Numbers That Matter: How Do I Lose a Pound?

By now, I hope I’ve made myself clear:

 I am all about exercising and eating right for living's sake. 

 Just living right for the sake of living right.  

It feels good.  

We will live longer.  

We will live better.  

It is why we were given these bodies to begin with -- to care for them.

However, personal philosophies aside, it doesn’t erase the fact that some of us want and NEED to lose some weight. How exactly do we go about doing that?

Let’s talk numbers:

The amount of calories in one pound is 3,500.

If you want to lose one pound in a week, you essentially have to reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 calories per week, right? So, since their are seven days in the week it makes this very easy cheesy:

3,500 ÷ 7 = 500

To lose one pound a week you need to reduce your calories by 500 a day. 

 That’s like not eating

one banana, 

a tablespoon of peanut butter, 

2 eggs, 

and a small bowl of Kashi cereal with a bit of soy milk.

OR 

by not eating one honkin’ slice of chocolate cake.

Take your pick.

Now, let’s play around a bit.

Wanna lose:
2 lbs per week? Reduce by 1,000 a day (yowsers! This is tough for me)
1.5 lbs per week? Reduce by 750 calories a day
1 lb per week? Reduce by 500 calories a day
.5 lb per week? Reduce by 250 per day

Muy importante:  I’ll say this again when it comes to slashing and counting calories: DO NOT GO UNDER 1,200 CALORIES PER DAY. Yes, you want to lose some weight, but you also need to live, my friend. Your body has a stressful job to face every day. Thinking, breathing, circulating, replenishing, digesting -- all of that requires energy. In other words, food. Your body needs food to lose weight the right way. Starvation is just a mode your body does not like and it will rebel in more ways than one.

So, there you have the numbers.  The math, however, is the easy part.  The actually doing it is what is tricky :)

For more on weight loss and counting calories:

Figuring Out Your Calories:  Round 1
I've Got Some Explaining To Do:  Round 2
Counting Calories:  Round 3 **This is the method I use.
To Count or Not to Count?

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Numbers That Matter: Resting Heart Rate

Just when you thought you got everything under control, I throw another number to juggle at you. This is a harmless one -- your resting heart rate, or RHR. It is what is sounds like: how many times your heart beats per minute when you are at rest.

Why
Resting Heart Rate is simply a very general measuring stick that reflects your state of overall health. It obviously is not the end-all-be-all measurement, but it does give you a good idea of where you are.

Basically, the lower the RHR, the healthier the person. Lance Armstrong famously has a RHR of 32. His heart is such a strong, effective muscle that it pumps some SERIOUS blood through there each time it beats.

 There are many factors that influence this number:

gender

age

fitness level

anxiety levels

medications

pregnancy

smoking

illness

fatigue

over-training
height (the smaller you are the higher your RHR will be)
type of training
(a long distance endurance athlete will have a lower RHR than a sprinter for example)

How
If you are a morning person (that would be me), the following exercise will be the hardest thing you will ever do. It will drive you crazy. If you hate getting out of bed in the morning and love to push snooze a million times (the Doc), this will be right up your alley.

1. When you wake up, lay there for about 15 minutes.

2.  Find your pulse. You can do this by measuring your cartoid pulse or radial pulse. Or, if you are crazy like us, you can wear your heart rate monitor and measure it.

3.  Measure your pulse for 20 seconds. Times that by three.

4.  You’re not done. Do steps 1-3 three times in one week. Take the average of the three numbers. That is your RHR.

What Does It Mean?

Below is a RHR chart for women to see where you fall on the spectrum:

Age	RHR for Athletes	WOW!	Good	Above Average	Average	Below Average	Poor
18-25	<54- 60	61-65	66-69	70-73	74-78	79-84	85+
26-35	54-59	60-64	65-68	69-72	73-76	77-82	83+
36-45	54-59	60-64	65-69	70-73	74-78	79-84	85+
46-55	54-60	61-65	66-69	70-73	74-77	78-83	84+
56-65	54-59	60-64	65-68	69-73	74-77	78-83	84+
65+	54-59	60-64	65-68	69-72	73-76	77-84	84+

*Chart courtsey of www.buzzle.com

Again, like all numbers we’ve talked about -- the scale, BMI, HR -- this is only a guide and it is definitely not precise by any stretch of the imagination. RHR’s have a large range, as do normal heart rates.

So why even post on this? It’s just interesting that’s all. I like to just know these things about myself since I’m a weirdo. The Doc likes to test his RHR occasionally for bragging rights (his is always lower than mine :). I do think it is healthy to know what ballpark we're in on this fabulous fitness journey. And I thought you might too.

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Are You In Your Fat Burning Zone?

This is it! 

The last hours of the Trainer Momma GIVEAWAY of a

$100 gift card to
 Athleta.com!

Click here to enter!

Winner will be announced tomorrow...

Here goes a doosey of a post.  This post has been bouncing around in my brain since the start of Trainer Momma. Cross your fingers. Make a wish. Here goes nothing.

This is a very simplified explanation of one of fitness’s favorite controversies:

Aerobic Exercise vs. Anaerobic Exercise

or

Cardio Zone vs. Fat Burning Zone

There is a TON of complicated science that goes into this issue, however, I am stripping it down to its bare bones and explaining what matters to us.

