News Flash: Sex Isn’t a Substitute for Exercise
By Elise Solé, Shine Staff
You know all those times you skip the gym because you figure having sex is exercise enough? Well, here’s a sex bomb: A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine found that despite the belief that sex is an adequate form of exercise, one sex session burns a paltry 50 calories. 50 calories. In other words, when you’re thrusting, breathing heavy, and changing positions, you’re burning the same amount of calories as an elderly person does when shuffling along at the pace of 2.5 mph.
Since research shows that sex typically lasts about 6 minutes, that means:
—If you ate a Snickers bar, you’d have to clock 33.3 minutes of sex just to burn it off.
—Craving an afternoon Frappuccino? Expect to get busy for 24 minutes.
—Taking a catnap for 1 hour and 40 minutes would burn more calories than it does to have sex.
But if you’re not in the mood for lovin’ (and still don’t want to hit the gym), here are other ways you can burn those 50 calories:
