractions of time and dedicate it to our health?

One of my favorite snacks is Crunchy Cheetos.   In a single snack size 1 oz bag of Cheetos there are 160 calories and 10 grams of fat.  If I swapped the Cheetos out for Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop Mini Bags it is only 110 calories and 2 grams of fat for 6.5 cups of delicious kettle corn or buttery popcorn, your choice.  Let me repeat… 6 ½ cups!!!!!!

So saving 50 calories might not appear all the much, but humor me for a second while I do the math.  If I decided to do a similar 50 calorie saving swap once a day I’d be saving my body from consuming a startling 18,250 calories in a year which equates to an over 5 lbs weight loss.

My father is a Coca-Cola addict.  He typically drinks two to three 20oz bottles a day at 240 calories each bottle.  Our family finally got him to switch to Diet Coke.  Within 2 months he has dropped 10 pounds. 

Now what if we added in a minute of exercise in to the mix?  I recently started participating in the #plankaday movement with @DrSherryPagoto and @mbfgmike on twitter.  For those who are not familiar with it you simply take one minute out of the day to work your core and do a plank.  Once you are done you tweet your accomplishment with the hashmark #plankaday.  If you don’t tweet to verify your accomplishment the tweet police (@mbfgmike) will call you out on your slacking.  Even if you don’t use twitter, the idea is amazing.  60 seconds a day to dedicate working on your core.  You don’t need equipment, large amount of space, or a even large about of time.  You just need to spare 60 seconds and your body (your arms might appreciate the softness of carpet or a mat but it is not required). 

Today they have an International 12-HR #plankaday challenge (for those up for it).  Due to my foolishness of never backing down from challenges I accepted.  So, once an hour for twelve hours straight I will take time to do a plank.  Truthfully, I’m not sure my core can handle twelve 60 second planks so instead of compromising form I am going to go for eleven 30 second planks and one final full minute plank for the twelfth and final hour. 

I think their idea is amazing.  I hope it starts another planking revolution to replace the one that is currently sweeping the internet.  I challenge all my readers to join in.  Even if you do not want to tweet about your plank I ask that you dedicate a literal minute of your day to your body. 

Follow my planks on twitter @hungrylilhippo