CC+E=WL!
Why Weight Loss is Like a Messed-Up Geometry Problem That Requires Continuous Proofing
Oh, human error (or stupidity). Why do you taunt me so? As a better-than-average mathematician in a room full of wordsmiths (you know it’s bad when people at work come to me for math/spreadsheet solutions), I’ve decided to approach weight-loss as a complicated math problem in need of solving. Which unfortunately, has the same element of human error, just like my final geometry grade in ninth grade. Stupid proofs. And dang Mrs. Luce.
Let’s break it down with the following stats:
- One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories.
- An average high-impact one-hour workout, depending on your weight, burns roughly 500 calories.
- The average caloric intake for a female in the U.S. is 1,877 and 2,618 for males; though the UN claims the average American consumes more than 3,700 calories a day. Given the average American is obese, I’m tempted to say the UN isn’t over exaggerating its numbers.
So, in order for me to lose enough pounds to reach my goal, I need to:
- Work out an average of seven days a week, burning 500 calories each time (giving me 3,500 burned calories a week, or one pound of weight loss).
- Cut my “recommended” calorie intake by 500 each day (giving me 3,500 “unused” calories each week, or one pound of weight loss).
- Actually follow the first two bullets.
My favorite fitness magazine, appropriately named Fitness, has some great calculator tools to check out to help with determining how many calories you need to consume each day. But something VERY important to keep in mind – if you are working out hard core, you need to make sure you’re consuming enough calories to be able to support that exercise. If not, your body could go into “starvation” mode, and store food as fat instead of fuel. Weight-loss programs like Weight Watchers (which is what Ashley is using) give you extra “points” when you work out to compensate for this.
I’ve used Spark People in the past; and while it is an excellent site and I highly recommend using it – as it wants you to eat the appropriate amount of calories, fat and carbs each day – you have to manually adjust your caloric intake each day based on your workout. Which I wouldn’t normally do – causing my body to store more fat instead of burning it – or me overeating.
So for this fitness challenge, I’m trying out Lose It!, a free iPhone app recommended to me by Kristine. I love free and most importantly, I like how it automatically determines my calorie intake and adjusts it based on my weight, exercise and my overall goal weight! To determine this, it asked me:
- My current weight (yuck)
- My goal weight (yay)
- My age/birthday
- If I wanted to lose a pound a week, 1.5 pounds a week, or 2 pounds a week
My first day food journal using LoseIt!
Ironically, the goal date it gave me for “1.5 pounds a week” gave me October 8, which is perfect! So I’ve started inputting my food today (which as you can tell, I got off to a rough start), and then it tracks my progress. I’ll keep you posted on how this tool works. The only issue I foresee – which is the problem with calorie tracking in general – is that it is difficult to determine portion sizes and what all is in the food. Hopefully I won’t be too off; but human error with these types of math problems does effect the overall solution 