Let’s start with an analogy: You are a Toyota Prius. Hopefully the kind with brakes that work. Your body is a hybrid electric car.

Oh yeah.  

That is you.

You are very cool.

You are driving around town, chillin’ like a dillin’ in your remarkably quiet, shiny Prius using battery power. This is all fine until you want to speed up and the electric power cannot cut it anymore. Since you are a Hybrid, and not a golf-cart, you are in luck! The gasoline kicks in and now you are using both functions simultaneously, the electric and the gasoline, to fuel your vehicle. Go burn some rubber.

This same scenario happens when you’ve been driving using the electric power for an extended period of time. Eventually, the gasoline power will join the electric power and you keep on truckin’ - or Prius-ing, I suppose.

Same with your bod. OK, let’s say you are out on your run (if you are not a runner, just work with me here. This can be applied to any cardio you do). You are at a nice easy pace, breathing deeply and just warming up. You are in the aerobic zone and your muscles have ample oxygen available to them. At this point your body is using fat for fuel.

The warm up is over, it’s time to pick up the pace. Suddenly, your breathing speeds up and you notice your heart rate is rising. At this point the oxygen needed to keep you in the aerobic zone is outstripped and glucose (carbs/sugar) pitches in and now you are in the anaerobic zone.

Alert! Alert! Big flashing arrows with lights are pointing to this fact that is missed by most:

 Fat is still being used for energy as much as ever, but is now being helped out by glucose.

It is not an either/or process. It is an both/and process. Fat is being burned in the aerobic AND anaerobic zones. It is just in the anaerobic zone, glucose jumps in and helps out. But, your fat burning capacity did not turn off. It is still chugging away.

So, how does this pertain to you? A few ways.

I was jogging the other day and I needed to stay between 65-85% of my maximum heart rate in order to stay in my aerobic zone (or popularly called the fat burning zone.  I hate that incomplete term).  For me that is in between 141 - 157 beats per minute. Let’s see, I am in that zone for - oh -  all of 8 minutes, if that. For the rest of the run, I am easily in the 160’s and even 170's on the sprints or hills. So, the question is -- was the whole run (minus the first 8 minutes) a complete waste of time? Did I not burn any fat since I was out of the magic “fat burning zone"?

OF COURSE NOT!

Cardio machines, heart rate monitors, or ignorant personal trainers straight out of high school are going to tell you that you are in the anerobic zone, thus you are not burning fat, so you need to slow down.

IGNORE THEM.  They are wrong.  Remember, even though you may hit your anaerobic zone, you are still burning fat and glucose as well.

You want results right? It all comes down to calories in vs. calories out. How are you going to burn more calories? Walking for 30 minutes or running for 30 minutes? OF COURSE RUNNING. Weight is lost when there is a calorie deficit -- so burning calories during a cardiovascular workout is your goal!

Let your body worry about what it needs to use for fuel. It is very good at flip flopping back and forth between aerobic and anerobic, fat and glucose -- with no help from you, thank you very much.  Your job is to DO THE CARDIO. Just get it done! And push yourself. The most effective type of cardio incorporates HIIT -- which leads us back to another post.

I know that there will be exercise buffs, athletes, and scientists pulling their hair out yelling, "But there's so much more to this!"  (The Doc is one of them.  Sorry hon).  But, we are here to understand what matters to us, not necessarily be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  However, if they call I will graciously travel to Stockholm to accept.

To answer the question in the title post, the answer is a loud, emphatic YES!  If you are doing cardio, whether it be aerobic or anaerobic, you are in your fat burning zone!  CONGRATS!

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BMI: What Should I Weigh?

If you are like me, your weight has been up and down the scale along with this crazy roller coaster ride called life:

In high school I started out thin, then by the time I was a junior I was heavy.

College came, I dropped weight, then gained it again (too many bowls of Fruit Loops and $1.00 hamburger nights at McDonald's).

I got married heavy, then just got heavier.

I dropped weight, then got pregnant and gained weight, then lost it again.

Times that by three.

Up, down, up, down.

Whew! I have clothes size 4 all the way up to 16 in my closet. No wonder I have taken over half of the Doc's side of the closet.

How much SHOULD we weight?  This is a tricky question and has many variables. There is one way to indicate one aspect of our health and that is called our BMI or Body Mass Index. BMI is used to estimate one's healthy weight in comparison to their height.  There is a number assigned to where one falls in that range.

There are some benefits in knowing your BMI:

I  use the BMI chart with my clients simply to give them a healthy weight range. Sometimes we want to lose weight, but we just don't know how much?  20 pounds?  30 pounds?  What is healthy?  I know I'm no longer a skinny-mini 14-year-old with a fresh perm and rolled up jean shorts weighing 115 lbs. I can't believe it but I'm turning 35 next week. I am now my mother as I remember her from my childhood. What is an acceptable weight range for weight with this grown up woman's body I now inhabit?  That's where the BMI chart comes into play and can be somewhat helpful.

