Well, everybody has a different metabolism, but utilizing the BodyBugg (my new diet tool), I put that question to the test on myself. While watching television for several hours, I burned (on average) 1.3 calories per minute for a total of 78 calories per hour. While driving, I burned an average f 2.8 calories per minute for a total of 168 calories per hour. (This was calculated over a five hour period with one fueling and window washing and two stops to check and shift the load on the trailer).

So, as you can see the difference between driving a big rig and sitting on your bumm watching the tube on the livingroom sofa, is just 90 calories per hour. Now, if you figure that a truck driver is only supposed to drive for 11 hours out of the day, then you can figure that your job enables you to burn only 990 calories more than if you sat on your couch for those same 11 hours.

Now, we all know that a truck driver does more than just drive their rigs. There is fueling, loading, unloading, walking to and from the truck, cleaning inside the cab....and that all burns calories too. On my best, my most active day, I am able to burn about 3200 calories. On those days, I loaded and unloaded in the same day and wrestled tarps for 3 to 5 hours. I also walked 4 miles at the end of the day. That is a lot of activity, yet, I only expended about 3200 calories.

So, what does that mean? Well, if I got up in the morning, ON MY MOST ACTIVE DAY, and ate 2 fried Eggs, 2 slices of Toast with Butter and Jelly, two strips of Bacon, 2 cups of Coffee with 4 tablespoons of Creamer, and Home Fries. I would have consumed about 972 calories.

If I ate a Bacon Cheeseburger, French Fries, and a 20-ounce Coke for lunch, then I would have consumed another 1383 calories.

Getting hungry in the middle of the day, a driver might grab a Snickers bar, adding another 280 calories to the daily total.

For many drivers, dinner might be Country Fried Steak, Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Butter, Corn, Roll with Butter, and a slice of Apple Pie with one scoop of Ice Cream. That would finish the day out adding another 2880 calories.

If you typically eat this way, you are consuming about...5515...calories a day!!

So, if this sounds like a typical days worth of food for you, let me ask you this question. Did you throw tarps for 3 to 5 hours today? Did you walk 3 to 4 miles today? Did you have more than 2 solid hours of constant and strenuous physical activity today (you know, the kind that makes you drip sweat from all your clothes)? Did you take more than 13,000 steps today? If not, then it is not likely that you burned off the 3200 calories I was talking about earlier. But, for the sake of this entry, let's say you did, but you ate as I described.

If this was the case, you would have consumed 5515 calories worth of food and only burned off 3200 calories through physical activity and metabolic expenditure. That means that you only GAINED a total of .66 pounds on this day. How many days can you afford to do this?

So, if you keep asking yourself why you are gaining weight, perhaps I have answered this question for you! Now, you ask, how can I stop this spiraling weight gain in it's tracks?

FIRST....you must go online and order a BodyBugg so YOU know each day EXACTLY how many calories you are burning. The BodyBugg will tell you (with 92% accuracy) the total number of calories your body is expending each day, or even hourly. This information will help you to make better food choices to let you know how many calories you have left to eat in order to meet your own personal goals. Further, the customer support that Apex provides to it's customers will ensure that you have all the help you need staying on track and meeting your goals. YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS TO DO THE JOB!!

SECOND...call the customer service department of your favorite truck stop and ask them to stop making you fat, making you unhealthy, and killing you with their fat laden, sugar laden, salt laden foods. Did you know that I was at the Petro the other night and couldn't even eat the pinto beans, as the cook had put sugar in them to...."make them taste better"....as he said. Hey Petro, do we really NEED sugar in our pinto beans. Do you add sugar to YOUR pinto beans when you cook them at home?

THIRD.....park your truck and get walking. This is probably the hardest thing to do. As a driver, I know that you are tired at the end of the day and walking is the last thing on your list to get done. So, maybe just one lap per day should be your goal for this week. Learn to get in one lap each day. It is one lap more than you were doing yesterday or last week. Then, maybe next week you can add one more lap to your day....until this has become a routine daily event that you are used to. Some of you drivers may be so heavy, that the thought of making one lap around the lot is terrifying. Try a few laps around your truck then....ANYTHING....no matter how little you are able to do, is better than doing nothing at all and allowing your waistline to increase further and your health to decline faster.

