Paper is complete.

Gym is calling.

Scale today finally broke 170. (169.8).

So why am I so crabby?

All I want is chocolate.

 

And I’m not even hormonal. UGH.

Procrastination.

I’m doing it.

Are you?

I have a paper due in my nutrition class on Friday. And once the paper is done, I’m done with the class. All of my other assignments have been submitted and most of them were in weeks early. But I cannot find the motivation for this accursed paper.

It is five sections long and is all about the obesity epidemic in America. I have managed to finish section one (defining obesity, looking into the root causes as well as the recommendations of the RDs of the US to help) and that wasn’t too bad. Where I’m stuck? The part where I know what she wants – an analysis of the “typical” meal you would have at a sit down restaurant and at a fast food place. She wants us to basically blame restaurants for making Americans fat. And I don’t buy it. *sigh*

I will probably suck it up and write what she wants though – just because I don’t feel like swimming up that stream right now. I don’t blame restaurants – people KNOW that they are not eating healthy. I blame the people who value convenience and taste over health. Admittedly, I am (or was) one of them. But to blame the restaurant that you go to of your own free will for making YOU fat seems like passing the buck to me.

Blah.
I really should finish. Maybe I’ll just skip section two and move on to section four because section three I have even MORE problems with – the “costs” of eating healthy by doing a comparison of two grocery lists, one healthy and one less so – but the foods are very carefully chosen to MAKE the healthy food cheaper (smaller portion sizes, non-name brand purchases, etc, etc). Ugh. I realize that this is a low-level beginner nutrition class at the community college level but I can’t help but feel like she’s trying to push the students in a direction SHE wants them to go and I’m not sure I like that. I prefer to draw my own conclusions from the data.

Week 8 – Weight Watchers

Blah. Retaining like a beast.
No gym yet today…seeking the motivation to go tonight rather than just curling up with a soda and my heating pad. I KNOW that going will help with the evil cramps but still, it is hard to drag my bloated hiney to the gym.

Weigh in was down 0.6lbs. I found this somewhat disappointing but I will try to rally. This is the same amount that I lost when I at very poorly three days in a row two weeks ago!*sigh* Perserverance, yo!!

Clearly I need to work some more on the formatting as all those little numbers are VERY wee!

But, I’m down to 174lbs.
My 10% body mass weight loss is 173.5lbs.

Let’s see if I can make that by next week.

I hate vegetables.

I hate vegetables.

I hate vegetables.

I hate vegetables.

I hate vegetables.

 

 

Says my good friend Colleen:

“This fascinates me too, and as I am currently having insomnia, I calculated my numbers! For my current weight, my EER=2552. I also calculated my EER based on my (eventual) goal weight to see what I would require to MAINTAIN that weight and my EER (for goal weight)=2216. I also used 1.12 for my activity factor, given how much (and how fast) I walk at work. I am not convinced that these numbers are accurate. I can tell you that if I consumed 2200 calories/day right now at my current weight , I would most likely GAIN. I don’t know if this is a flaw in metabolism, as I have probably been BLESSED with a very SLOW metabolism, but these numbers don’t particularly make sense to me. I have done a lot of education on diet with my patients and even for maintaining weight at a sedentary level, we aren’t recommending this many calories. Now I’m going to be forced to do more reseach on daily calorie requirements.

P.S. I love math!”

Mmmmmkay.

I have SOME answers. But not all and I would like to know what you find out.

1.) Your current EER of 2552 is for the average person of your height, weight, age and activity level. It’s a statistical thingiemabob but, suffice to say, 67% of people of your stats would actually be between 2350 and 2750 for calorie requirements and 95% of people of your stats would be between 2150 and 2950. If you’re concerned about weight gain, I’d start at the low end with 2150 as your estimate.

2.) I know you work your hiney off at work so this may be your EER for days that you work. But you need to calculate the value for days that you don’t work too! I have no idea what your weight is right now, but I would just change the PA value from 1.12 to 1.0. That’s the PA for someone who just does normal, everyday, hey-I’m-still-breathing type stuff. Then see what your value is (plus or minus 400 calories to be safe) and report back please! I want to know!

3.) Have you ever had your BMR or RMR done? You can get a relatively good estimate online for the average person of your weight, height, age and sex or you can get one done at some gyms or hospitals. I’ve actually had mine done for work. I got to sit in a nifty tent and breathe – I have no idea how it works but I know that the two values were different! My calculated RMR is about 1500 and my actual one (from last July) was about 1850 or so. Now, this is just how many calories your body requires to breath, have chemical reactions, digest and have your heart beat. I’d be interested to know what the difference between your EER and your RMR. My difference, for example is 2250 (EER) – 1500 (RMR) = 750 calories or 2250 (EER) – 1850 (RMR) = 400 calories. Basically, that means my EER is giving me between 750 and 400 calories per day to do all the walking, exercising, eating, talking, laughing, etc that I do in a day.

