Some Scientific Stuff
So today, yes, I did go for my 30 minute run. I have to say, I was exhausted almost all the way through. I was thinking that perhaps I was not eating enough. I've felt that way these past few days - like I was craving much more than I was eating. Case in point: yesterday I had 2700, yes, 2700 calories. I feel like forcing myself to stay under 1500 calories a day was making me 'splurge' when I can't take it anymore. That hunger coupled with feeling more tired as opposed to more fit made me go online to do more research into healthy caloric intake / healthy weight loss. Here's a couple things I've discovered.
1) Healthy weight loss talks about figuring out how much body fat you have and focusing on the pounds of FAT to lose, rather than overall pounds to lose (so that you don't lose muscle mass, which is important for continued weight loss). I calculated my body fat % and I am at 31.82% fat. Yorg. That comes out to 77 lbs. Good god. 77 lbs of fat is like...like...a little over 15 of my macbook laptops (which are 5 lbs a pop). I have 15 laptops around my body. Nice. SO, in figuring out that I have 77 lbs of fat at 31% body fat percentage, I aim to get to a 22%ish body fat percentage (athletic range), which is more like 53 lbs of fat. Meaning I've got 24 lbs to lose...or about 5 laptops...for now.
Body Fat Calculator: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/
Body Fat Chart: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/body-fat-chart.php
2) I haven't gotten my period in 2 months. I already ruled out the pregnancy thing, don't worry. However, I've been reading that excessive exercise disrupts the menstrual cycle. I want to try to get things back into normalcy so I don't risk decreased estrogen levels which can lead to calcium deficiency, etc. (which can happen if I have amennorhea for over 6 months, or if I'm at a body fat % of less than 20&ish)
3) Perhaps the biggest thing I've learned is that I'm eating WAY TOO FEW calories to sustain muscle, burn fat, and keep healthy. I've been eating, on average, 1647 calories a day (from 950 to 2700!), minus the 350ish calories/day of activity, bringing me to 1337 calories I'm consuming a day. Using multiple calculators, I have found that my basal caloric intake (e.g. how many calories I should be eating to sustain my current body weight) is around 2769 (currently my 1647). I should be eating roughly 500 - 1000 less calories a day to lose 1-2 lbs a week (so 1769 - 2269 instead of my 1337). Any less than that could be detrimental to my health. So I've been short by 400 - 900 calories a day - that's like a meal!!
Calculate your caloric intake here:
http://healthfitness.com.au/calculators/calculate_fitness.html
So, if I have this all right (which I thought I had last time!) I should be eating roughly 2000 calories a day in order to lose a little more than a pound a week. I'm feeling motivated, so I want to aim for 1700 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week. Still, it makes me feel better knowing that I've got more calories a day I can eat, as I was feeling guilty for going over 1200 - 1500. However, I'm also realizing that I really could use a nutritionist....
1) Healthy weight loss talks about figuring out how much body fat you have and focusing on the pounds of FAT to lose, rather than overall pounds to lose (so that you don't lose muscle mass, which is important for continued weight loss). I calculated my body fat % and I am at 31.82% fat. Yorg. That comes out to 77 lbs. Good god. 77 lbs of fat is like...like...a little over 15 of my macbook laptops (which are 5 lbs a pop). I have 15 laptops around my body. Nice. SO, in figuring out that I have 77 lbs of fat at 31% body fat percentage, I aim to get to a 22%ish body fat percentage (athletic range), which is more like 53 lbs of fat. Meaning I've got 24 lbs to lose...or about 5 laptops...for now.
Body Fat Calculator: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/
Body Fat Chart: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/body-fat-chart.php
2) I haven't gotten my period in 2 months. I already ruled out the pregnancy thing, don't worry. However, I've been reading that excessive exercise disrupts the menstrual cycle. I want to try to get things back into normalcy so I don't risk decreased estrogen levels which can lead to calcium deficiency, etc. (which can happen if I have amennorhea for over 6 months, or if I'm at a body fat % of less than 20&ish)
3) Perhaps the biggest thing I've learned is that I'm eating WAY TOO FEW calories to sustain muscle, burn fat, and keep healthy. I've been eating, on average, 1647 calories a day (from 950 to 2700!), minus the 350ish calories/day of activity, bringing me to 1337 calories I'm consuming a day. Using multiple calculators, I have found that my basal caloric intake (e.g. how many calories I should be eating to sustain my current body weight) is around 2769 (currently my 1647). I should be eating roughly 500 - 1000 less calories a day to lose 1-2 lbs a week (so 1769 - 2269 instead of my 1337). Any less than that could be detrimental to my health. So I've been short by 400 - 900 calories a day - that's like a meal!!
Calculate your caloric intake here:
http://healthfitness.com.au/calculators/calculate_fitness.html
So, if I have this all right (which I thought I had last time!) I should be eating roughly 2000 calories a day in order to lose a little more than a pound a week. I'm feeling motivated, so I want to aim for 1700 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week. Still, it makes me feel better knowing that I've got more calories a day I can eat, as I was feeling guilty for going over 1200 - 1500. However, I'm also realizing that I really could use a nutritionist....
posted by Carrots, Anyone? @ 9:10 PM
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