Scarlett's Diary - Tomorrow is another day

We'll let the one "off" day slide this time... just make sure you get your booty back in gear for tomorrow ;)
 
beagle, I did as you suggested and my booty is duly back in gear!!!! LOL!!! :p

Today's Calories

Ate = 1052
Burned = 515
Net = 537
 
Scarlet

Wow with the exercise! You go!

I don' t mean to be a party pooper here but I noticed that you took in only 537 calories. I just want to let you know that you shouldn't take in any less than 1000 calories each day.

If a person takes in less than 1000 caloreis they can start to lose valuable muscle which actually keeps the metabolism running efficiently. If your metabolism slows down so will weight loss. I wouldn't make the low calorie intake a regular thing.


Just sharing my two cents.
 
You bring up a good point, one that I've been a little confused about. Because yesterday I did EAT more than 1000 calories. But when you take into account what I exercised it made my net calories 500 something.

But isn't the goal to burn more than you take in and that way you lose weight. Obviously I would have burned more than what I counted on the treadmill because I did other daily activities as well.

Anyone out there with some input that might clear this up for me?
 
I think the important thing is to NOT eat less than about 1200 cals a day. Your body needs at least that to just run it's daily functions. Once you drop below this your body thinks you may be starving and it kicks into kind of a survival mode....and your metabolism will slow down. WE DON"T WANT THAT!!! So work out...that's fine, but try to eat at least 1200 cals daily, fruits, veggies, protien and GOOD carbs. The body needs fuel to keep the metabolic fire burning.
 
clarification

I am NOT an expert by any means BUT from what I understand
Your weight depends on the balance of calories you take in (consume) versus the amount of calories you burn.

If you take in more calories than what your body NEEDS, then you gain weight. If you take in less calories than what your body needs, you lose weight.

You seem to be only counting the calories you are burning through excercise.... your body also burns calories for basic needs like breathing and circulating your blood....the calories you use while at "rest" are your basal metabolic rate. (75 % of your calories are used up here).

You also burn calories processing the food you eat (digestion) this accounts for about 10% of your calories burned...

Physical activity is the rest of where your body burns calories. (about 15%) playing tennis, walking to the store, shopping, chasing after your kids and "working out"—

So long story short, I think in order to lose weight you need to create a deficit...meaning if you take in 500 calories less than you normally eat when you are maintaining your weight and you burn 500 calories more a day.. by means of excersise... you are in reality creating a deficit of 1000 calories per day... which SHOULD mean every 3.5 days, you lose a pound of fat... that kind of makes sense because "they" whomever "they" are :D say that you should not lose more than 2 pounds per week on average...
So there it is... my disertation on .... WHAT WAS YOUR QUESTION AGAIN???? ha ha just kidding... sorry about the long entry!!

Oh by the way this info above is from the mayo clinic... I believe... that is where I read this...
 
I knew there was a reason I liked this forum so much....lots of smart women!!!! :D

Very good info spelin01 and ciaoana, thank you. And by the way ana, I loved your dissertation!!! LOL!!!

Well most days I'm eating around 1600 calories. Monday was a little different...over the weekend I did over 1700 each day and I ended up having some tummy problems as well. So Monday I was just trying to have a "back on track" day and try not to upset my tummy further. I don't normally eat that small amount of calories. Believe me...if I did I would be continuosly hungry!!!!

So today I plan to be back up in the 1600 range. Thanks for everyone's help.
 
Hi Scarlett, glad I found your diary! There are a lot of factors that go in to calculating metabolism, but there are a few simple things you can do to make it easier (if you have $50, no joke). Go get your RMR tested at a big gym or a hospital that has a "body gem" or other brand metabolic rate tester that checks your respiration for oxygen consumption. That will give you a no guesswork number to start with. For maximum metabolic burn, take no less than 80% of that number, and eat that many calories per day, and exercise daily. When you lose 5 pounds, you'll need to slightly reduce the number of calories you're eating too (by some amount, depending on your starting weight, muscle mass & goal weight, I can help you figure this out - I'm the princess of metabolism math problems!) Anyway, that's a healthy way to do it. Your metabolism WILL slow down if you eat fewer than 80% of your maintenance RMR calories (whatever the body gem says you need to sit around doing nothing all day), but that may be a cost vs. benefit thing for you depending on how much weight you want to lose. As far as general rules of thumb, it is, in fact, extremely unhealthy to eat fewer than 1200 cal. per day (unless you're not over 15, or you're a midget - for real - a much smaller body requires fewer calories). The number you pick should be based on as much education as you can stand giving yourself, and I'm always tweaking mine, but this info is my latest research findings. I'm constantly reading new health research studies, I'm fascinated by them.

I hope that helps some. Have a great week!
 
Great info missprincess!!! Thank you. When I first started out I actually did an excel spreadsheet using the BMR calculations I found online with formulas projecting what my weight would be months later. But I think I was overdoing it!!! LOL!!! I'm with you though...I love the mathematics of it all. In fact I think most of the worlds problems can be solved by mathematics. I still use an excel spreadsheet every day but it's much more simplified now. I should probably relook at the BMR calculations now that I've lost 40 pounds.

That test you mention sounds ideal!! I will have to look into it. I think that would be such a valuable tool especially at goal....that way you would know what range to stay in to maintain for the rest of your life. Brilliant!!!

Today's calories (no treadmill today)

Ate = 1432
 
Just catching up on your diary. You have done a great job with the weight loss in spite of the hypothyroidism. I don't care what anyone says, it is harder to lose weight when you have it. But we can do it, cause we are strong and we have lots of support! :D
 
thanks

Thanks for posting in my diary. :)

I love seeing people like you, who have already lost a lot and are still keeping up the hard work. You're a good example and motivation for people just starting out - like me!
 
Thank you everyone for all your kind words!!!! Keeping in touch with all of you has been an enormous encouragement for me, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. Thank you again!!!!!
 
Hey Scarlett, just popping in to say hi! You still seem to be doing pretty well, so keep it up!
 
Hello everyone!!!!

I'm drinking TONS of water, Jelly!! Don't drink anything else. But I have to stop drinking it about 7 pm or I am up ALL NIGHT!!!! LOL!!!!

Today's Calories

Ate = 1276
Burned = 456
Net = 820
 
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