4.) Do you track your calories? I know when I started actually tracking, I was horrified to see how many calories I was actually consuming in a typical day. I was tracking before I started Weight Watchers and I was usually consuming between 2400 and 3000 calories each day. And this was when I wasn’t exercising. I was having an excess of between 400 and 1000 calories EVERY DAY. Ugh. I have two problems that I think MOST people have. 

         A.) I have Calorie Amnesia. Hardcore. I literally forget, be it on purpose or on accident, how much I eat, how often I eat and what I eat. It sucks.

         B.) PORTION CONTROL I don’t know about you, but I hate portion control. I also hate being aware that if I drink a 20 ounce bottle of soda, I just drank 2.5 portions. I hate that a serving of meat – including lean chicken and fish – is only the freakin’ size of a deck of cards. TINY. I have this mentality that I am trying to reset that – MORE IS BETTER. I am SLOWLY learning to take QUALITY of food over QUANTITY of food.

        C.) Ooops, I can’t count! But there is a third thing – if you eat out at all, unless you have the nutrition information right in front of you, don’t assume that you have any clue about the calorie information. Restaurants are sneaky. Even places that seem in theory like they’d be healthier (like sub or deli places) can hide all kinds of sneaky fats and oils and huge portions sizes all over the place on you…

5.) As well, I do not know how certain bodily conditions might change your EER. If you are certain medication or have certain conditions or are breastfeeding, for example, these values may very well change.

Please note!!

I’m not an RD so I can’t actually give you advice or anything like that, I’m just giving you the information that I got out of my nutrition book. Also note that this is an ESTIMATE. And people are NOT all metabolically equal. Some of us are calorically challenged.

 

about nutrition/weight loss! We can all see what is on my brain of late.

 

Okay, so you know you should lose weight. So how do you do it? You need to consume 3,500 calories less than you use to lose one pound of body weight. For a comfortable weight loss each week – one pound – you should consume 500 calories less each day than your body requires. For two pounds, consume 1000 calories less. Or I suppose you could burn 500 more or 1000 more. But I get side-tracked.

But, you may ask, how do I know what my body requires?
There are all kinds of estimates and you can calculate or get tested for your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) or your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) (which is just how many calories you burn everyday just to breathe). To take into account movement and all that jazz, you can calculate your estimated energy requirement (EER).

And now we will calculate MY EER. ‘Cuz math is rockin’!

Please do note that the equation for MEN is different (because men suck and get more calories just for having a penis and more lean tissue) and will be included at the end!

Assuming that you are 19 years or older, you need your weight (in kg) and your height (in m). Damn metric system.

So.
We will convert.

I am 171.6lbs according to my home scale.
171.6/2.2 = 78kg

I am 61.5 inches, or so I was last time I measured and I doubt that I magically grew.
61.5/39.37 = 1.56m

This is the equation (and it is a LOT of numbers):

EER = [354-(6.91*age)] + PA * [(9.36*weight) + (726*height)]

What is the PA you may ask?
This is your Physical activity factor and can be obtained from a nifty little chart that I don’t have so I will sum up.
First, determine if you are sedentary (typical daily living activities), low active (30-60 additional minutes of moderate activity), active (at least 60 additional minutes of moderate activity) or very active (at least 60 additional minutes of moderate activity AND another 60 minutes of vigorous or 120 minutes of moderate activity). Now, if you’re sedentary, men and women get a PA of 1.0 for that. Men get a 1.11 for low active (women are a 1.12). Active men get a 1.25 and women are 1.27. For very active, women are 1.45 and men are 1.48.

Moderate activity is equivalent to walking at 3 to 4.5mph.

I am a low active woman and my PA is 1.12.

And now we plug and chug (but I’ll walk through it slowly because I am sometimes math-slow and required help to do it the first time myself).

EER = [354-(6.91*28] + 1.12 *[(9.36*78) + (726*1.56)]

First do your parentheses!

EER = [354-(193.48)] + 1.12 * [(730.08) + (1132.56)]

Now do your brackets!

EER = [160.52] + 1.12 * [1862.64]

Now, multiply before you add!

EER = 2246.68

Now, most people will be within 1 standard deviation or +/-200 calories but nearly all people (2 standard deviations) will be +/-400 calories.

So….err on the side of caution and my EER is…..(with rounding)….1850 calories to 2650 calories.

