I get hot quickly, I sweat a lot, I burn easily and I am allergic to a vast majority of my outdoor environment. I also associate the outdoors with childhood activities I hated but was made to do anyway, like hiking and camping. As an adult, I enjoy outdoor activities like floating the river in New Braunfels or the occasional walk, though you’re more likely to find me walking on a treadmill than out in the fresh air.

So the prospect of spending a few (or more!) hours at the 110-acre Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens this last Saturday was not exactly enchanting. My mom wanted to go, though, and it was Mother’s Day weekend, so I acquiesced - after I made one final, fruitless push for us to visit the Dallas Arboretum instead, as the latter is closer to my house.

The visit at the Botanical Gardens was a good one, as it turned out. The day itself was lovely – the temperature moderate, the sky blue, and the breeze gentle. The gardens were striking, and we had some good laughs feeding the koi, ducks and turtles in the Japanese Garden.

And I felt a sensation to which I’m not terribly accustomed - a healthy appetite brought on my exercise and fresh air. It was a good hunger, unlike the one borne of boredom. The fresh air hunger didn’t nag at me like my bored hunger does. We did a lot of walking, which seemed to both inspire a bit of an appetite while simultaneously abating it. It was a strange feeling, but one I enjoyed. When I got home from a fairly long afternoon at the gardens, I didn’t tear into the nearest food I could find. I was content waiting a couple more hours for dinner. I ate well at dinner, but didn’t overdo it – and didn’t eat again the rest of the night. I slept well that night.

During the last couple weeks of what’s been a moderate May in North Texas (usually the weather’s already very warm), I hope to see more of the outdoors and welcome the healthy hunger into my life.

In fresh air,
Angie

Pictures from our day at the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens & Mother’s Day

My sister (left) and me behind a waterfall in the Conservatory.

Waterfall in the Japanese Garden.

Yellow roses, as to be expected in Texas.

Pretty pale rose.

Some very pretty flowers.

Koi, ducks and turtles clamor for food in the Japanese Garden.

Rose-covered arch

I got to relax on Mother’s Day indoors with one of my own babies, Lil Mama, whom we fostered for Kindness Connection Animal Rescue shortly after she’d given birth to a litter of sickly kittens. Only one of the five kittens lived and was adopted by my sister, and Jason & I adopted Lil Mama permanently.

Articles & Resources

The Effect of Fresh Air on Weight Loss – Livestrong
The Effects of Sunlight & Fresh Air on the Body – Livestrong
Lose Weight in the Fresh Air – Weight Loss Project
Fresh Air Does a Body Good – FitWatch
Fresh Air and Daylight – Weight Loss Genius

Image from sheknows.com

My boredom is not from lack of work to be done. There’s work to do, but technical writing for an IT firm isn’t always a thrill ride. Maybe I have spring fever. Whatever it is, I don’t want to be sitting in this office (but really, who does, no matter the season?). I want to be out walking in the 70-degree North Texas weather, I want to be sitting on my back porch with a book, I want to be drinking a cocktail on the patio of some downtown Dallas restaurant. All of these wants + the boredom seem to manifest in a terrible case of the munchies. Needing a change of scenery, I left my drab closet-sized office nook in pursuit of something to do.While I could’ve easily gone outside for a 10-minute lap around the building, I walked to the breakroom and snacked (Cheetos). Later, I snacked some more (Doritos, only because there were no more Cheetos). I was not hungry when I snacked.

So I did a little reading on boredom eating.

When you’re bored, your dopamine levels are likely low, and you want something to pick them back up. Often, eating is an easy and accessible method of perking up your brain (this same need is also to blame for addiction to drugs, alcohol and other stimulants). In fact, dopamine levels spike at the mere sight or smell of food, according to a 2011 study.