FINALLY....take a few days to join us (the Fit For The Road participants) at the Great American Truck Show in Dallas, Texas on August 24 and 25. We would love to share our experiences with you or just get you in touch with the right people if you need help. I will have a BodyBugg there for you to see...as I really feel that all drivers with weight and health issues needs to get one right away. I will be staying at the Dallas Hilton if you would like to get together outside the show and talk about things you can do to change your life on the road.

So, the answer to the question.....DO DRIVERS BURN MORE CALORIES.....the answer is YES.....but, it wasn't as many as you thought, was it"?

Definitely, the Cheerio's and skim milk are a better choice than the "Big Rig Breakfast Special", but do you find that one serving of Cheerio's does the job of filling you up and getting you to your next snack time? How about adding a piece of fruit and and some extra protein....like a boiled egg or a handful of nuts? Three grams of protein in one cup (one serving) of Cheerio's doesn't seem like enough to fill an active male truck driver. Perhaps, you should blog Pam Whitfield about some breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices you could make to ensure that you are getting the right amount of calories and nutrition. If you cut your calories too far, you will fail at losing weight. Your body will think that it is starving and will hold on to all the fat with it's last dying breath. I should know, I starved myself to obesity for years!!

That said, I wanted to address a comment you made as I feel that it is time we began speaking out. Your comment was...."I think the "I'm in a hurry" mentality really wrecks havoc on one's eating plan".

Yes, it absolutely does! This was one of the main reasons I put on so much weight in the last year before I started in the Fit For The Road program. Gaining over 45 pounds in that last year, I can totally contribute it to that type of mentality. I struggled for a long time regarding how I wanted to reply to you regarding this issue. It is a key issue affecting the health of thousands of drivers across the country and it doesn't appear that change is in the near future.

So, how do you reconcile this with a healthy diet? I remember a time when drivers could stop and unwind around a hot nutritious meal. I remember a time when I could stop in the middle of the day, when I became drowsy, and take a 45 minute power nap. I remember a time when I could afford to drive when I was alert and awake and stop when I was tired and fatigued. That all changed with these new hours of service, didn't it?

Now, you start the log book and run like hell to get as far as you can before your hours run out. Meals?!? Yes, we eat. We stop at a truck stop, only because we need fuel, rush in to pay for our fuel, grab whatever greasy, fried, fast food is nearest the pay counter and run back out to our trucks to get rolling. Then, while trying to drive 80,000 pounds of truck and freight down the road, we try to choke down the calorie packed, dried out, greasy, fast food we just bought. Long gone are the times when we could visit a restaurant in the middle of the day, unwind, relax, re-energize, and eat a nutritious meal. Who has the time? No one!! Time, which we can not get back, continues to tick away, and while time is ticking away, so is our revenue as the dollars we might have earned during that time, is forever lost.

Nap during the middle of the day to rest our bodies and return to driving awake and alert?!? Sounds like a good idea, but who has the time? No one!! Instead, we now have drivers weaving across the roads, running over rumble strips, and getting honked at by other drivers. Why? Because they are falling asleep behind the wheel. In all the years I have been driving, I have never seen so many trucks weaving all over the roads at night. I followed five trucks over the last week who's drivers were so tired they were all over the road. One truck continually ran between the rumble strips on the right shoulder to the extreme left shoulder. For nearly 15 miles, the truck ran split down the middle of lanes two and three. I found myself driving like this all the time last year. My solution? I opened the bag of chips, peeled the wrapper off the candy bar, opened the honey bun, and downed it all with cup after cup of coffee. What was this doing to my health?

Until the hours of service changes, I was able to at least maintain my then weight. After the changes, I put on pound after pound and was buying bigger pants on a monthly basis. I seldom had the chance to eat correctly and I seldom had the chance to get enough sleep. So, when I started my journey to better health, I made a dangerous business decision. I decided to become a "conscientious objector" to the hours of service regulations. Now, I don't recommend this line of action to my readers unless the change in regulations are truly affecting your health in such a negative manner that your decline in health will make you unable to continue driving.

