Weekly Burned Calories

An interesting topic arose the other day before Zumba started, which had been sparked the previous day at the end of body combat with my instructor. To loose 1 pound a week, you will have to burn 3,500 calories a week, or 500 a day. She had also read that to burn that many calories you’d have to run 30 miles in a week to loose just 1 pound. Now of course all of this isn’t new to me, but it sparked my mind more on how I will win and conquer my goals!

My hope for each day during this challenge is to eat 1,200 calories a day. To loose 1 pound a week I’d need to burn 3,500 calories for the week, but I want to loose 5.5 pounds a week. My BMR, Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day is 1,873.5. So, I’m cutting 673.5 calories out a day, allowing for that 3,500 to happen just in my diet, and then I’ll be burning most of those calories off each day. I’m in no way an expert in this area, and am going off of many resources to give me all the information I am learned. But, with those around me guiding me though this and with the strength of God with me I know I can accomplish this.

So, with 4 hours of exercise a day and a low calorie diet, it appears mathematically I can do it. I feel many mixed emotions already about going through this process as intensely as I am, but my slow and steady process has just taken to long already and I’m ready to defeat my weight forever!

To Calculate your BMR go here

Discouraged, but not giving up!

It’s week 2 in the Biggest Loser Contest and though I’m feeling confident in my workout routine, I felt major discouragement yesterday when seeing that many people lost weight the first week (and many gained or stayed the same). But, after venting about all the things I see wrong in my weight loss last night to my wonderful husband I feel more stable with my situation. I am in a contest, and maybe that is causing a little more stress to lose faster, but for the most part I’m hear to change my lifestyle and have already made huge strides in doing so. Just yesterday my daughter wanted grapes over anything else; because she’s been exposed to healthier foods then she would have if I was still a junk food junkie. I feel good about that!

Here’s a quick rundown on my vented feelings, so that everyone knows we are all in the same boat.
- I didn’t lose weight last week even though I worked out 6 days in a row, kept my calories down under 1,500 a day, and drank plenty of water.
- I’m still wearing the same sized clothes as I was 30 pounds ago! I’ve only dropped down 2 pant sizes since losing 49 pounds!
- I really want to eat more, and though I’m trying not to not to deprive myself of any certain foods I am trying to change my cravings/desires/pallet into wanting the healthier stuff over the junk food (i.e. – Ice cream, popcorn, taco bell 5th meal)

So, there you have it. I was feeling pretty down last night and if someone had put a temptation in front of me (like taco bell) I may not have been able to turn it down! Though Jon did eat the last of the ice cream right in front of me, I have to thank him for doing so. Because I may have eaten it today with some good qualifying reasons.

So, I may not win the 3 week challenge, because I may be putting on more muscles around my body, but I have to remember that slow and steady will win the race, and there will be a week where I have huge results. I just have to give myself a little more faith!

Tuesday’s Daily Calories: 1,535
Tuesday’s Daily Calorie Burn: 736 (estimated)

Monday’s Daily Calories: 1,384
Monday’s Daily Calorie Burn: 1,150 (estimated)

Daily Exercise Myth

Myth: Cardio burns more calories than strength training.

Contrary to long-held belief, strength training is—as new studies have shown—superior to steady-state cardio in caloric burn. In one University of Southern Maine study, participants blasted as many calories doing 30 minutes of weight training as they did running at a six-minute-per-mile pace for the same amount of time.

The other huge benefit of weight training? It boosts your metabolism after your workout—and builds muscle that will further increase your fat-burning potential in the long run. "If you do steady-state cardio, when you leave the gym, that's it for your calorie burn," says David Jack, general manager of Competitive Athlete Training Zone in Acton, Massachusetts. "But when you do strength work, you'll continue to burn calories for up to 36 hours."

I have been seeing this become such a truth in my calorie burns every week. When I add more weight training or just a core workout in circuit training I see a lot more results then when I just do cardio. If you already have the muscle mass then just use light weight with 3 sets of 12 - 15 and usually do this for about 30 minutes focusing on core, upper, or lower body muscles.

Calories In VS Calories Out

First things first, I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July and that they enjoyed all the wonderful food that goes along with it. I absolutely went overboard with food, all due to emotional eating. I have to admit I did not have a handle on it yesterday, and it was pretty difficult to have control when I was so upset with things.