Most of the articles I read (primarily penned by PhDs and MDs) propose seeking a variety of non-food stimuli to counter your boredom. Taking that 10-minute walk, for example, probably would have prevented me from attacking some Doritos and Cheetos at work. At home, I can write a journal entry, a blog post or a letter to get me over the boredom hump. There’s always plenty to do at home – laundry, cleaning, sorting mail – but since those tasks aren’t exactly dopamine inducers, I seek out things that are (read: pasta, and lots of it). When I’m feeling bored at home and not excited about all those housekeeping tasks, I should just do something I want to do, like reading or writing, until I feel happier. Maybe then I’ll finally tackle that stack of mail on the table with a fresh attitude.

Image from www.replenishingsoul.com

My own non-medical, non-scientific advice regarding bored, mindless eating is to restrict use of the television. My husband has a habit of turning on the television as soon as we wake up or get home from work, and the stupid thing stays on basically the whole time we’re at home and awake. In my personal experience, having the TV on compels me to sit down and watch whatever’s on the screen, even if whatever’s on the screen doesn’t particularly interest me. I know I shouldn’t be zoning out in front of the television even as I’m doing it, so I look for something to occupy my hands and assuage my zone-out guilt. Food is the perfect out because it’s easy to eat and watch TV at the same time. It’s awful! I’ve asked my husband a few times to keep the TV off to let us enjoy some silence, some music, or audio books. That way, we’re not mindlessly planted before the television. Silence, music and/or audio books permit us to move freely throughout the apartment to complete non-food related tasks – and allows productivity to conquer boredom in general.

Note: According to several resources, eating out of boredom may indicate a serious problem called anhedonia. This condition is characterized by a very impaired ability to enjoy pleasurable things. People who suffer from anhedonia lean toward higher rates of seeking pleasurable activities, like eating. If you think you may suffer from anhedonia, seek help from a medical professional. It could indicate major depression and even schizophrenia.

And on that note, I’m off to the gym during my lunch hour instead of grabbing those bags of Cheetos I saw in the breakroom this morning. Go forth, be productive, and let’s fight boredom together!

Angie

Resources & Articles

Do You Eat Out of Boredom? – Psychology Today

Boredom and the Pursuit of Pleasure – FUDiet

Food and Addiction: The Dopamine Made Me Do It – IdeaFit

Foods that Increase Dopamine Naturally – MedHelp

Obesity, Drug Addiction and Dopamine – Psychology Today

Understanding our Bodies: Dopamine and its Rewards – Nutrition Wonderland

Can’t Stop Eating? Blame Your Dopamine – Reuters

This is Your Brain on a Binge – Men’s Health

Can You Really be Addicted to Food? – Intuitive Eating

I’m Bored, Therefore I Eat - Psychology Today
 

The above link also includes a link to the actual study.

I had to shake my head in disbelief because, in reality, I’m always on some kind of “diet.” I’ll go strong on the South Beach Diet for a few days, only to taper off and end up elbow-deep in pasta. I’ll do the Detox Box diet for a week, lose some weight, then gain it back by going nuts on the foods I missed while I detoxed. I’ve tried the cayenne pepper-maple syrup-lemon-water fast (i.e., the Master Cleanse). I’ve cut carbs. I’ve done the one-meal-a-day thing. I’ve knocked around the idea of a juice fast, and recently bopped around the idea of trying a vegetarian version of the Mediterranean Diet with my husband.

The same friend who asked me if I’m dieting is doing some new fad juicing thing, where she juices a couple days a week and essentially eats how she likes the other days of the week. She’s lost a lot of weight, but the experts seem to agree: the results of such dieting measures do not last. In fact, research suggests that folks who successfully complete a weight loss program and regain most of it back within a year, and all of it within five years. According to some, diets have a failure rate of about 95% or more.

So, when is enough, enough?

