Hahahaha, yay! I got a 10!
Do I get a star sticker with that?


- Sunny

lol Mal... cute

I checked out fitday.com Sunny ..pretty cool ...so I joined ..
my nic on fitday is NattyJo

Hey Sunny!
Amazing mountain trip and pics! Wish we had something like that near Dallas instead of just flat lands. Most peaks are in the far west...could be makings of a good road trip tho *makes note.

Anyway..good luck on getting below your 181. Just a thought...Could you possibly be getting too little calories?

Yea I've been wondering that. The problem is... I don't feel like I can eat more in a day! Haha.. I know thats crazy 'cause I'm a total foodie and I love to eat, but the trainer at the gym has me eating smaller portions more often to help boost my metabolism. He thinks I was going far too long between meals (waiting until I was really hungry) and then letting my metabolism crash. Oops!

Also, I was using Fitday.com to determine how many calories (roughly..) I was burning and I don't think its right at all. Hmmmm... So I'm going to go back and recalculate numbers the old way and see if it matches with what fitday says. If not, screw fitday's numbers. I'm not sure where they get them for the BMR and Lifestyle calories.

I'll get it figured out.

- Sunny

Okay, so according to the harris benedict equation, my daily maintenance is at 1979 calories. I fixed Fitday to show the correct number (it actually says 1977). So that means all those total deficit calculations are way off. I'm going to fix them today. When I say total deficit btw, it means the total of reduced diet and (plus) exercise. I'm not starving myself to death, promise!

New Numbers
Monday Deficit: 745 (thats more like it!)
Tuesday Deficit: 726 (yay, not over 1000!)

Thats 1476 so far this week. 3500 - 1476 = 2024. So at this rate I'll lose 1lb by Friday (assuming I'm not on the verge of 180 right now). We'll see how it goes. I'm going to keep a very close eye on all of this.

I really want to believe that the only reason I've been stuck here is because I've been believing in incorrect numbers and thinking I'm burning more than I really am. *pray*

- Sunny

(P.S. Natalie! I'm glad you're liking the fitday thing. Make sure that you set your activity level at sedentary/bedbound and then add your exercises yourself. You'll get much more accurate results and I think thats one of the problems I've been having.)

oh ok
I set mine to housework ...
ok will do hun

they have cheerios .. I so eat cheerios ..lol

ttylater hun
tomorrow is a new day!
gnight hun
talk to you tomorrow!

what does deficit mean ...
how do I find out how much calories I should be taking in and how much exerting?

help ..please!
laterz
love yas
natalie jo

Deficit is the number of calories short of maintenance I am every day. It works like this.

• 1 lb of fat = 3500 calories. (keep that in mind)
• My maintenance number of calories (the amount that keeps me from gaining or losing) is 1977. If I eat right around that number, in theory I won't gain a thing and I won't lose a thing.
• My daily deficit goal is about 700 calories. Deficit is the number short of (less than) 1977 that I end up with at the end of the day. So effectively my body is only working off 1277 calories after we account for exercise and the 300 short of maintenance I'm eating.
• To reach a reasonable deficit, the best way (in my mind) is to combine a lowered calorie diet with exercise. So, I eat 300 fewer calories and exercise 4 times a week to burn 400 calories giving me the total of 700. Three days out of the week I'm only at a deficit of 300 calories.

So, 700x4 + 300x3 = 3700 calories. Since 1lb of fat is equal to 3500 calories, I should lose just over 1lb a week.

(I was doing it this way up until about two weeks ago and I think I was totally slipping...)

• To find out your BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate?), you can use one of the calculators you find online. I think one with the name Harris Benedict Equation is probably best. BMR Calculator <--- Thats a good one.
  
• Once you have that number, I'd suggest multiplying it by 1.2 which will give you the number you're looking for. The 1.2 multiplier gives you the equivalent of the standard lifestyle without exercise (light cleaning, walking around the house, petting the cats, etc.) Then you add in your own exercises like walking for 30 minutes, etc.

500 calorie deficit a day is a good goal. You might be able to do more, but I wouldn't go too low. Also, its better to exert more energy and burn calories than it is to lower your caloric intake because of the nutrients we get from foods.

There's a lot of info out there on all this. Snoop around on google or some of the other journals and you'll probably find a lot of what you need to know.



- Sunny

I'm not going to list each individual thing I ate today. The list is really long and the quantities are really small. So here's the summary:

Overall, I ate about 1675 calories and burned 2665. Total deficit today was 990 calories. A little higher than I was going for, but I ended up staying at the gym for 2.5 hours. Yeah.... I was having fun.

I spent 1 hour on a recumbent bike doing med/high intensity interval training. Not the HIIT style, but the preset on the bike that keeps throwing "hills" at you. Towards the end of that, I had run out of water so I had to sweet talk the trainer I worked with before to go get me some water while I kept working out. Ya know what? He did it. Hahahaha! I think he might have been with another client, though.. oops! I guess I can pull out the sweet/innocent charm when its needed.

I did a lot of weight training and a lot of stretching. I'm feeling pretty good.

I got home and discovered fresh brownies had been made...... Yum! I was good and had 1/16th of the pan. Thats really pretty small and came out to about 155 calories. Not too bad!

Time to go pass out. Lol.

I hope everyone has a wonderful morning. I'm sure I won't be up early enough to say it tomorrow.

- Sunny

Wow Sunny! You worked hard!
is that what a deficit means, when you work over the amount of calories you take in and thats how much the deficit is?
I am soooooooooooo confused.. ugh

love yas
natalie jo

Hey natalie, did you happen to see the post before the one you replied to? If you did, I'll happily re-explain. If not, there's a bunch of info there for you.

- Sunny

Still at 181... I'm just going to assume that I was on the verge of 182 (my scale doesn't tell me) and that I have another 1019 calories to burn before I see the difference.
It was nice while I was losing almost 2lbs a week.


Oh well.

- Sunny

Hello fellow washingtonian
Those pictures of Mt Ranier are great. I love going there. Have a great day!

Hey Sunny, the HB is the best calculator out there, but when you get up to my size the slight issues with the calculations multiply. My basal has been listed everywhere from 3,200 to 5,100 calories per day. I can tell you maintenance for me is a lot closer to the first number. Some hospitals will actually figure it out for you. Its not that much and insurance can cover it.

Sunny, I miss ya!
Where are ya?

I was all emo and effed up--now I'm better and lookin for my buddies--the Mother isn't messin with y'all, is she?

I don't know about your maintenance cals...under 2000 for your size? No offense but at 180 lbs I really think your maintenance would be higher unless you're REALLY sedentary. For example, at 140 (I'm working on it) my RMR was 1400 calories. That's JUST for breathing! Add up all activity, and I need 2200-2500 to maintain! (I'm active as all hell and muscley) I know you exercise....just be careful because from my personal experience, low calorie days make my body just want to binge. I hope you don't have that problem!! Anyway, have a great weekend and hope to hear from you soon!!!