DairyKing's Journal, 15 March 2014

Good Morning, FS Warriors! Who reads these things on a Saturday anyway? I'm just practicing my prose. :D What a glorious Saturday morning it is! 60 degrees outside already, and the sun is shining. I was a real slouch this morning and slept in until after 7 o'clock. I was kind of excited about doing my workout this morning because I got my Nike Sportsband out last night and reset it to factory conditions, and laced the sensor up into my shoe. Then I programmed my run into the treadmill so I wouldn't have to watch the clock and adjust the speed at the right intervals. Life is good. The run was still a bear, but I got er done. The Nike sensor still works apparently, and was pretty close to at least the distance I ran. Of course, the treadmill tells me that, but the idea is, if the Sportsband is fairly consistent with my runs on the treadmill, and my runs outside, then I won't be comparing apples to oranges. I keep the treadmill set at a 1% incline so my runs will be closer to what they would be on the streets. The treadmill says that I burned exactly 500 calories in my 40 minute excursion.



You know, I'm a pretty heavy thinker. I am always analyzing this and calculating that. I want to know how everything works, so I've been driving people crazy for years. I do have eight patents though, so my curiosity does pay off occasionally. Anyway, I got to thinking about how much exercise it takes to lose a pound, and why people get frustrated when they can't achieve or maintain a weight loss. For instance, my workout this morning burned 500 calories exactly. It takes 3,500 calories to lose or gain a pound. That would typically mean that, if I continued to eat exactly enough to maintain my current weight, and if I worked out for 7 days straight for 40 minutes at the pace I'm currently working out, I would lose one pound. That's not good news for a lot of folks because they want to lose weight faster than that. So, what do they do. They lower their caloric intake, and work out longer. Perfect. Burnout here we come! It's just not sustainable for most people. Even the thought of having to workout for an hour every day and eat a 1200 or 1500 calorie day is enough to make them quit before they even start. But, here's the good news: muscle burns more calories than fat! Energy needs for your body's basic functions stay fairly consistent and aren't easily changed. Your basal metabolic rate accounts for about 60 to 75 percent of the calories you burn every day. In addition to your basal metabolic rate, your body burns calories in two ways: 1) through digesting, absorbing, transporting and storing your food, and 2) through exercise, and this is the most variable of any factors beyond your basal metabolic rate. However, as you exercise, you replace fat with muscle, and your basal metabolic rate changes. Remember that accounts for 60 to 75 percent of the calories you burn. So, as you build more muscle, you burn more calories - even at rest. These are the factors that go into determining your RDI, so it really isn't anything new, except you have to be careful when you're setting up your RDI. If you have lived a sedentary lifestyle, and you've got a bunch of jiggling fat, don't select "active" lifestyle just because you plan on working out for an hour a day. Your basal metabolic rate isn't going to be that of an active person until you've replaced a lot of that fat with muscle - so be realistic. Otherwise, your RDI is going to tell you that you can eat 3,500 calories a day and lose 1 1/2 pounds per week. It's not sustainable.

I know this is a pretty lengthy journal entry, but nobody reads these things on Saturday anyway, right? I don't know what I'm going to do for the rest of the day. I'm taking DW to see the Cirque d'or tonight, so I can't get into anything real heavy. To be quite honest, I'm kind of enjoying just sitting here vegging out and drinking my dark roast coffee. Here's wishing you all a wonamous weekend. Toodles!

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845 kcal

Fat: 33.88g | Prot: 49.04g | Carb: 93.11g.   Breakfast: Toasted Bread, Fried Egg, V8 Spicy Hot 100% Vegetable Juice, Kroger Non-Dairy Creamer, Coffee (Brewed From Grounds). Lunch: Coca-Cola Diet Coke (Can), Potato Salad with Egg, Mustard, Kroger Deli Thin Sliced Honey Ham, Fabulous Flats Multigrain Slim Bun. more...

3126 kcal

Activities & Exercise: Walking (moderate) - 3/mph - 14 minutes, Running (jogging) - 5/mph - 26 minutes, Resting - 18 hours and 20 minutes, Sleeping - 5 hours. more...