Enter May 6: International No Diet Day (INDD). According to Wikipedia, INDD began in the UK in the 90s when a woman named Mary Evans Young became disgusted with the extreme measures taken by people striving to meet some ideal body weight. She was also disheartened by the stigma attached to being overweight.The day evolved into one with several goals, including:

• Questioning the idea of one “right” body shape
• Raising awareness of weight discrimination, size bias and fat phobia
• Declaring a day free from diets and obsessions about body weight
• Presenting the facts about the diet industry, emphasizing the inefficacy of commercial diets
• Honoring the victims of eating disorders and weight-loss surgery
• Helping end weight discrimination, sizism and fat phobia

Information above from Wikipedia.

A light blue ribbon symbolizes INDD.

INDD appeals to me because, as you may recall, I have been the recipient of vitriolic comments regarding my weight. While I believe that obese people at risk for other health conditions should probably alter their lifestyle, I also believe that overweight or obese people should not suffer discrimination. But the key word here is lifestyle. One of INDD’s goals is to raise awareness of the failure rate of diets. Simultaneously, INDD aims to promote lasting healthy lifestyle changes rather than restrictive temporary diets that leave you obsessing over what foods you can and cannot eat. This doesn’t mean you should throw caution to the wind and eat cakes and french fries. Rather, it means that you should adopt normal, healthy eating – something you can sustain the rest of your life.

Diets are helpful in reaching a lower weight, but not all diets are created equal. A juicing diet, for instance, cannot be used long-term. You deprive your body too much and when it’s over, you’re probably going to regain what you lost. However, a diet like the South Beach Diet can help you lose and keep off weight because its third and final phase is supposed to be adopted for the rest of your life (unfortunately, I’ve never made it to that phase). That diet could really be called the South Beach Lifestyle because it includes a plan for long-term weight loss and maintenance. It may help to think about such diet plans as a lifestyle instead of a diet – thinking about it in terms of a lifelong measure rather than a temporary fix may lend to greater willpower when muscling through the restrictive first couple of phases.

So let’s ditch the diet and learn the lifestyle!

Resources & Articles:

No Diet Day – Health24 (good article)

Ditching Dieting: Celebrate International No Diet Day – PsychCentral.com

Dieting Doesn’t Work – UCLA Magazine

Get Onboard with International No Diet Day – Psychology Today

Selecting a Weight-Loss Program – NIH

Why Diets Don’t Work – HuffPost

Scientists Say Dieting Does Not Work – Medical News Today

One night, walking down 6^th St., we passed a bar that was blaring the University of Texas fight song or whatever it is – the Eyes of Texas are Upon You song. I turned to my friend and jokingly made the “horns down” sign with the fingers on my right hand. (For those of you who have been blessed with missing out on the Texas college sports scene, the UT fan hand signal is two fingers up in the air, symbolizing Longhorn horns, because they’re the Texas Longhorns. Doing the “horns down” gesture is to put down the mighty Texas Longhorns.)

A young Oklahoma Sooners fan gives the “horns down”
picture found on ulocal.koco.com

While I was doing the “horns down” gesture for the benefit of my friend, three college-aged young men (UT students) approached me. One said, “You’re fat.” I said, “Excuse me?” He said, “You’re fat. You’re just fat.” He and his friends quickly took off and dissolved into the drunken mess that is 6^th street almost any night of the year.

Enraged, my friend and I tried to find him in the next few bars and on the street.  I planned on punching him in the face once I found him. Sadly, we never located the acutely observant little weasel.

I was probably about 150 lbs. at that time. Heavier than I should have been, yes, but I didn’t think I looked all that fat. Once I was finished being enraged and stunned, I turned indignant. What was the point of calling me fat just because he didn’t like my “horns down” joke? What did my weight have to do with anything that had transpired?

I unhappily concluded this young college male sincerely believed my weight did not give me the right to do something he disliked. Had I been a 110-pound tan, leggy blonde, he would’ve reacted differently. I guarantee it. I’ve lived in Texas long enough to know what passes for an acceptable female among young Texas men.

So there it was. I was stigmatized because of my weight.