I tried to drive under the regulations, make a decent income, and lead a healthy lifestyle. I found it to be impossible! Finding time to order nutritious food (which always seems to take longer to cook), finding time to sleep properly, and finding time to exercise, all took a real financial toll on our little companies revenues. So, I had to make a choice. With my diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and cholesterol all out of control, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I would no longer be able to get a medical card. I had to make a choice. Do I follow the regulations, go down the road asleep with blood pressure so high I could hear it pounding in my ears and sugar so dangerously high that I could pass out?  I didn't feel like this was an option.

Do I drive under the regulations, take the down time, and loose the revenue? With fuel prices out of control, a downturn in available freight, and the competition simply "cut throat" out there, it wasn't going to take long and I would be out of business. Going out of business didn't seem like a good idea either, as I still have a child for which I am responsible for. So, then what was I to do?

Thinking on this one day, I decided that what I REALLY needed to do is to take my health in hand first. I figured that if my health was in check, then I would simply have to be a better, safer, and more alert professional driver. I needed to sleep when my body told me I was tired or when I failed to be alert behind the wheel. I needed to take time out throughout the day and sit down to a good meal while taking a little time to de-stress, regroup, and relax. I needed to take time to park the truck and get out for a little fresh air and exercise. Most importantly, I needed to be able to do all these things without loosing the hours that are available for me to drive and earn a living.

The only way I could figure out how to do this was to simply and peacefully object to the new hours of service regulations. I drive safe!! I drive awake!! I drive with a healthy and rested body!! If someone wants to fault me for that, then let them do it in front of God, the driving community, and all the people who would have faced me coming down the road when I was sick, tired, and in poor physical shape. I crossed a scale one day and had my log book called out. I handed it over to the officer who asked me if I was aware that I was driving out of my hours. I replied that I was aware of the situation and went on to explain what I have just written to all of you. After talking with the officer for a while, he told me to go on down the road, and replied that if all drivers were given the opportunities to do what I was already doing, then there would be many fewer accidents and many more healthy drivers on the road.

I don't know what the answer to this problem will be to each of you readers. I know that if you suffer from the same problems, then you are going to have to take a stand and change your lifestyle on the road. Your alternative is death from stroke, heart attack, diabetes, or simply falling asleep and driving off the road and/or crashing. I believe that our government took a very myopic point of view when they changed the regulations. I believe that there needs to be an immediate change to the regulations until which time driver's health becomes a factor in determining the rules to be handed down. I believe that until something is done, drivers will continue to weave dangerously from lane to lane while struggling to keep their eyes open and their minds alert.

Until that time, I have a responsibility to the traveling public to be behind the wheel in the best possible physical and mental state that I can be. Until that time, I have a right, as an American, to make a fair and honest living. Until that time, I will continue to operate with my health and, subsequently, the driving publics safety as primary concerns........even if that means that I can not follow the current hours of service regulations. Look through history....peaceful objection has historically made changes to rules made by the government that were later deemed to be unjust, unfair, or unsafe to the American population. I believe that the hours of service regulations are such a case.

For each of you, you will have to make your own decisions. As for me, my diabetes is under control, my blood pressure is down, and I've lost 50 pounds.....all while using common sense with my driving lifestyle. If that isn't reason enough for our government to revisit the hours of service regulations, then I know not how to change their minds. Perhaps, they should come and spend a month in my truck with me!!

Keep healthy, keep happy, keep safe.......(and yes, I'm going to say it)...PARK THAT TRUCK AND GET WALKING!!

I have a couple of words of wisdom that I have learned along the way.....

First, you haven't "fallen off the wagon", you have had a series of life moments (whether emotional or work related, or whatever...) that have made eating healthy a difficult task. Remember, you are not "ON" any diet. Being on a diet infers that you can go "OFF" the diet. This mental concept leads you to the emotional defeat that you are feeling right now. I know, because it is the destructive circle that led me to my eventual 293 pounds. I always said to myself..."Okay, I blew it at breakfast, lets belly up to the buffet bar and go at it full tilt. After all, the day is already ruined".

