Monday, February 9, 2009

Sleeping Your Way to a Better Body

Charlie was a middle school student with bipolar disorder and was very oppositional.  One day, I was helping him with a word problem in math.  The question asked how many calories a person burns lying still in bed for ten minutes. (The answer was 12.3 calories.)  Charlie said, "The answer is 112.3."

"Charlie, think about your answer and ask yourself if it's logical."

Charlie (in a snotty tone), "It is! It's 112.3 calories!! That's right!"

I asked, cheerfully, "Charlie, does it seem reasonable that a person could burn 112 calories in ten minutes just lying in his bed doing nothing? If that were true, then everyone would be going to bed to lose weight , not jumping on treadmills or exercising. Why don't you take a look at your decimal point."

He stubbornly held it his ground; "I already did! It's right!"

I want to live in Charlie's world...

For more posts about Charlie, read Pants on Fire, Three Blind Mice, or When Middle School Boys Plan Vacations.

10 comments:

  1. Some good information for Spark People....

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  2. Oh me too! If only......clever fellow!

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  3. Maybe this explains why some are so stubborn about their illogical views.
    Charlie just doesn't believe in decimal points - who needs em.

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  4. I think sometimes I do live in Charlie's world LOL

    Kristin - The Goat

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  5. Yes. I think I would like to live there too.

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  6. You posted this on Saturday Sampling today and I almost wrote the exact same thing that I wrote in September LOL

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  7. I think this weekend I will give Charlie's system a try.

    I'm sleeping for science!!

    (and that is exactly what I intend to tell my husband!)

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  8. Me freaking too! Can I please live in that world! Sleep all the fat away?

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  9. It's interesting that we burn any calories at all just sleeping. Charlie is very stubborn, isn't he?

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  10. I want to live in Charlie's world too! Then I wouldn't have to gasp and sputter my way around the track. I could just read a book and watch others run around the track.

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