My weight has often made me very self-conscious out in the world. I have, at times, felt like people judged me when I ate a lot, or when I ate something that I shouldn’t. (Cases in point: on Thanksgiving about seven years ago, I asked a family member to heat up a second serving of mashed potatoes and stuffing for me. Said family member plunked it down in front of me and said, “There’s your bowl of carbs.” About eight years ago, I went to Subway with a coworker during lunch. I ordered a foot long because, as the only full-time news reporter at the newspaper where we worked, I knew I’d be working late into the night and would want half of that sandwich for dinner. My coworker looked me up and down and said, “You’re going to eat that whole thing?” This same coworker also once told me all her friends were fat. Great manners on that one.)

Obesity stigma – from nytimes.com

Other times, I’ve felt too self-conscious or unworthy to speak up in a crowd or have an opinion. I feel my coworkers’ eyes on me in the breakroom when I go in to find a snack, and endure their seemingly endless remarks about how I look to have gained some weight. When I’m 140 lbs. or heavier, I am so focused on not attracting attention that I let life pass me by, all the while feeling I don’t deserve to participate in going out to eat, having popcorn at the movies, eating the foods I enjoy and generally feeling out of place.

The comments about carbs, about foot long subs, about being fat – they amount to a lot in the mind of someone who struggles with their weight. Some people seem to think that insults about weight will make an overweight person snap out of their habits. Some think they are helping overweight people by shaming them into healthier lifestyles. On the contrary, my friends: studies show that stigmatizing obesity only serves to isolate the overweight, and does not change their habits; rather, the stigma causes the overweight person to hate themselves even more, and to retreat into the one comfort they’ve always had – food.

I read an interesting New York Times essay that pointed out most Americans would never dare to comment on a person’s sex, ethnicity or race, especially in the workplace, but most Americans don’t hesitate to make disparaging comments about a person’s weight. Going back to that painful summer night in 2005, I doubt even that crass young man on 6^th St. would say something like, “You’re a filthy Irish-American, you sick thick mick.” But making a comment about my weight? Totally acceptable, apparently.

The stigma of obesity stains every corner of the life of a person who struggles with their weight. As the NYT essay states, physicians frequently look down on their obese patients. Workplaces discriminate against obese candidates, and obese employees don’t enjoy the same career advancements their thin counterparts do. Some schools want to weigh their students in…I don’t know what – some kind of shame-based attempt to cow those obese kids into some sort of acceptable lifestyle?

I’m sure a number of people reading this are thinking, “Yeah, obese people should be made to feel bad about their appearance. You can’t help what race or sex you’re born with, but you can change your weight.”

True enough. But consider this: not everyone’s born into households that emphasize healthy eating or constant exercise. A vast number of children are born into obese households every year. They’re fed crap at home, and then have to take crap from their classmates at school. They feel like crap because other people think they are crap.

When it comes to weight stigmas, shouldn’t we stop feeding each other a whole load of crap?

Resources & Research

Obesity Society: Obesity, Bias and Stigmatization

American Journal of Public Health: Obesity Stigma: Important Considerations for Public Health (VERY good read)

My dad as a little cowboy

Then I got a call from an Amarillo-area phone number I didn’t recognize. It was one of my mom’s coworkers calling to tell me my father was dead.

I’d spoken to him on the phone just a few nights prior, and he seemed fine. But the combination of several health factors just up and caused his heart to stop. Apparently, he was curled up on his couch the way he always did when he watched his favorite WWII and Civil War shows on the History Channel. It was like he just…went to sleep.

After I got the call that he had died, I collapsed on the floor of my bedroom and just stared at the wall. My roommate found me there and called Jason, who was at that time working evenings as a waiter. Back then we weren’t even engaged yet – just living together. He rushed home. When he arrived, I couldn’t even tell him what had happened. I just told him to go to the grocery store for chicken tetrazzini ingredients and wine because we were going to have people over that night.

