When life grabs you by the hair. May 8, 2012

Let me preface this post…my sweetie didn’t edit this…grammer, punctuation and spelling are not my gifts>

 

I’ve already written a totally fabulous post about the pros and cons of calorie counting, but after this weekend I have something else I need to get off my chest first.

 

If you’re a woman, getting fit and losing weight may be the hardest thing you will ever do. Take it from someone who’s had 3 kids, been through cancer, chemo and major abdominal surgery…this is harder! I don’t say that to discourage you, or make you feel like you’re fighting a battle you can’t win. I’m saying it because if I didn’t I would be lying. Cancer is a battle I “waged and won”, getting fit and healthy is a battle I will wake up and fight every day for the rest of my life.

 

In my last post I referred to the “science” of weight loss when I wrote about the importance of finding your BMR. And in most the basic way, weight loss is a science. But the truth is, if weight loss could be solved by science…we would all be skinny and fit!

 

This weekend my 15 year old son got bullied and punched in the face by an older teenager, a gallon of milk exploded in my van, my dryer broke down last night and my husband’s car is back at the shop this morning. To top it off, I’m a raging ball of hormones right now. I don’t tell you this to make you feel sorry for me, I tell you because I want you to know that I understand how hard it is to eat right and exercise when life takes you by the hair and beats you like a step child.

 

As long as you’re breathing…you are going be hit by “life” every single time you think you’re in control. It’s hard for this control freak to admit she can’t control something, but even if I can’t control my life, I am able to control how I allow my emotions to affect my diet and fitness choices.

 

Today I’m still in a funk and I don’t feel much like exercising…so I won’t. I’ll give myself a break, but I’ll keep my calories in check no matter how much I want a cupcake! Today won’t be ideal, but I won’t go backward either. Or maybe instead I’ll go spend an extra hour at the gym so I CAN have that cupcake I’m craving.

 

The point I’m trying to make is this…we’re all going to have bad days or even bad weeks. We’re gonna have to give ourselves a little break now and then. But if we recognize those weak moments for what they are… if we’re able to assess the situation without allowing our emotions to make our choices for us…and if we give ourselves a little break when we need it…then we’ll all be a little more physically fit and emotionally healthy in the end.

WHAT’S YOUR BMR? May 5, 2012

I decided to start this blog for all of you out there who want to eat your way fit….not just skinny….but fit and healthy. Of course you’re going to have to exercise or at least be more active, but your diet really is the most important piece of the puzzle.

 

A few months ago I decided to stop depending on high sodium, artificially sweetened, pre-packaged “diet” food in favor of tasty…but healthy things I could make myself.  Instead, I found complicated recipes with expensive ingredients….and most of them tasted like dog food!  This wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought!  I realized too, that taste was only part of it. You have to decide if you’re leaning toward high protein, low carb, real sweetener or artificial? Do you wanna go fat free or just low fat?

 

At that moment I almost gave up and ate an Adkins bar…but I didn’t. I pressed on and I’m better for it! I won’t claim to have it all figured out, and just like you I’m still a work in progress, but I’ve learned a lot of useful information over the last year that I hope will make your path to fitness just that much easier.

 

I won’t be posting any recipes today; instead I want to jump back to the first thing I had to learn on my “get healthy” journey.

 

First step… take a few minutes to figure out your BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate). It’s the ONLY way to know how many calories you should be taking in on a daily basis.  Once you have that number, you can figure out what you need to take in to lose weight, gain weight or maintain your weight.

 

Take Sally Q Yoyoweight for example:

Sally is moderately overweight at 159 pounds.

She is 5 feet 7 inches tall. (67 inches).

She is 35 years old.

She tries to exercises 4 or 5 times a week. Nothing too crazy, just brisk walking or using her elliptical when it’s not covered in clothes!

 

The thing is, based on her age, weight, and height Sally will burn about 1,796 calories just waking up tomorrow. This is her BMR.  She could lie around all day and still burn those calories just breathing, picking up the remote and flipping the pages of her magazine! So as long as she doesn’t eat more then 1,796 calories in a day…she will never gain a pound…even doing nothing. I’m not saying this is a good choice, I’m just telling you how it is!

 

But Sally doesn’t just lie around; she gets exercise at least 4 or 5 times a week. Because of that, she needs to eat at least 2,230 calories a day to provide her body with enough energy to maintain her weight at 159 pounds.  But who wants to do that? Sally wants to LOSE weight.  She wants to eat right, exercises and get healthy!  So what does she need to do?

 

Well…..the sad but true science tells us that a person has to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat. Hate to break it to you, but the only people who can burn those numbers in one day are the people on The Biggest Loser. So those of us who live in the real world will have to break our 3,500 up into smaller, more manageable numbers. If we divide that number by 7 (one week) we get 500 calories per day.

 

So what Sally needs to do is eat 500 calories less than her body uses for energy each day if she wants to lose 1 pound a week. We know that if she’s excercising she needs to eat 2,230 to maintain her weight, so it stands to reason she will lose 1 pound a week if she lowers her calorie intake by 500 each day.  Based on that, Sally needs to eat 1,730 (healthy) calories each day if she wants to lose weight!

 

Does that sound like a lot of calories to you? I’ll bet it does, and that’s probably the reason you’re exercising and eating “right” and STILL NOT LOSING WEIGHT! It may not be the only reason, but it’s a place to start!

Hopefully, now you understand why finding your BMR is the very first step in getting fit and healthy. Next time we’ll talk about calorie counting. Good? Bad? Or Crazy?  But first, hit this website and figure out your BMR.  http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/bmr-and-daily-calorie-calculator.html