If my train falls off the track...

        So here I am, it has been MONTHS since I have done anything. Not just with my blog, but as far as my health, diet and nutrition in general. I have been really down on myself, not motivated and pretty much in a state of constant "blah". Just recently I decided I was going to start watching The Biggest Loser on Hulu again. After about a week of watching, I decided that I needed to get off my ass and try again.
        I realize that in blog entries past I was singing from the rooftops about the Weight Watchers Quick Start Program. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking it. But what I realized was that you can't live that way. And therein lies the problem. You need to be able to live your life. Diet and exercise HAS to be a lifestyle. When doing the quick start program, I would panic about going out to eat, or hanging out with friends. That clearly is not the way to go and should have been a red flag that I was on the wrong path.
        I have a few things that I would like to share with everyone. First, I have decided to keep my quick start books, not for the purpose of utilizing the program, but for the fact that there are excellent recipes in there that give me all the nutritional information along with serving sizes that I still plan to use. Also, you can find simple ways to tweak your favorite recipes to make them healthier! It just takes some research. And finally there are a few apps/programs that I have started using that I find incredibly helpful.
         First of all if you have an Android or iPhone then you can go to the app market and look up a free app titled my fitness pal. After having gone through several apps that are similar to this one, I have decided this is definitely the best of the bunch. You can scan in bar codes off food labels, research different food options or choices, add recipes that you make from scratch and this way are able to track all of the calories you consume in a given day. Also there is a section that allows you to add any exercise you have done over the course of the day to track your calories burned. Its a really great tool and makes eating out that much less stressful!
          Next I would like to share with you some research that I have done to discover the best possible way to track everything you do in the course of a day and how it will effect your weight loss. There is a simple mathematical formula that dietitians, trainers and coaches use to help their clients achieve maximum results. I am going to share that with you now. First set is for women. You will need to find out your Active Metabolic Rate (AMR). To do this you need your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), your daily activity level, and your exercise expenditure.

           To find your BMR for a woman the equation is 655+(4.3x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years).

           The next step is your daily activity level. From the following pick the one that best describes you. Sedentary (1.1), Light physical activity (1.2), Moderate physical activity (1.3), or High physical activity (1.4). Be as honest as you can here!

           Finally the last step to finding your AMR is your exercise expenditure. You need to know how many calories you exert depending on the type of exercise you do. This is for exercise, not your daily walk to the coffee pot! Mine was 405 calories on the elliptical.

            So here is my final equation to find my BMR... 655 + (4.3 x 218) + (4.7 x 67) - (4.7 x 34) This give me 1747.5 as my Basal Metabolic Rate.

            Now I need to plug this number to another equation to find out my AMR. You will take your BMR (mine is 1747.5) and multiply by your daily activity level (mine is 1.2). Then take the result and add your exercise expenditure. The result is your Active Metabolic Rate (AMR).

            This is how my equation looks : 1747.5 x 1.2 = 2097 + 405 = 2502.

            This is how many calories I burn in a given day with my height, weight, age and daily activities, including exercise.

            Now here's the men's equation for BMR: 66 + (6.3 x weight in lbs) + (12.9 x height in inches)- (6.8 x age in years) The equation for AMR is the same for men and women.

            Now more important facts! There are 3500 calories in a pound. In order to lose say 5 pounds in a week you would need to burn 17500 calories in the course of a week. Now your AMR is how much you burn in a day, BUT you also need to factor in what you are eating. So if my caloric intake is 1320 cal/day and I am burning 2502 cal/day that puts my total loss burn for the day at 1182 calories. Over the course of the week (7 days) if I keep to the same daily numbers I would burn 8274 calories and I would lose 2.5 pounds a week. This information gives me the ability to tweak my calories consumed vs. burned to adjust my weight loss to where I would like it to be. So by adding more calories burned during exercise, say I add another 600 calories to make my exercise expenditure 1000 calories, I would then up my AMR to 3097, minus my caloric intake of 1320 and my daily burn is now 1777, for a loss of 3.5 lbs a week. Don't forget, as a woman you NEVER want to drop your calories below 1200. For a man it is 1500.
           As far as exercise is concerned, first and foremost, stick to it! Also you want it to be a mix of cardio and strength. But don't over do it! Go at a pace that is comfortable for you! So I am pretty sure that at this point I have everyone's heads reeling from all the math and information. All I can say is take it one step at a time, like me. This isn't a sprint, its a marathon, and what is important is the long haul. Off to exercise! Love to you all! And don't forget to leave me some love and some comments!