I’m sure I cried here and there as friends gradually made their way over to our house – I can’t even remember what happened in that hour Jason was gone to the grocery store. When Jason got home, he made as if he were going to cook dinner. I told him to go sit in the living room with our friends – I was going to cook.

My father at IDC school in San Diego, CA

I went through the motions of cooking without even thinking about what I was doing. I stared blankly at the pot of water, waiting for it to boil. I never let my eyes drift away from the tetrazzini sauce. I chopped onions and cooked angel hair pasta as if it were any other night.

Little did I know that the true grief would wash over me later, after the funeral planning and memorial service and polite exchanges between myself and relatives I barely knew. After all of that was over, I cried in the middle of grocery store aisles. I cried in parking lots. I would head downstairs in our house only to suddenly need to sit down halfway and cry.

The only thing I wanted to do was cook. Cooking allowed me to blank out. I could forget about my dad for the few minutes it took to examine a recipe card or mix a pasta sauce.

So cook I did. In the six months following my dad’s death, I gained probably 40 lbs. All I did was go to work, cook, and drink beer. Some people have healthier responses to grief, sure – they go jogging or they see a therapist or they join a support group. I didn’t want any of that. I didn’t want to leave the house and see other people. I wanted mashed potatoes thick with butter and heavy cream and baked pasta dishes filled with many different kinds of cheese and spices. I watched endless hours of Law & Order on TNT and ate.

I’ve been clawing my way out of that rut for five years.

At my dad’s grave, Northfield, TX – April 2013. We buried the ashes of his favorite cat (whom Jason and I adopted when my dad passed) next to my dad.

According to the many websites I’ve found dedicated to grief and its responses, grief eating is common because cooking and eating are activities mourners have control over. I never thought of it that way while I was doing it, though. I just knew I wanted to check out, and those were ways I could do just that. Around this time of year every year since, I fall back into that pattern. I drink too much Michelob Ultra and eat way too much pasta. Hell, I even ate Red Velvet Cake ice cream for breakfast this morning. I believe that on this one day, I’m permitted a little latitude in my actions.

Now if I can just figure out the other 364 days of the year…

xoxo

ATH

Before I got pregnant I was one of those girls you would love to hate. I ate with abandon and looked like a twig. The only diet I undertook was to lose 8lbs for my wedding. I figured I would be one of those women who carried gracefully and amazed everyone when I effortlessly popped back into figure. After all, breastfeeding is supposed to burn 500 calories a day, right? If only my reality were half as positive as I had envisioned. After three years of marriage I now have had two pregnancies and three kids and I am struggling to accept my “new” body. I am on my second try on this post-baby weight loss journey in as many years.

After my first hellish delivery, which ended in an emergency c-section, I was in bad shape. I wasn’t allowed to even drive for the first 8 weeks let alone exercise. Not that I could have anyway. As any new mom knows, those first months were sleepless and stressful. I had enough on my plate with adjusting to my new life and role. The doctor’s orders were a blessing for my Type A perfectionist ass. It kept me from putting the pressure on myself too soon and I am very grateful. In retrospect I think the first three months postpartum should be like the first trimester; let your body deal with all the hormone changes and try to stay static on the scale.

Once my doctor cleared me for activity I was eager to start but it took me a while to figure out how to make it happen. My kid rarely slept longer than a half hour, it was still winter in Syracuse, and I had no childcare help whatsoever. My solution was using Wii Fit and Wii Zumba. My son thought it was hysterical to watch me. He loved the music and seemed to think it was entirely for his entertainment. When it finally got warm enough here I joined up with a Mommy and Me group and did Stroller Fit in the park. Before I went I thought it would be a nice little walk along the lake with other moms. It turned out to be running a combined mile and a half with uphill sprints and core training at the benches. I was so desperate to get out of my house and to get in shape. I was really happy with the results I got. I was able to run longer distances than I had been able to pre-pregnancy…until I got pregnant for the second time.

