Friday, April 22, 2011

Diet or DIET?

Tonight I went over to a friends house.  She had a little class on Nutrition and it was SO good to have a few reminders and learn new things about diet; not the four letter DIET word that I hate.  There is a BIG difference, at least in my book.  DIET is something {may or may not include a drink, pill or magic cure} that someone tries out for a short amount of time {and may even lose - or gain - an enormous amount of weight}, the quick fix.  Diet REALLY should be PRACTICING good eating habits based on what you need to meet your goals.  It's a complete LIFESTYLE, meaning you do this FOREVER, not just until you meet your goals!!!

So here is a quick version of the 2 hours that we were there!

Let's start with caloric intake.  Here's how to figure out how many calories you should be eating every day.   

Body Weight ______ x 10 = ______ BMR {Basal Metabolic Rate} Or go HERE to calculate with more specifics.
BMR x 20% = _______ DAB {Daily Activity Burn}  20% is if you workout for an hour a day!
BMR + DAB + 600 = ________ Energy or Calories Per Day {600 is approximate number of calories you'll burn in that 1 hour workout}

SO.  We're going to get REAL personal here.  I'm going to use MY number to illustrate better what all that means.

Body Weight 132 x 10 = 1320 {the above website says 1303 so it's fairly close}
1320 x 20% = 260 DAB
1320 + 260 + 600 = 2180 Calories Per Day

Once I have that basic number {2180} I have a lot of power.  I can adjust that number to fit my current needs.  Am I working out a lot and need more calories so I have the energy to do so?  Am I gaining weight when I don't want to be?  It's important to know that magic number!!!  Then it's all about logging your actions!!!

It's important to log EVERYTHING.  I'm REALLY good at logging my workouts.  But I am HORRIBLE about logging my caloric intake.  I was really good at it when I was trying to lose weight but then I let it go.  And let me tell you, I KNOW I'm not eating as well as I should; which is why I put on 15 pounds in 4 months and it hasn't come off for the past 3!  So.  I realized I NEED to keep track of what I'm eating whether I'm trying to lose weight or not.

I also was reminded that what you eat is 90% of weight loss/gain is diet!  Think Biggest Loser!  Rulon was working out like an animal but when he was sneaking a bag of potato chips at night.... he wasn't losing the weight!!  It is so important to watch what you eat for you to achieve your weight loss/gain goals!

Active.com has A LOT of different calculators you really should go look at.  BMI, Body Fat, Caloric Needs, Ideal Weight... Knowledge is power and knowing where you are will help you know what changes you need to make to get to be where you need/want to be. 

0 comments:

Nike Trainer

Related Posts with Thumbnails