Did you know you burn calories just living everyday?

Yes, that's right. You just read that title to this blog correctly. There's a reason why the government suggests a certain amount of calories per day according to gender. It's because sleeping, reading, sitting, watching TV, eating, cooking, driving, basically everything you do burns calories accordingly with your weight, age, and gender.

This is a link to a website that helps you calculate your daily calories burned ("exercise" or not).

According to the above website I burned 2959 calories today. I burned more than I ate. For instance, my calorie intake was 1416, and today, including my walk I burned 3159 calories total. Meaning because I burnt more calories than I ate, I am losing weight rather than gaining or maintaining. I burned everything I ate by taking a 45 minute walk at about 2-3 mph and merely existing. Weird, huh? Make sure you're at least burning what you're eating if you aren't able to incorporate your exercise. Especially if you can't make time just yet. (Maybe you're waiting for summer vacation and are still in high school but trying to lose weight?) It's also important to remember the following: 3,500 calories = ONE POUND. So if you eat that much food or even don't burn 500 calories that you ate that day, then you just gained 1/7th of a pound onto your weight. And if you BURN 3,500 calories or more, then you will lose a pound or more depending on how many calories you burned.

For instance, I ate 1416 calories. I burned 3159 total calories. I burned what I ate today (3159 - 1416 = 2084), and burned 2084 calories or about 1.6 of a pound on my body. (Which is why I wake up weighing less than the day before, but not exactly a pound less.)

I feel like this is an important topic to bring up since when I was in high school, I had no time to lose weight and I gained as a result but if I had kept calorie count and stayed at or beneath the daily limit of calories (1,500) then I probably could've burned calories and shed some pounds. In fact, I could've been doing this last year when I said I was going to lose the weight...but I didn't know that you will naturally burn about those many calories even without exercising.

I'm not trying to say exercising isn't important. Let me make this clear, EXERCISE IS VERY IMPORTANT. It's incredibly important when you're at a weight like mine to start exercising to tone the body after being at a weight that has stretched your skin or left stretchmarks. And no time is better than now. I am even considering getting a yoga DVD to start working on it since I'm so embarrassed over it and don't want to be left with sagging.

So, remember that you burn calories by just merely existing, but that when you are heavier, especially above 200 pounds, you will need to exercise more for toning benefits more than anything.

Hope this post was informational and helpful! ♥
Sweet dreams~

Day 3: Calculating calories with partial servings!

Today was kind of awful. I went through a bout when I woke up of being completely unmotivated to continue with my diet. There was some arguing going on at my house so I wasn't in the best of moods, but I decided that nothing was going to make me quit my diet, even a bad mood. And unfortunately, especially when you change your diet entirely, you're going to have to go through these, and there really isn't much of a way around it other than willpower. Anyhow! I'm really disappointed with myself because thanks to REALLY bad weather, (there was a Tornado Watch in our area, and then it started storming and then there was a "Severe Thunderstorm" warning with hail advisory!), so I didn't get to take pictures today, or exercise! Bummer! But it's alright, I'll get it started tomorrow, because there was nothing I could do about people's bad moods and definitely nothing I could do about weather! Onto my Food Journal post for today!

Day 3
23.03.11. Wednesday

Morning weigh-in: (done at 1:30 PM) 219.2 lbs.

4:45 PM Chipotle

♥ barbacoa fajita burrito bowl w/ cheese and sour cream (about 540 calories)
♥ 3 12 oz. cups of water (0 calories!)

7:00 PM

♥ 10 Reese's Pieces (51 pieces = 190 calories, so about 40 calories)*

9:40 PM Snack

♥ 1/4 an average sized cantaloupe (about 64 calories)
♥ 1 yoplait greek fruit-on-the-bottom strawberry yogurt w/ granola (180 calories)
♥ 1 TLC chewy granola bar (140 calories)

NOTES: Incorporated more water just like I said I would! Finding myself less thirsty since I quit drinking sodas which is awfully ironic to me considering a lot of them brag about being "Thirst Quenchers!" Failed to exercise due to weather. Finding myself putting more effort into my diet day by day.

Total calories: 984 calories
Bedtime weigh-in: 221.6 lbs.

* So I know you're probably wondering why I asterisked something in my entry, but I suddenly realized that I was never taught how to know how many calories you're eating when you only eat part of a serving... It's fairly easy once you get the hang of it, so now I'll explain!

1 serving of Reese's Pieces = 51 pieces
51 pieces/1 serving = 190 calories
I consumed 10 Reese's Pieces.
So first you want to divide 190 by 51 to calculate how many calories 1 piece has. You will obtain a long number that can be rounded up from 3.7 to 4. So each Reese's Piece has about 4 calories. Then you multiply the amount you ate (10 Reese's Pieces) by the amount of calories they have a piece (about 4 calories).
10 x 4 = about 40 calories, because you rounded up.

And it's really that simple! Now, some of you might be saying, "Well that's too much to do when I'm out to eat!" No, it really isn't. The truth is most cell phones these days come equipped with a calculator and even though you've been eating that entire burrito for the past month, you know what 1/2 of it looks like, and if you REALLY want to lose that weight, you'll control yourself! And if you don't have a cell phone to calculate it, check it through the internet before you go out and use the calculator in your "Accessories" tab. And if you don't have both and you're reading this from a library? Well the truth is, a calculator costs a dollar and it is worth it. It's going to add a couple years on your life, and after all, isn't your life worth that one measly dollar? Or the "embarrassment" of pulling out a calculator?

On that note, sweet dreams!