The Time It Takes To Walk Off Fast Food

Have you ever wondered just how many steps it would take to burn off your lunch?

It’s a good question, and one we’re sure many blokes have asked themselves after being forced to pick up some chow in a supermarket food court during a particularly busy day.

With that in mind, we've done a bit of research and calculated just how long it would take a 100kg man, walking a moderate pace of 5km per hour to burn off some lunchtime staples from the world of Aussie fast food. 

To calculate the number of kilojoules burned, we used an online calculator from Medibank, which you can use for your own personal circumstances. 
 

It’s quite appropriate that it’s called the Big Mac, because it takes a big effort to burn this iconic burger off. 

According to Maccas’ nutritional sheet, a Big Mac contains 2340kj and if you add a medium fries, you’re consuming a total of 3360kj. According to our calculations, it would take a 100kg man, walking at about 5 km per hour, 2 hours and 15 minutes to walk off Ronald’s finest — not an easy feat during a work day.

If you’re looking for a healthier option from the golden arches, try the Wholemeal Grilled Chicken Snack Wrap, which contains only 909kj and should only take 40 minutes’ worth of walking to burn off for a 100kg man.

Back in the day, Subway would market itself as a healthy alternative to the likes of Maccas, but if you’re eating a footling Subway Meatball Melt, it’s anything but. 

With its beef and pork meatballs and melted mozzarella and cheddar, this is one calorific sandwich, coming in at 3830kj and, according to our calculations, would take about 2.5 hours for a 100kg bloke to burn off through walking. 

If you’re still craving a Subway sandwich, though, we recommend a 6-inch Veggie Patty Sub, which at 1690kj would take a tick over an hour to burn off.

Next cab off the rank is the mini BBQ Meatlovers Pizza from Domino's. 

While relatively small by pizza standards (252g), when it comes to its potential impact on your waistline, this thing is anything but lightweight, with its array of processed meats and cheese combining for 2652kj. We reckon this would take about 1 hour and 45 minutes for a 100kg gent to walk off.

In terms of an alternate option, we reckon the healthiest choice is a mini Chicken Supreme Pizza, which contains 504kj per pizza and would take a surprising low 25 minutes to burn off while walking. 

Then finally, there’s the humble Caesar salad from Soul Origin, a chain which markets itself as providing fresh and wholesome food. 

According to Soul Origin’s website, their medium chicken Caeser salad, which contains chicken, egg, bacon, and cos lettuce, provides about 1190kjs worth of energy. 

After crunching the numbers, we’ve concluded that this would take our 100kg bloke 50 minutes to walk off, which is about the length of an average lunch break — not bad for a salad which in other outlets can be considered quite unhealthy.

Well, there you have it. If you're looking for more advice about fast food or take away, check out this blog on the best and worst options at your local takeaway for chaps trying to lose weight.