... If You've Exercised. At all.

You might not be surprised to learn that calories don't count if you've participated in any exercise at all during the course of the day. In fact, most of the time, just thinking about exercising burns enough calories to make up for your third go at the bagel bag on Office Bagel Friday.

Exercise is as mental as it is physical. Think about it- no one LIKES to exercise. The people who say they do are either lying or overwhelmingly annoying. Either way, they're not normal and no one likes to be around them. The rest of us have to spend a lot of time mentally preparing to force ourselves off of the couch and away from the box of cereal we started eating while watching a Top Chef marathon. That mental work out begins the calorie burn immediately and has big calorie effects.

After you've thought about maybe exercising at some point in the future, the calorie burn of any and all movement that follows is multiplied exponentially. This is because thinking about exercise sends chemical signals from your brain to your muscles. In order to prepare for the work they'll soon have to do, you muscles then begin burning calories right away as a warm up. When you actually do start working out, even the slightest movements can burn massive amounts of calories. In order to gauge how much exercise you are actually getting on a daily basis, please see the following definition.

ex·er·cise

/ˈɛksərˌsaɪz/ Show Spell[ek-ser-sahyz]  noun, verb, -cised, -cis·ing.

1. bodily or mental exertion, esp. for the sake of training or improvement of health, including but not limited to:

       a. walking to and from the bathroom

       b. opening the fridge and or kitchen cabinets

       c. walking up stairs

       d. standing and pushing buttons in an elevator

       e. walking to your car

       f. taking out the trash

       g. shopping

       h. making breakfast/lunch/dinner

       i. sitting upright

2.

something done or performed as a means of practice or training: exercises for the piano, exercises in TV watching, exercises in making the perfect cup of tea.

3.

to use or display in one's action or procedure: to exercise judgment. (Be sure and judge everyone around you all the time- it burns calories!)

4.

to make use of (one's privileges, powers, etc.): to exercise one's constitutional rights, one's right to party, etc.