My twins were a double surprise and put an obvious kink in my plans. I wish I had been one of those moms that continued to work out during pregnancy but it wasn’t in the cards. After one run during morning sickness I swore off Stroller Fit. At 20 weeks I was put on bed rest. By the time this pregnancy was over I had be entirely deconditioned. A repeat section meant another couple months of no lifting or exercising. The reality of having three kids under two meant absolutely no free time to get to Stroller Fit as one was always sleeping or needing to eat or to be changed. Once life settled down enough for me to go back, it was unrealistic, as I would be pushing a collective 110 lbs between the kids and the stroller. A new strategy was needed.

Being a mom of three babies I had picked up terrible eating habits. I was breastfeeding twins and allowed an extra 1,000 calories a day to produce enough milk for both. Not that I had time to eat or do anything for myself. I even had to put an app on my phone to remind me to drink so I wouldn’t get dehydrated. The majority of the weight did come right off from the sheer insanity. I rarely had time to eat before the sun went down so I gorged myself after the kids were in bed. I didn’t care what I ate and took total advantage (an entire sleeve of Oreos, anyone?). I knew when the time came to wean, I would need to have some sort of plan. You don’t go from taking in an extra 1,000 calories a day down to the RDA without cravings and bumps. I recognized this as a good time to do more than just lose weight but to improve my habits.

I needed whatever I wanted to do to be convenient. If it was going to add more stress to my life and take more time in my day, it wasn’t going to happen. This meant meal planning and prepping. I found recipes for healthy slow-cooker meals I could start up at anytime during the day, which avoided a lot of intensive time during the “bewitching hour.”  I figured that I didn’t want to eat anything I couldn’t share with my two year old, aside from my morning cup of coffee.  If I wouldn’t let him have yogurt and snacks with a ton of added sugar or formulated diet foods, then why would I let myself eat it?  This also means I can make one meal for the babies and us.

I wanted to add more veggies and fiber to my diet and I found a recipe for a Green Smoothie that I played around with.  By pureeing all the veggies and fruits in big batches and by freezing the mix in muffin tins, I could do all the prep only twice a month. Each morning it takes me the same amount of time to pop out two of the frozen cakes and blend them with coconut water as it does to fix a cup of coffee.  In an effort to bring my husband on board I started to cook some flavorful Mexican and Indian dishes in which I could eliminate meat and use low-fat components.  I even replaced cauliflower for mashed potatoes without him noticing.

By far, my hardest switch has been to replace all the sugary beverages I had been drinking with healthy alternatives.  I hate the tap water where I live and I’ve been failing pretty hard.  I started drinking herbal tea, and so far I’ve been able to increase my intake moderately.  It is probably the aspect that I struggle with the most.   Plus, I NEED caffeine.  Judge me all you want, but I cannot do what I do without it.  At this point, I limit myself to two cups of coffee and a diet soda in one day.

I feel like I’m the least qualified person to write this.  I’m never going to be the junior size four pants like I was pre-pregnancy.  Accepting that my hips will never go back to the boyish size they used to be means I’m going to weigh more than I did in high school.  I am not proud of these truths and they still aren’t easy to accept.  Lately, I’ve fallen off the wagon more than once.  I am so very flawed and I constantly need to try harder.  I find inspiration in Angie and in other women fighting the same battle honestly and openly and for this reason alone I am sharing this…oh, and for the three recipes Angie promised me J.

Miranda looking not-so-great when she sees an ex on the street

But exist they do – according to Facebook, at least. Which means I might actually run into one or two of them sometime during the years I have left on this earth. I thought about this during a recent trip to Lubbock, where I lived for three years during college. Though I’m happily married now, I cringed to think I might run into someone I dated who still lives in Lubbock – a guy a 21-year-old me thought was the love of my life – weighing 142 lbs. I’ve experienced this once before, the spring before my wedding in 2009. I weighed about 160 lbs. and happened to see an ex at a Round Rock Express game. Like the very mature adults we were, we pretended not to see each other. We had a very bumpy breakup just a few years before, and had agreed to stay out of each other’s lives. As small a city as Austin is, we managed to avoid each other for half a dozen years. Until that stupid baseball game.

