A little education

So many of you might know this information but since I am spending the time blogging about my journey I thought I would also spend some time sharing my knowledge.

First let me give myself some credibility.  I think I have read every NY times best seller on weight loss, one of my first jobs was for the largest health supplement company in the world, I have been both a certified aerobics instructor and a licensed zumba instructor, I have a degree in health science and I have spent most of my life dieting and learning about this crazy body of ours.  Isn't it funny how you can have all the knowledge in the world but unless you put it into action...it doesn't really matter.  Well, my time is now!

So what is a pound anyway?  A pound is simply 3500 calories.  You think it is easy to lose 2 pounds a week?  Well, it's not!  To lose 2 pounds a week you must burn an extra 7000 calories more than what you take in (eat).  That is a 1000 calorie deficit a day.

We burn calories all the time, even when we are sleeping.  These calories that we burn when pretty much doing nothing make up our basal metabolic rate or BMR.  You can either buy a monitor to estimate this or you can use a calculator based on your age, height, weight, activity level, etc.  I created a link so you can figure yours out.  On top of our BMR we burn calories doing other activities such as cleaning the house, working out, gardening, playing sports, running after kids...you get the picture, right?  My daily metabolic rate is around 1800 calories.  I wear a very accurate monitor and if I spend a normal day being a stay at home mom this is about how many calories I burn.  Obviously if I go workout or do other activities I burn more.  This means that I can eat about 1800 calories a day and not gain weight but stay at maintenance mode.

But what about those 2 pounds a week.  Somehow I have to cut 1000 calories out of my allotment every day.  I have three options: 1) cut calories  2) exercise more  3) a combo of the two.  I have chose to do a combo of the two.

I love to eat!  I love to cook and bake so this can be a challenge for me.  From all the reading I have done everything says that you need to eat at least 1200 calories to function properly.  If you are eating a lot less than that, then you are only burning muscle and not fat (an entire post on this is coming soon).  So, I have been trying to eat around 1500 calories a day and burn about 2500 a day.  That means I have to get in 700 calories of exercise.  On the days that I know I will do less exercise then I cut my calories a little more.  So far, it is working!  I have been on the plan for 2 weeks and lost exactly 6 pounds!  I am sure that two of the pounds is water weight but I'll take it.

The first two weeks is easy!  You always lose weight and your body gets shocked and you lose it faster.  Here is where the hard part starts.  The losing slows down.  My goal for this next week is to lose 2 pounds and not to get discouraged!  I have added extra cardio to my schedule and also some weight lifting.  Again, lots more posts about strength training, muscles, recipes, etc to come.

What is your small goal for the week?