What Does it Take to Burn 5 Billion Calories?

By , SparkPeople Blogger
We've always known that SparkPeople members are pretty amazing. They're so positive, helpful, and dedicated to reaching their goals. They inspire others with their weight loss successes. And they know how to make healthy living fun and adventurous. But recently, our members accomplished something really BIG.

After years of logging their cardio workouts on SparkPeople.com, our members pushed us over the edge of a big milestone last week: They officially burned over 5 billion calories to date. Now this is no small feat (as you can imagine). It took dedication, a willingness to work out even when life got in the way, and the consistency of tracking each fitness goal and accomplishment. Congratulations to every person who make this possible!

To help you put this into perspective, here's what it takes to burn 5 billion calories:
  • Spinning (burns 509 calories per hour): It would take a class of 30 people 37 years of nonstop indoor cycling to burn 5 billion calories.
  • Walking (burns 324 calories per hour): A single person would have to circle the globe 2,479 times to burn 5 billion calories.
  • Running (burns 720 calories per hour) All 34,729 finishers of the largest marathon on record would have to run 45 marathons to collectively burn this many calories.

Pretty amazing, right? a time in history when sedentary lifestyles and weight problems are on the rise, SparkPeople members are reversing the trends. We're exercising, losing weight, drinking water, and improving our diets one person at a time! As our founder would say, that deserves a big "Woo hoo!"

Toot your own horn! How many calories do you typically burn each week? Whether 10, 100, or 1,000, every bit makes a difference. Tell us below!