And I consume approximately 1500 calories with my WW diet.
My calories deficit per day is 350 to 1150 (we’ll go with the calculated EER to make my mind less crazy) and say that I am consuming about 750 calories per day less than I burn. That comes out to about 1.5lbs per week.

Male equation is as follows:
EER = [662-(9.53*age)] + PA * [(15.91*weight) + (539.6*height)]

I have no idea why this fascinates me so much.

Yesterday’s step total: 11,337!!
Woot! Woot!

Assuming about a 32″ inch stride (not entirely accurate for me, and maybe later I will feel less lazy and get out my tape measure and actually measure….) that is 11,337*32=~5.7 miles of walking.

Admittedly at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the steps were done during my morning workout but I don’t think that it really matters.

Today so far: 6669 steps

But this includes the 40 minutes walk me and my work-lunch-buddy took to Subway since she didn’t bring her lunch and I was feeling guilty about this mornings’ half-hearted 20 minutes on the exercise bike.

I am getting a bit tired of writing only about physical activities and dieting….

This week’s weigh in was crazy good.

I’m down 4lbs since last week’s slightly lackluster 0.6lbs. This brings my total loss for 7 weeks to 18.2lbs and puts me 1.1lbs away from my 10% goal (which is about my 20lbs goal as well). I think I will be getting either a heart rate monitor or a facial/eyebrow wax for this second goal…

Yesterday’s total steps: 9773

Today (including 50 minutes on the treadmill) at 1311: 8241

Not too bad…

For your viewing pleasure…graphy-goodness!

 

I made this on this nifty little website.

Yesterday’s total steps from 0830 to 2030 – 4137

Today’s steps from 0455 to 1240 – 4733

Somehow I still doubt that I’ll reach the 10,000 steps they recommend a day – even with 25 minutes of walking on the treadmill (5% incline, 3.5mph). I may take a trip or two around the building to pick up some exercise, fresh air and sunshine.

Today so far I have consumed:
1 Gala Apple
1 Deeee-licious eggy sammich
1 WW Vanilla yogurt
1/2c TJ black beans (yum, yum)
1/2c peas (boring…not even any salt or sauce….)
1 ~6oz chicken breast with sesame seed coating
2T sweet’n'sour sauce

I’m not yet sure what I will eat tonight since I’m going to try to go to the dog park…
The pesto chicken cheese ravioli from yesterday is delicious though (even if a serving is only 4 raviolis) and I still have 2 more pre-cooked servings sitting in my fridge….sometimes food prep really is worth the hassle….

I am somewhat sad because my home scale is dipping down, down, down.
Why is this sad? Well, I lose a point (currently I get about 25 though I may need to re-evaluate that based off of my massive gym attendance…) everytime I change second digits. So, I went from 192.8 to 189 and lost a point (27 to 26) and then I went from 180.6 to 179.2 (26 to 25). According to WW, my last weight in was 178.6lbs. I have been weighing in at home too and according to my homescale I’m at about 172.6 (perilously close to 169 and losing a point). WWs scale typically weighs me as about 3lbs heavier than my homescale does, plus food and clothes…hopefully I get a few more weeks at 25 points…for some reason my brain is having a problem with going from 25 to 24…

Anybody eating anything tasty today?

Steps today (as of 12:30pm): 2013

That is just since about 8:30am when I put on the pedometer. I still better get to steppin’ some more to get anywhere near the suggested 10,000 steps a day. Though, I suppose if I counted my 45 minutes on the elliptical and the hour at the dog park, I would probably be closer. I may have to start wearing it more…

Today’s food:
Thus far -
1 red d’Anjou pear (post-work out snacky food)
1 ham-n-egg english muffin sammich with fresh strawberries (breakfast)
1 WW black cherry yogurt (snack 1)
1 – 1 cup serving of broccoli-slaw with reduced fat honey dijon dressing (yum! snack 2)

Yet to come -
I’m getting ready to eat lunch…
I managed to avoid the McDonald’s everyone else seems to be eating today and I’m having:
1/2c of corn
1/2c of cuban style black beans (from Trader Joe’s and the best canned bean EVER)
0.5lbs of fresh veggies (this week it is radishes, broccoli, sugar snap peas, carrots and grape tomatoes)
2T of reduced fat veggie dip
~6oz of boneless, skinless chicken breast crusted with sesame seeds and served with sweet’n'sour sauce.

For dinner, I have my meal thawed and waiting to be cooked…
1 serving of cheese ravioli with a pesto’n'chicken sauce topped with walnuts
1 dinner salad

My third snack will probably be a mini bag of popcorn or a vitatop deep chocolate muffin….

What are you eating today?