You have to transition your thinking to, "I am a person that eats healthy AS OFTEN AS I AM ABLE". This type of thinking would make the times that you can not get a healthy meal less of a "I have failed" idea. We are not always going to be able to get ourselves to a healthy meal when out on the road. I just doesn't happen 100% of the time. Then, there are emotional times that we just want that junk food or that comfort food. Know that it is okay to have the food that you are craving. But, the less healthy the food, the smaller the portion we should be eating.

Now, does that mean you have carte blanche to continue to eat unhealthy over an extended period of time. Absolutely not. As you have already lost so much weight (wow, 62 pounds!!) you know that you have a responsibility to yourself, your body, and to those that love you to remain as healthy as possible. You obviously have some firmly set goals and are concerned that you are wandering away from them. So, what we have here seems to be a willpower issue. The hardest part of living a healthy life!!

We are inundated with commercials pushing unhealthy foods. We are tricked by retailers to impulse buy high calorie and sugar laden goodies. Did you know that retailers hire market specialists to determine exactly where to place items to entice consumers to buy them? If you ever go into a grocery store, look and see what shelf the sugary kids cereals are on and what shelf the more nutritious cereals are on. You will find that the sugary kids cereals are placed at the exact eye level of a child while the more "adult" cereals are placed at the eye level of an adult. Retailers have spent MILLIONS of dollars to figure out how to get a consumer to buy foods that give them the most net profit. Since sugar and fat are cheap ingredients, guess which foods retailers make the most profit on?? Go into a truckstop and stand next to the coffee pots. Look and see which foods are within reaching distance. See anything nutritious?? Look at all the end caps (displays at the end of aisles). See anything nutritious there? Probably not, as the retailer has figured out that you will probably gather an armful of goodies before you ever get down the aisles.....and those "goodies" are their top profit makers, EVERY TIME!!

So, how to have "willpower" in a world that sets us up to fail? The answer is easy!! Let yourself have the foods you want. If you have an emotional crisis and have to eat unhealthy, then enjoy your MEAL!! Just follow it up with the most reduced calorie, reduced fat, reduced salt, nutritious meal you can muster out of the restaurant. Then say to yourself, "self, you really enjoyed that unhealthy meal, but, can you give me a little exercise to burn off some of those extra calories"? Agree to give your body just five minutes of walking. At the end of the five minutes, ask yourself if you could go five more minutes, then repeat.

When time is a factor, call the truckstops ahead of your arrival (they publish a truckstop book that has all the phone numbers in it) and tell them that you are on a specialized diet and don't have much time. Most of the truckstops will have your meal ready when you get there. Generally, it is best to call when you are about 15 minutes (or 20 miles) away. Let them know exactly what mile marker you are at and what company you drive for. Offer to give them your driver license number or a call back number. This makes them feel a little more comfortable about pre-making the meal for you. I do this often, as it is easier to deal with the "willpower" issue when I am not smelling the other food or looking at the buffet. Then, when you arrive, your food is ready to go and you can get in and out before the "willpower" waivers.

I am curious to know why you did no walking when you were stuck at JFK for the weekend. It would seem that that would have been the perfect opportunity to get caught up on a little movement? Often, it is difficult to find the time to exercise. As an Owner Operator, I get to decide when to shut the truck down and I don't care who the customer is, I seldom let them interfere with my health. Actually, when they ask where I am and why I have not arrived yet, I tell them that I had to exercise and they would have to wait. They get so shocked by that answer, they usually just ask me when I think I would arrive. Company drivers don't always have that luxury, so it is important for them to get all the exercise they can in the moments that they are stopped. Exercise is best on a daily basis, but ANY exercise ANYTIME is better than no exercise at all.

