Gym Workout Shares The Fat Of The Land Turkey Stuffers Lose It For Spokane Food Bank

Close your eyes and think back to your Thanksgiving meal.

Remember the moist, flavorful turkey? The potatoes covered in real butter? The homemade pumpkin pie?

Good stuff, huh?

Now, remember this: The average Thanksgiving meal has about 3,000 calories and 150 grams of fat - more than two times the recommended daily allowance.

On Thursday, more than 3,000 Spokane residents figured out that little fact early. The turkey was roasting in the oven, and they were sweating in the gym.

By 9 a.m., Sta-Fit South was packed with die-hard exercisers hoping to take the edge off the year’s most indulgent day and pitch in to help the Spokane Food Bank.

People payed $5 for early morning aerobic classes and spinning classes - a type of exercise involving stationary bikes.

“I think they just feel guilty,” said Sta-Fit assistant manager Beth Nurvic about the hordes of people packing the gym. The bikes lined the aerobics room and every one was taken. Riders took a spin around Spokane with the help of their imaginations and an instructor.

“The sweat just pours off of you,” said early spinner Elizabeth Byrd.

An hour later, she and 20 fellow spinners had burned 500 calories and were ready for dinner.

“I’ll eat at 1 p.m. with my husband, and then we’ll eat again at 8. So this works out great for me,” Byrd said.

While the Dave Matthews Band motivated the day’s second group of spinners, Tom Stebbins went back for his towel and stuck around to watch them sweat. “This is fun,” he said. “Today is turkey, mashed potatoes and spinning.”

Byrd and Stebbins agreed that they probably would have been at the gym even if it hadn’t been Thanksgiving.

“Everyone here is really the regular who comes every day,” Byrd said. “This just means we get to do something good for ourselves before we do something bad.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo; Graphic: How fat can it get?