I did however have some thoughts on how we should eat and how to eat when there are days we do not exercise. Do we limit our calories when we aren’t going to “burn” any? Or do we keep the same amount of calories we consume on a daily basis? Consuming calories provides your body with the energy it needs, while physical activity burns off calories. So the key to successful weight loss is finding the right ways to balance the calories you take in with the calories you put out. When we take in to many calories during a meal the end result is Fat storage, and no in the usage of energy the calorie in intended to be used for.

So, how many calories should we be consuming? Your energy needs take precedence over all other body functions. For an adult, there are three factors that determine your total energy requirements. The first is your Basal Energy Requirement. This is the minimum amount of energy needed by the body at rest in the fasting state. It includes basic body functions such as respiration, cellular metabolism, circulation, gland activity, and body temperature control. It is affected by such things as age, gender, pregnancy, body composition, nutritional status, sleep, climate, and fever. The second energy requirement is your Physical Activity. The amount of calories needed for physical activity depends on the type of activity or work, the intensity and the duration. The last requirement is Specific Dynamic Action of Food. This is the amount of calories needed to manage food intake and includes digestion, absorption, and metabolism of food. Now, we’ve talked about that if we burn 500 calories a day for 7 days we should in theory lose 1 lb if we have not taken in more then our allotted daily calories.

But, some of you still think that to lose weight, the lower the calories, the better. Ironically, the key may be eating more calories. You can actually hurt your body's ability to lose weight by going too low. Here's why. The body has a protective mechanism. When calories drop too low (it’s recommend a minimum of 1,200 for women and 1,500 for men) the body reacts as if it is starving and tries to conserve energy. It will lower your metabolism, conserve calories and fat, and you will NOT burn calories as quickly. This results in a slower weight loss or even no weight loss. This is what’s known as "Starvation Mode." When calorie intake falls below 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day, it is also extremely difficult to follow a balanced diet and obtain all the nutrients that are needed by the body to stay strong and energetic and prevent disease. These very low calorie intakes can also lead to other health problems such as eating disorders, gout, gallstones, and heart complications.

Hitting a plateau during a weight loss program is normal (though it can still be frustrating). Your body requires fewer calories to function as your weight decreases. It needs time to adjust to all the healthy changes that are occurring due to the weight loss. So continuing to follow the same eating and exercise patterns won’t work forever. Your body will adjust differently then those around you, and that can seem unfair and frustrating. To jump-start your metabolism and break out of the plateau, you may need to select a different form of exercise to stimulate other muscle groups to become more active. Do not become discouraged; this may take several weeks or months. Stay focused on all the positive things you have accomplished. Your goal during plateaus is to try not to gain any pounds back. Keep your calories around the same range EVERYDAY in order to keep you metabolism working at its fullest and allowing your muscles to grow for you burn more fat.

So, even if you are not at the gym today keep your eating habits the same as you have been. Your resting metabolism is still working hard at burning that fat and making your body adjust to al your changes. Keep up the hard work.

Diet Type or Calories Lost: What's Best for Weight Loss?

Read this - super interesting study done by Johns Hopkins. Basically you need to change those daily habits and keep up your exercise routine!

Making the Diet into a Lifestyle Change

So one of the traps we tend to fall into as we are attempting to lose weight is saying to ourselves we are on a diet and limiting our choices in food. Instead we need to begin to change our mindset into telling ourselves we are making a new lifestyle for ourselves.

Here are some of the basic differences between a diet and a lifestyle change.

1. When we are on a diet we have a goal that is self-limiting. When you get to your goal weight, you stop the diet. And when we make a lifestyle change the goal is open-ended, and weight management becomes part of your daily life, with strategies that vary as circumstances, priorities, and needs change.

2. A diet is a surface level change. It involves simple changes in behaviors you are already doing (or not doing). You take in fewer calories from food and (maybe) expend more calories on activity. Foods are "good" or "bad" based on calorie content. When we make a lifestyle changes are made on many levels. In addition to healthy changes in your relationship with food and exercise, you will challenge the basic attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and feelings that made you overweight (and unhappy) to begin with.

3. During a Diet progress and success are measured by the scale. Anything that results in weight loss is considered acceptable, even if it poses potential problems or risks. Failure to lose weight as fast as desired is very upsetting, and the process feels like a constant battle. High stress is constant. When we make a lifestyle change our progress and success are measured in terms of satisfaction & quality of life. Weight loss and maintenance continue to be important, but are put in perspective as one way you can move towards larger, more rewarding goals. Daily ups and downs become much less stressful.

