We all know that Salsa is great for getting up and moving.  It’s especially good for some of us who are otherwise susceptible to boredom eating.

I find whenever I decline cake or chocolate (using up every ounce of willpower), people tell me “don’t worry, you’ll dance it off!”

But some of these foods have such high caloric content, that sometimes I wonder how true that is.

Anyone else ever wonder how dancing Salsa compares to your calorie intake?

These scientists are onto it!

Phew, there’s a lot of science lingo.  But essentially…

“A 70 kg person would expect to burn about 550 kcal of energy every hour salsa dancing.

“To figure this out for your own body weight, just multiply your weight in kg by 7.91”

 – Pablo Alberto Domene @ SalsaPHD

 

Nifty trick!  Take your weight, multiply by 7.91 and there’s your approximation of how many kCal you burn in an hour!

The results were based on dancing Afro-Cuban style to this songs tempo:

…And obviously varies by style, age, experience, metabolism and lifestyle factors.

 

As an indicator, here are some of our favourite foods:

Food	Calories*	Minutes of Continuous Salsa**
Mars Bar (regular size)	241	26
Sushi (Bento Box from Sushi Sushi)	634	69
Burrito (Original Beef Burrito from Salsa’s Fresh Mex)	914	100
Burger (Almighty Beef Burger from Grill’d)	805	88
Pizza (2 slices Supreme Classic Crust from Dominos)	318	35
Chicken Caesar Salad (large, Sumo Salad)	472	51
Caramel Latte (med, regular milk from Gloria Jeans)	221	24

* Calories found at CalorieKing

** Minutes dancing based on a 70kg individual, burning 550kCal/hr

 

So at 60kg, I would burn approx 475 calories each hour if I danced continuously.  At 476kCals, my favourite pre-salsa snack, the Little Guy Burrito from Guzman Y Gomez, would take just over an hour to burn.

Methinks it’s worth it 😉

– Jill