THIS IS A VERY COMPREHENSIVE POST. IT IS VERY INFORMATIVE AND COULD HELP YOU CREATE YOUR WEIGHT LOSS PLAN. YOU WILL MOST LIKELY NEED TO READ IT MORE THAN ONCE. DON’T JUST SKIM OVER IT AND MISS THE POINT. LEAVE YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS IF YOU NEED HELP DETERMINING YOUR PLAN.
I was talking to my mother-in-law about my son’s weight. He’s 9 months old and considered by his doctor to be “overweight for his height.” We had a discussion about just how ridiculous it is to start such a measurement so young! She agreed that he is in no way a “fat” baby. Yeah, he has a fat roll on each of his thighs, but other than that and a little bit of a fuller face, he is a lean little machine. I’m not worried, and I will NOT permit the negative programming that screwed up my head to be preached to him.
While we were talking, I mentioned to her that since marrying my husband, I had gained about 10 lbs a year. When I go back to my earliest recollection of my weight, which would be 198 lbs in 1991 a year out of high school, and compare it to my weight today on average I have gained just over 5 lbs. a year.
313.1 (today’s weight) – 198 (1991 weight) = 115.1 pounds gained over 22 years
115.1/22 = 5.23 lbs gained per year (on average)
Given there are 3500 calories in one pound, in order to gain 5.23 lbs in a year, I would have to have eaten…
5.23 lbs X 3500 calories = 18,305 calories overeaten over the course of one year. How hard is this to do? Let’s see what it equates to on a daily and weekly basis.
18,305/365 = 50 calories over each day or 1 sugar free snack cup of Apple sauce
18,305/52 = 352 calories over a week or 1 Tuna Melt Sandwich
WOW!! Somehow, I don’t feel like I am such a PIG now! I definitely see how this happened!!! Keep following me! You’ll see it, too, and you’ll see how I will keep from adding another pound to my numbers (even as I continue to lose weight).
Let’s flip this to exercise. I NEVER exercise. Why? Because you work your butt off for nearly nothing! Not to mention, IT’S BORING! I’m referring to the gym type of exercising of course.
According to Fit2Flex blog, you can burn 50 calories in 5 minutes doing 5 simple exercises for 1 minute each. See the link for those exercises. I think I can definitely give that amount, DAILY, to help offset what I tend to gain over the course of a year. Do you see that? If I hadn’t looked at exercise the way I had, I could have offset the amount of weight I was gaining.
The fitness industry wants to sell us all kinds of things, but in reality, what has been said by so many is true! If we exercise just 20 minutes a day 5 days a week, we should prevent weight gain for the year.
Losing weight is a different story! I think this is where we lose our way. I am almost positive this is where I lost my way. I have 22 years of 5.23 lbs to lose, so I can’t just do 20 minutes a day 5 days a week. I need to do that minimum to ensure I don’t continue to gain, yes, but to begin reversing the scale, I have to add more.
How about some math. My brain will hurt after all of this analysis…
Just using the numbers I have so far (which is based on my weight gain according to my metabolism…you’ll need to consider your numbers)…I am only taking into consideration exercise at this point. This will not take into consideration an improved way of eating. This is basically the same, mindless eating pattern that I had over the course of these 22 years.
According to my analysis, it would take me three (3) years to lose the 180 lbs I have gained over the course of 22 years plus the amount to reach normal BMI. In order to lose this weight, I will have to workout 1 hour every day for the next 3 years. Again, this is keeping with the same mindless eating pattern I was in before, which I will not do. I am improving my eating, so this number can actually be reduced. This is just the worst case scenario. This workout isn’t just a basic stroll either. This is the Fit2Flex workout…an hour long, so that is a relatively intense workout considering the duration.
Reducing my caloric intake will have an even greater impact on this goal. If reducing my caloric intake could do half of the work, then I could lose the weight in 1.5 years. It is a lot easier to cut 50 calories than it is to burn 50 calories. Cutting my mindless eating, caloric intake 602 calories a day and exercising 30 minutes a day, every day for 1.5 years…I should be able to reach my goal.
I will review my current eating to determine if I have decreased my caloric intake by eliminating all meat and eating fish/seafood only. I am hoping the changes in meat and dairy that I have made will be enough.
I know this blog post was a little more complicated because it wasn’t one that you could read without analysis. Look, if you want to lose weight, YOU HAVE TO THINK. You can’t just say, ok, I’ll workout and cut back. It’s just not enough to do that. You need to know how much you need to workout and how much you need to cut back. It will take a lot of thought and basic math to come up with your numbers. Take time out to determine your plan.
Fighting FAT 
It sounds like alot of work to me. I think this is why I don’t stick to any diet for very long….it is just soooo hard. You definitely need to be disciplined. I just dont know that I can do or will do an 1 a day of exerciese. While I have started doing water aerobics 2 hours a week and zumba 1 hour a week, and plan to add another 1 hour of zumba a week, I just don’t know if I could or would commit to an hour a day……sometimes I am just too tired.
So you aren’t eating chicken, just fish/seafood? That could get alittle boring., huh?
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It seems like a lot of work because thinking through it to determine how much you need to lose does take a little time. I did it in a an hour or so, I guess. That was no big deal. That hour would have passed anyway, right. 🙂
As for an hour workout? You need to continue reading or reread the post. My workout will be 30 minutes a day. My plan is to try a week working out 30 minutes a day at one time, and then a week working out 30 minutes a day in 5 minute intervals 6 times a day. I will set my cell phone to do the workout.
Whatever your workout, it doesn’t matter. The point of the post is to be sure when you have the amount of weight to lose that we do, that you workout WITHOUT FAIL, every single day! If you can’t make it to Zumba, then do something at home. Working out while watching what you’re eating like you are, you will see success. You already are seeing success I am sure.
No. I am not eating chicken. I am only eating fish/seafood, and no, it’s not boring. I actually don’t eat any type of meat most of the time, and occasionally we include fish/seafood. It hasn’t gotten boring to this point, and preparing meals is much faster without the heavier meats that take longer to prepare. I have an order in for catfish nuggets from my dad. I guess my husband and I will go out and catch them.
You know, I had been looking at things the same way you did in the first sentence of your post. I always felt it was so hard to stay “disciplined,” but really, it just takes thinking. Being mindful and moving enough to offset the gaining we did before getting here.
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