The drawbacks of BMI:

There are a lot of people who hate this BMI chart. They scream:

What about muscle mass? 

Large/small bone structure? 

Activity level? 

Touche. 

Yes, I agree, there are a lot of holes when you just dictate someone's weight based on their weight.
I absolutely acknowledge that we all have different bodies, shapes and sizes so this is definitely not the gospel written on the the stone tablets.  Just yet another tool in our endeavors to be healthy.

So, with all its weaknesses, here is the BMI chart.  Use it. Discover if you are underweight, healthy, overweight, obese, or extremely obese.  If losing, maintaining, or gaining is one of your fitness goals, perhaps this will help you.  I hope so :)

Your BMI # will be in one of the boxes.

BMI # of:

18 - 24 is healthy

25 - 29 is overweight

30 - 39 is obese

40 and above morbidly obese

Does this make sense?

I've Got Some Explaining To Do...

A lot of questions are flying lately about how I figure my calories.

I posted about a month ago how to figure out your own calories by using the Harris Benedict Equation (see post here). Using this method, you find your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR, then depending on your fitness goals and how much you exercise you can find the grand total.

I am posting regularly in my Eat With Me posts how many calories I have in my "calorie bank" then I add on top of that how many calories I burned during the workout.

I have used the Harris Benedict Equation and the number of calories I should shoot for each day is around 1,700. Well, you will notice on my Eat With Me Posts my "calorie budget" varies from day to day. Why is that?




I am a bit more OCD about my calories and want more specific results than a ballpark figure. I use a few different methods to figure my calories:

• Lose It application on my iPhone

• My heart rate monitor to see how many calories I burned during my workout

What numbers go into the calorie bank each day? Let's M.C. Hammer this and break it down:

1. Basal Metabolic Rate

About 60% or more of the energy you use goes into just keeping your body up and running.
The work that goes on all the time without you doing much about it like your heart beating, breathing, keeping your body temperature maintained, nerve messages racing to the brain all need energy -- or calories -- to function properly.

Many things effect where your personal BMR is at. Your age, gender, body composition, stress all influence the number of calories your body needs to work -- or your BMR. The more lean muscle you have, the higher BMR you will have. Your muscles are calorie burnin' machines and need more calories. That's why I'm always begging you to pretty please pump some iron! Fat burns less calories, therefore the more overweight you are the less calories your body is flying through -- therefore your BMR is lower. Have I lost you yet?

Another thing is when you lose weight, your BMR goes down. Think about it, your body is smaller so you need less food to make it work properly. So, as I have lost weight I've noticed my daily BMR shrinking. Bummer.

2. Workouts/exercise

The workout only counts for around 30% of total energy output. It is less than 1/2 of the BMR. Is anybody else not OK with this?!? Pretty lousy, I think, considering how hard it is to even find matching shoes and get to the gym on time. And then there's the killer workout! Somebody give us some credit around here! Whatever, it is what it is.

So, in order to MAINTAIN your weight here's the equation:

Calories for BMR + calories for the workout = grand total of calorie needs

3. If you want to lose weight, you've got to slash some calories. In order to lose 1 pound a week you need to cut 500 calories a day (yikes!). In order to lose 2 pounds a week you need to slash 1,000 whopping calories a day.

**BIG WARNING HERE: Do not ever eat under 1,200 calories a day. This is the basement, gals. Below this and your body starts not functioning correctly, starts panicking and breaks down your hard earned muscles for energy. DO NOT GO HERE.

So, my BMR to MAINTAIN my weight is around 1,900 calories. I want to lose 1 lb. per week. Now my BMR is suddenly a measly 1,400 calories. I could eat just this, live a moderately healthy life, and lose weight. But, I'm an exercise fanatic and know I need to exercise not only to be skinnier but healthier, so I need to add those calories I burn during my spin class back in. Let's say I burned 350 calories in my workout today. Add that back on -- and boom! I'm up to 1,750 calories for the day. Much more doable.

Some of you have asked why even add in the calories for the workout -- isn't that just undermining what I'm trying to do, namely lose weight? I suppose I could lose weight faster if I didn't add those calories in, but frankly, I'm not willing to eat that little. I've got to get through the day without having a headache, being grouchy to my kids, and I need enough energy to at least smile at the Doc when he gets home every night. Being the overextended mom that I am and the fact that I demand A LOT from my body, I just want to treat it right and show a little loving mercy. Just a little :)

Just a bit more rambling and I'm done.

I've posted on how losing weight is science. It is not a mythical creature that is impossible to understand. Understand, yes. But do 100% of the time? Much more difficult.

I've been working on 8 lbs since January 4, 2010. I have lost a solid 5. Hhhmmm, I'm slashing 500 calories per day in order to lose 1 lb a week -- so I should have lost a little more than that by now?

Um, no.
That's because I am not perfect.
I am not 100% every day 7 days a week.
I do cheat occasionally (especially on the weekend!) -- and that sets back my progress.

But, overall, I know that I'm still losing, not as fast and right on track as I'd like, but at a rate that I can live with.

Numbers That Matter... Posts

Some numbers matter, others not so much.  Take a look:

Body Mass Index (BMI)

Resting Heart Rate (RHR)

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