There are times that I have literally sat in the drivers seat and cried because I did not want to get out there and walk. I was tired, it was too cold or too hot, I didn't feel well....and the thoughts continued on in my mind. Thoughts of reasons why I could not or should not get out there and get moving. Then, I started thinking to myself, what if I thought of a reason I should exercise for every thought that I had saying I should not exercise. It's too cold....if I wear a coat and go walk I could probably burn 400 calories and get into my smaller pants sooner. I don't fell like walking....then just do five minutes and re-ask yourself if you could do more. You get the idea!! The funny thing was, the list of reasons not to exercise ran out long before the list of reasons to exercise!!
Then, there are times that I just don't exercise, well, because I spent the last three days working out three hours each day....and I am tired!! These are the most enjoyable, guilt-free days, because I know that I am taking a day off because I have "already earned it"!

Yes, I know that this seems silly, but I "stock-pile" my exercise. I plan one, 75-minute workout each day. So, when I feel like going over that 75 minutes, I chart the extra time and get to "stock-pile" it for a day when I REALLY don't feel like doing anything but climbing in the bunk. Remember on an earlier blog, I talked about that metabolic advantage"? The momentum that you gather over a period of good eating and healthy exercise will give you a metabolic advantage for the times (short times, that is) that you don't eat so well and don't exercise. So, lets get out there and get a "stock-pile" built up.

You talked about not having a refrigerator in the truck? Is there a reason why you do not have one? Is it possible to carry a mid-sized cooler with you and put it in the truck or in/on the trailer? Please let me know your living situation and let's work together on a solution. It is VERY important to have access to healthy food options when you are stuck in an area where the food options are below acceptable. Also, it is EXTREMELY important to have nutritious and "tasty" foods available at hands-end for those times when you feel cravings for unhealthy foods coming over you.

Sweet cravings can be best satisfied by a low-fat yogurt or a low-fat fruit smoothie (try the Lite & Fit brand as they make a very tasty smoothie). If the smoothie wasn't quite enough, add some low-fat, sugar-free granola to the top of a 6oz yogurt for that extra "crunch". Still craving?? Add some healthy fat into the mix...like a handful of walnuts or pecans or some salt-free sunflower seeds. Usually, fat laden foods, such as nuts and seeds, will stop the cravings. Fat takes longer to digest and tends to make you feel more satisfied. HENCE, ENDING THE CRAVINGS. But, be very careful to count the calories from those snacks and make them a part of your total daily calories. See, you just had a food binge and didn't even destroy your track to good health.

Craving chips? Go ahead and have them. There are chip makers that make a wonderful baked potato chip and a baked corn chip (Like Doritoes) Then, there are wonderful whole grain pretzels which are great with some baby carrot sticks (the best option, you get that sweet/salty thing going on). But again, make the salt content count towards your daily total (which, by the way, should stay around 2400 mg per day). It is important to make sure that any snack is followed or taken with at least 12 ounces of water (not soda!!!) as the water helps to fill your stomach, and in conjunction with the food, helps to end cravings and make you feel full.

I think you all get the idea that binges are OKAY, just make the changes necessary to get them there. Find food alternatives that allow you to have that perverbial "pig out" without letting it be unhealthy. Pig out on fruit, pig out on veggie sticks, pig out on lean proteins low in fat....Then, when you need to eat that fat laden stuff and sugary stuff, be willing to count the calories and walk, run, ellipse, or work them off. Remember, it is all a numbers game, calories in and calories out, for losing weight. BUT, good health ONLY comes from regular exercise and consuming foods that treat our bodies with respect. Eat to feed and nourish your body....don't eat to treat your mouth.

Now, I am going to give you something else to think about. Partners and co-drivers!! I watched an interesting study on the television the other day. They put people in a room in front of ice cream with the understanding that they were taking part as a taste test participant. The unknowing participants were told that they could eat as much as was needed to test the product. Alone, the testers would take a very small scoop (three to four spoonfuls). But, when put together with a "fake" tester who was to take an entire second serving of ice cream.....guess what the unknowing participant did. You got it, she reached right over and took an entire second portion of ice cream. She was then asked later if she felt she needed that second helping to properly taste test the product. She replied that she did not and then went on to say that she did not realize how easily she was influenced by the food and portions that people around her were eating. So, we need to recognize, AND ADMIT, that overeating (or eating the wrong food choices) is a team sport. Seldom do we overeat when we are alone. We are usually with someone or something....like a spouse, friend, relative, or the television. Things that distract us from what we are consuming, cause us to overeat or distract us from recognizing the all important "I'm full" signal. So, the best way to overcome, is to STOP MID MEAL. No matter the eating situation, eat equal portions of all foods on your plate and then half way through, put down your fork for 10 full minutes. Upon resuming your meal, you will feel the need to eat less and eat better. It will be much easier to put a stop to any bad eating habits. So, if you have a driving partner that eats obsessively, be mentally aware that their eating habits are effecting you on an emotional level that you were previously unaware of. Are you still practicing the habit of "leaving something on the plate"? Do you remember from a previous blog, how many calories that saves you over the course of just one week?

