Opinion
"I’d rather eat something sweet on my outdoor adventures than insects"
by Siri Schubert
Three weeks of pizzas, pasta and burgers: what summer vacation did to my body
4.8.2022
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
Support: Claudio Viecelli
What effect do the summer holidays have on your body? I spent three weeks at the beach instead of the gym – with fast food and lots of desserts instead of counting calories. I’m on the hunt for answers. Spoiler alert: it’s not all that tragic. Although ...
Alas, when the holidays hit, my penchant for overindulgence rears it head. Summer vacation in all its long glory poses an especial challenge.
The starting position
Sun, fun ... the summer holidays truly encompass the concept of dolce far niente. Add to that pizza, pasta, burgers and the like, and the scale is bound to start sounding the alarm. Or is it? I want answers. So, I went ahead and got myself analysed at the ETH Zurich before my vacation.
Back home, I got on my gravel bike once during the week and did a short 20-kilometre lap. I also went to the gym once for a strength training session. For comparison, work schedule and energy level permitting, I go in for four rounds of weight training and two bike rides over the span of eight days. In addition, there’s the odd longer-than-usual dog walk. Hmm, anything else I should add? Oh, yeah – have I mentioned I love being active?
Here’s what I ate
In addition to my usual diet – plenty of protein and veggies or salad, as well as carbs for breakfast or lunch – I ate a bunch extra. Especially in the evenings.
I also ate a bunch of this:
Add to that pizza, pasta, ice cream, red wine and the odd grappa here and there to complement my espresso.
What happened to my body?
On 28 July, I was back in the trenches at Claudio’s. Same procedure as about a month earlier: me, 9 a.m., empty stomach.
A DXA scan will spit out quite a few numbers, including weight, fat mass, and lean muscle mass, divided into the left and right arm, legs and torso. In total, I gained just under 1.2 kilos between the two measurements. Of these – to my amazement – 537 grammes is due to muscle growth, while 614 grammes is due to fat. I didn’t expect my little bit of push-up to generate so much muscle mass. But hey, I’m not complaining!
In the span of the three weeks I spent living life indulgently, I packed on a bit more than half a kilo of fat on my ribs. That doesn’t sound too horrible at face value. And it isn’t. But if you think it through ...
How 600 grammes can turn into eight kilos
One gramme of body fat equals about 7.8 kilocalories x 614 = 4789.2 kcal: 28 days. That comes out to about 170 excess kilocalories per day between measurements. For comparison, that’s about 4 decilitres of beer a day, or just under half a croissant.
If I extrapolate my holiday eating and exercise habits to one whole year, 614 grammes suddenly morph into 8 kilos of fat. In two years, 16 kilos. And so on. I’ll take care of the 614 grammes within a few weeks. But once you get into the extra kilos, it takes significantly longer and is significantly more difficult.
What I’m taking from this experience as a guy in his mid-fifties: running a little riot for a few weeks once a year is okay. But throughout the rest of the year, I’ll be sticking to my disciplined ways.
Patrick Bardelli
Senior Editor
Patrick.Bardelli@digitecgalaxus.chFrom radio journalist to product tester and storyteller, jogger to gravel bike novice and fitness enthusiast with barbells and dumbbells. I'm excited to see where the journey'll take me next.
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