April Fools’ Day Mystery
– Musings of Dr. Jamie Hsu, 4.1.2019
There are many explanations for the origin of April Fools’ Day. Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582 when the Julian calendar was switched to the Gregorian calendar in France. People who were slow to get the news continued to celebrate the start of the new year on April 1. Thus they became the fools of the town.
Lately, Mother Nature seems to be playing the role of fooling us. The warmer weather gets us excited about spring and then suddenly turns back to bitter cold with snowfalls and gusty winds. The joke is on all of us.
Personally, I got a dose of surprise on this special day when I stepped on the scale to weigh myself. I lost only 5 pounds after walking briskly every day for 90 days. Here is why I am surprised:
Theory: Roughly speaking, every mile walked consumes 100 calories, and there are about 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat. That means every 35 miles walked should result in 1 pound of weight loss, assuming that everything else is equal.
Practice: In the last 3 months, I have religiously walked 5 miles every day in the shopping mall. According to my iPhone, I have walked more than 450 miles in 90 days. In addition, I have tried to maintain a healthy eating habit and other daily activities.
Results: I should have lost 12.86 pounds, but in reality, I lost only 5 pounds. What is going on here? There are many plausible explanations:
Maybe my metabolism is slowing down due to aging. This would cause less energy being burned in exercise and daily living. Or maybe subconsciously I ate more during this period to compensate for the daily walks. Perhaps I am a good solar energy absorber and received extra energy from
the sun during my recent golf trip. Or it might be due to the high density muscles I am building. April Fool!
What do you think? Do you have a similar experience of being fooled by a weight loss regimen?
Regardless, let’s just be healthy and happy, and live every day to its fullest.
愚人節之謎
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
關於愚人節的由來有很多種解釋。有些歷史學家推測，愚人節可以追朔到1582年，當時法國由儒略曆改換成格里曆。那些比較晚得知消息的人，仍然在4月1日當天慶祝新的一年的開始；也因而成了城鎮上的傻瓜。
近來，大地之母似乎也扮演著愚弄我們的角色。天氣變暖讓人因此覺得春天快到而感到雀躍，然後隨即就突然變天，又是積雪又是冷風。這不是在開所有人的玩笑嗎。
就我自己來說，在當天這個特別的日子裡，當我站上體重機時，我覺得很訝異。因為在過去90天的快走後，我只減少了5磅的體重。
理論：簡單地說，每走一哩路可以消耗100卡路里。而3,500卡大約是1磅的脂肪。意思是，假設所有情況不變下，每走35哩路，應該可以減少1磅的體重。
實作：在過去3個月裡，我每天在購物中心很認真地走了5英哩。根據我的iPhone顯示，在這90天中，我已經走了超過450哩的路。而且，我也試著保持自己原本的飲食習慣及其他的日常活動。
結果：我應該可以減少12.86磅的體重，但實際上我只減了5磅。這究竟是什麼原因呢？有很多種可能：
或許是我的新陳代謝因為年紀大而變得緩慢。這會降低運動及日常生活中所消耗的能量。或許在不自覺的情況下，我這段時間因為快走的關係吃得比以前多。
又或許我是一個很好的太陽能吸收器，在近期高爾夫球之旅中，從太陽那邊獲得到額外的能量。J 更有可能是我的肌肉因為快走變結實了。J 還是因為愚人節的關係！？
你覺得呢？你是否也曾經有過感覺被體重計愚弄的經驗呢？
無論如何，希望我們都能健康快樂、過著充實的每一天。