4. Sometimes when we are going through out diets, we tend to have the thoughts that the results don't last. We yo-yo diet a lot and never manage to keep the results we get. Even if you manage to stick with all the unpleasantness of a diet long enough to reach your weight goal, your odds of keeping it off permanently are less than one in twenty. Making a lifestyle change gives you lasting results. Your lifestyle change is an open-ended, ongoing process with goals that continue to expand and grow. There is no reason to go back to the habits that got you overweight in the first place.

Topic and information courtesy of Sparkpeople.com

Daily Food Myth

Myth #14: Certain foods, like celery, have 'negative' calories

Truth: The idea that there are negative calorie foods--foods that are so low in calories that simply digesting them burns more calories than they contain--is nothing more than wishful thinking. Certain low-calorie, water-rich foods like celery or cucumbers are often touted as negative-calorie foods. However, digesting and absorbing everything you eat each day uses just 10% of your total calorie intake each day (about 180 calories for someone who eats 1,800 calories per day). It is great to include low-calorie, high-fiber, and water-rich foods in your daily diet; these foods add nutrients, bulk, and volume to your diet and can help keep you full, but they still contain calories and should always be included in your calorie count. No food is a "free" food. Eating too much of any food can cause weight gain or inhibit weight loss.

Myself: Not much to say about this except celery sticks with peanut butter are pretty great! No, joking aside, make sure you include every bite of food you take in when you are thinking about how many calories you are eating each day. They all count! Even the celery!

5 steps to loossing 5 lbs!

So, I didn’t lose any weight last week, and I have 2 weeks until the deadline on my small weight goal. So, how am I going to get to that weight goal? In order to do so I have to lose 5 pounds this week and next, for a total of 10 pounds. So, here I am looking up “how to lose 5 lbs in a week" on the internet. Most of the advice is things I already do. Exercise, increase your cardio, drink plenty of water, etc. So, here are my steps to lose 5 lbs this week.

1. Get more sleep. I typically only get around 5-6 hours a night. So, I’m looking to get 6-8 now. By going to bed by 10 o’clock and waking up at 5:45 that will give me 7 hours and 45 minutes. Pretty close!
2. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. I will be honest and say I don’t always make it to 8 glasses a day, so I’m going to count them and make sure each day!
3. Take a daily vitamin. Can’t hurt anything can it? May be missing something essential, so I’m going to add it in.
4. Keep up the exercise. I’m going to keep up the 500 burned calories a day goal.
5. Eat more lean protein. I don’t typically eat a lot of high fat proteins, but I’m cutting it out for these next 2 weeks. Lean proteins include, fish; chicken; ground turkey; etc.

1-Hour Every Day Ladies!

The past two days I have been very successful in my one hour goal. I have been using a borrowed workout DVD by Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser. It’s a crazy intense workout packed full of everything in 20 minutes. I started last night and did another tonight, and let me tell you my muscles feel like jell-o. I’ve also added in my daily walks with Julia, and managed 1 hour!

I recently heard on the news that a middle-aged women (what age is that, because I certainly feel middle-aged) needs to work out at lest 1 hour a day every day in order to loose weight. This is ridiculous to put so much pressure on women, but now that I am in day 4 of my 1 hour challenge I can feel how important it is. During the huge pump to encourage children to get out in play the catch phrase was “Get out and play, one hour a day!” Now why would 1 hour a day apply to children and not adults? We need it just as much as they do, probably even more with all the stress and responsibilities we hold on our shoulders. Now I am no way saying that this is realistic, but if we break it up into 15 or 20 minute increments through out the day is certainly can be. Hope everyone is working on the challenge!

Tonight by the way my wonderful husband worked out with me, and it really helped me to get through the intensity of my exercise. I really think having a partner during the hard times is so crucial, and I hope I'll be able to lean on him more for that. Thanks babe!

Total Calories Burned today: 802

Kick'n some Cardio Butt

I kicked some serious butt tonight with my workout! Yesterday I said I was going to get in 2 whole workouts, and today I accomplished that goal! First workout consisted of a 30 minute walk at the mall, and the second workout was the doosey, a 45 minute high impact workout with the Biggest Loser cardio Max DVD. When calculating the calories burned, I estimated that I burned over 1,000 calories today.

I attempted to make eggplant lasagna tonight, but it ended up being vegetarian lasagna. So, a little to many carbs for the evening, but all is well. I think making such a statement like I did yesterday has really given me a good jump start again, and I feel so rejuvenated for my weight loss. I am going to do the same tomorrow! I will have two workouts, with one consisting of my last chance workout.

Daily Calories: 1,566