Health Review

I just wanted to do a little review on health/weight loss/healthy eating since I plan on counseling many people over the years as a provider and healthcare advocate.  and I wanted to solidify my own resources on paper, er, computer.

Basic metabolic rate: Your body's energy needs to maintain current weight.  Usually this is calculated when resting or upon waking.  We calculate this to determine how many calories your body needs to maintain weight and also to lose weight.

3500 calories = 1 pound.
3500 divided by 7 days in a week = 500 calories per day.  If you want to lose 1 pound per week, which is a healthy amount to lose to sustain weight loss over time, you decrease your intake of calories by 500.  Or if you started exercising, you would aim to work off 500 calories or do a combination of eating less calories and exercising to equal 500 calories. This combined effort would be ideal.

Google or go to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator to calculate your BMR.
I'm 5'8,  145 lbs, 34 years old, female.  My BMR is 1,406 calories per day.  Remember that this is the amount of calories needed to do nothing; not even sit. So I add roughly 1000 calories a day just for sitting for 16 hours.  There is a very technical way of measuring how many calories needed each day that factors in your calories burned, but that takes special, bothersome equipment.  So I'll low ball it and just add 1000.

I then divide that by three (three meals in a day, although I'm a snacker and a two-breakfast eater and cookies, oh the cookies!!)
2,406/3= 802 calories per meal.  But then I'm going to subtract for snacks. And cookies. So maybe 500 calories per meal.  yikes! 906 for the remainder second breakfast/snacks/cookies.  I like this because it means that no foods are off limits, just rearrange so that I'm totaling 2400 for the day.

Thank God I exercise most days! I can add on some calories. and I do. always.
Here's a chart that shows how many calories are burned in one hour of certain types of exercises.  I think we Americans need to dig deep down to our British roots and take up Squash and golfing without trolleys.  




Here's another chart that shows how many calories are in each food.  I have reviewed it several times and am always surprised by some of the things that I eat regularly and could easily substitute for something with less calories but similar flavors.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/NutritionalChart.htm

My Fitness Pal is an excellent tracker on a mobile device to help keep track.

If you want to get real technical, you can calculate your target heart rate and wear a monitor during exrecise for optimal calories and fat burning ranges.  Aim for at least 40 min of exercise > 5 days / week.

Yay! Let's get healthy!