200+ (Week 28) Shrinking into Summer

Victoria- I wouldn't consider a 3 mile walk all that lazy. haha! More exercise than I did yesterday!!

Happy Monday to all!

It was only semi-painful getting up this morning. It's so sticky here- very humid, which I really loathe. It's supposed to be in the mid-70s today, and depending on the humidity, that might be more than my body can handle outside. I have a pretty small temperature range of comfortability.

Yeah, so the plan is to work out in some way after work today. If it seems okay outside, I want to get a long run in. If it's too warm, I'll hit up the rec center. I will probably go to pub trivia this evening (first time since Ann Arbor's bars went smoke-free!- yes!), which means more calories than I normally would take in for dinner, so if I run, I might be a bit over, but will feel more accomplished doing that then doing an hour on the elliptical, though that burns more calories. We'll see! Gotta keep that running in with the upcoming 5K (less than 2 weeks away!)

This week is going to be rather hectic for me. It's another week where I have 2 groups going on at the same time, which is a lot to keep track of, plus I have several individual make up sessions this week as well- that doesn't include the part where I should be recruiting more peeps for the study, so I shall be a busy Kristina. I really wish I had an upcoming vacation to look forward to. Alas, no plans. The only thing on the horizon is either Memorial Day weekend of 4th of July weekend driving back to NC to pick up stuff at my parent's house for the new place. I could really use a real vacation though. *grumbles*

Kristina- what part of NC will you be coming to?

Chapel Hill's my hometown I can't seem to get away from the college towns. Love 'em!

Llyndon&Kendal- wow! I didn't know there was another NCer here! I went to school at UNC, then worked there, and then (shh) worked for Duke before going to grad school up here in MI. I don't know how long I'll be in the state for yet- if I have time, I would love to have a MPFer meetup! And Kendal- no thai? The shame! jk- I didn't have any until about 3 years ago.

Victoria- glad to hear that the physical went well. Did your MD compliment you on your weight loss amazingness??

Lacey- how did you find out the exact calculation of how many calories you really should be burning a day? Is this app something I can use on my iPhone as well? What's the name? I need to relook at the amount of calories I really should be eating in hopes to jump start some weight loss. Good luck!

Today's gone well so far. It's gorgeous outside, although I'm thinking it might be too warm for a run. It's more likely that I'll hit up the rec center instead of running. But exercise is exercise!

PS. totes craving thai food now as well. haha.

Lacey- thanks for the info on the calculator. Okay- this is a lot of #s to think about, but it helps put my eating and exercising in perspective. Let me know if this makes sense...

I used both the fitness calc and an online calculator and got relatively similar info.
Online, with my height, weight, age, gender, my basal metabolic rate is 1659 cal/day
According to a formula, with being moderately active (3-5x/wk- the next one up is more intense than I am), I multiply by 1.55, giving my daily caloric need to maintain my current weight as 2571. The FitnessCalc gave my maintaining weight as 2426 cal/day. I'll go with the lower one, cause, I'm like that. haha.

SO, if that's the case, if I want to lose 2 pounds a week (I'd like to at least shoot for that), I need to be at a deficit of 7000 cal/week. I'd like half to come from exercise and half from diet, though there's wiggle room.
So, I need to eat an average of 500 cal less a day, putting me at 1926/day
For exercise, let's say I exercise my goal of 5/week, I need to burn an average of 700 calories each time I exercise. That's a lot! I usually can do that on the elliptical, but not while I'm running, so that's why I like to hit 6/days a week instead and lower my calories a bit more. I think, if this calculation is correct, I could be undereating, which could be impeding my weight loss, and that just ain't right. I'll need to be more careful of this.

I think for this next challenge, In addition to reporting how many calories I ate/expended every day, I'll keep a running log of deficit calories (how much under 2426 a day I am with diet/exercise and add up the total for the week).

Does this makes sense? I was boring myself even writing it!

As for my day, I eased on into it, as I had some flex time that I could use. The rec center went well yesterday. I pushed myself pretty hard on the elliptical and am feeling it a little bit today. Pub trivia was fun- food was deliciously bad as always, but when I weighed myself this morning, I've lost weight since the weigh in on Friday. YES! Let's hope it continues!

Also, at work, I got a compliment about losing weight. My fellow social worker said that my pants looked loose and what have I been doing? *twirls* That always feels good. Today's exercise plan is the same as yesterday. If it's nice and not unbearable out, I'll go for a long run. If the weather is too hot, or raining, another day at the rec center.

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Sorry for the spam, but I did some calculations for my week so far. Considering that I didn't exercise 2 of the days, I think I'm doing pretty decent- helps that with my newer calculation of calories needed, I can eat more, SO, these are my calculations.

DAY/Calories Eaten/Calories Burned/Under or Over 2426 (calories needed to maintain)/Net Loss for the week

Friday/2255/0/+171/+171
Saturday/1918/243/-751/-580
Sunday/1545/0/-881/-1461
Monday/2048/802/-1180/-2641

So, according to my calculations (and of course I try and measure my calories as closely as possible, but I'm sure there are some descrepancies), I'm at a net loss of -2641 calories for the week so far. Over a half a pound down, if measured that way. The scale seems to represent that.

Are you all bored yet?