Now you have a "healthy eating buddy". You have my number and you are all out of excuses. When you call me, I will take all the excuses away from you as I am the guru of excuses for NOT doing something. I have conquered all my ghosts and am ready to take on yours. For the rest of you drivers out there, get a "healthy eating buddy". Whether it be a family member, a friend back home, a co-driver, a company dietitian, a son or daughter or grandchild, or a spouse, make sure that you have someone to call when you are in trouble. Make daily calls to your buddy and make arrangements or agreements on the amount of exercise you will commit to for the day. Perhaps, Amber, you and I will agree to do 15 minutes of walking today at a specific hour of the day. That way, we will both know that we are doing it together even though we are far apart. Knowing someone else is out there doing it with you makes it more fun and more motivating. Get on the CB and ask for a walking partner. In the last two weeks, I have gotten two drivers to walk the whole four miles with me. One driver walked in the morning and then met me in the evening to do it again. One of the drivers said he was so happy to hear my request over the radio because he knew he was supposed to walk but did not feel like it and had just climbed in his bunk instead. He said when he heard me ask for a walking partner, he jumped right out of bed and hollered back because he was so excited about being motivated by another driver to exercise and to have someone to do it with. Oh, it's a little embarrassing at first, and as a woman, you will get all kinds of rude and nasty responses, but just ignore them and keep asking for a walking partner. They are out there!!

Call your "buddy" at the beginning of the day and "plan" out your menus. Knowing that someone else is going to stick to a menu plan with you for the day makes it more fun...kind of like a game...to see who does the best job. Who was able to defeat the "dragon" of "dieting doom". Make weight loss, blood pressure reduction, cholesterol reduction, etc... a game with someone else. Whomever gets the greatest percentage of good results has to do something for the other person. Set a miles goal to see who can walk the number of miles first. When you are down at 37 miles and your walking buddy is at 53 miles, you'll get motivated. Especially if you have to pay them $50.00 if they beat you!! My personal goal was set high, just to motivate me into thinking that I could not do it. Since I do not like to finish last or admit that I can not do something, I am trying for 1000 miles by the end of 2007. I am currently at 379 miles, so I had better get going.

I guess what I am really trying to tell you is that if you are a driver and have health issues, there are resources out there for you. There are the PDMD clinics (Professional Driver's Medical Depot's) opening at the Petro Truck stops who will help you get started on a plan. Pam Whitfield, our dietitian, is as close as the nearest computer to help you. The five of us participants in the Fit For The Road program are here to help you. Your personal physicians can provide you with even more resources to get started. Today's issue of USA Today headlines an article titled "Study finds 'mind boggling' increase in morbidly obese", where it details that in five years, the ranks of morbidly obese (100 pounds or more over weight) has increased in numbers by 2.6 million.  It went on to state that studies have shown that obesity increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other health complications.

So, is that walk becoming more appealing to you when you think that you could be spending your time in a hospital getting chemotherapy instead? Is a 30 minute walk better than having to inject yourself with insulin and prick your finger ten times a day and never being able to enjoy an occasional donut or piece of cake? How does that walk feel afterwards? Is it better than the crushing feeling of chest pain you will have when you have that first heart attack and maybe die to leave your loved ones to carry on without you? Can you turn that television off at night for just 30 minutes and come and walk with me. I'm out there. I am hollering for you on the radio. Come walk with me and follow me to better health.

Stay Fit On The Road