I’ll admit I was unhappy he saw me at that weight, and ashamed I’d let myself get to that point. People always say things like “who cares what other people think?” but let’s be honest – no one wants to be the “ex who got fat after we broke up.” And there I was, at the concession stand, the ex who got fat.

Don’t get me wrong here. I want to look good for my husband more than for anyone else. But my husband has always loved me at any weight, and has always praised me, even at my heaviest. This post is purely about using exes as motivation for weight loss.

Lubbock

Luckily, I didn’t see the former love of my life a couple weeks ago in Lubbock, but the possibility got me thinking what a great motivation a possible “ex sighting” can be for weight loss and fitness. They say the best revenge is living well, and I got to put that into action 11 years ago when I saw an ex – my very first boyfriend, in New York – after losing a lot of weight and going through substantial physical transformation. His look of disbelief was so sweet. I looked good, I was seeing someone back in Texas, I had a good internship lined up and I was simply…doing well. His bitterness was palpable, and I ended up feeling sorry for him – but not sorry for what I’d accomplished in his absence.

Knowing that I will, of course, again visit the Cities of My Exes, I crawled onto the elliptical machine at the gym yesterday and worked out furiously. I did it again this morning. I’ve eaten healthy this week.

If the ghosts of boyfriends past materialize, I plan to be ready for ‘em.

What is a BMR?

Your Basal Metabolic Rate, or resting metabolic rate, is the number of calories you need each day to basically sustain life. It’s the number of calories you need to keep up your physiological state. Calculating your BMR (with the help of some formulas) helps you determine the number of calories you need for this upkeep and the number of calories your body burns at rest.

What’s the difference between BMI and BMR?

Your BMI, or Body Mass Index, simply uses your height and weight to determine your body fat. This indicator helps determine if you’re under or overweight, or if you are in the healthy weight range and simply need to maintain your weight. From everything I’ve read, BMI is a good indicator of your body fat percentage and health conditions you may be at risk of due to your BMI, but it’s not a perfect science. Its limitations include the potential to overestimate body fat in people who have a muscular build, and underestimate body fat in those who are older or have lost muscle mass.

Here is my BMI, based on my height and approximate weight, as well as BMI categories (this tool is available at the National Institutes of Health website):

My BMI results

As you can see, I am Overweight – though not by much. A loss of 10 pounds would land me right at 24.9, in the Normal Weight range. Another 10-pound loss would land me safely at a BMI of 23, though I’d prefer to land closer to a BMI of 20.

As stated above, the BMR gets specific about calorie burn and calorie intake, and also takes factors like gender and age into account.

How to Calculate Your BMR

Free BMR formulas and calculators are available for free here.

I used the site’s simple BMR Calculator to determine the following (my BMR is circled in red):

My BMR

According to this calculator, I’d burn 1413.7 calories just laying in bed all day. So, what does all this mean when I’m planning my exercise and food intake to lose weight?

First, I need to calculate my daily calorie needs by using the Harris-Benedict equation, which accounts for your BMR and activity level. Here’s the equations:

Because I am moderately active, I multiplied my BMR of 1413.7 by a factor of 1.55 and got 2191.235. This is the number of calories I can take in to maintain my current weight. Since I want to lose weight, I need to calculate how many calories I need to restrict each day through exercise and calorie reduction.

How many calories to cut and/or burn based on your BMR

To lose one pound a week, I’d need a deficit of 3,500 calories during that week, either through calorie reduction or calorie burn through exercise. That’s 500 calories a day. For a two-pound-a-week weight loss, I’d need a calorie deficit of 1,000 a day.

Sounds like a lot, right? Well, not really, considering that women should take in at least 1,200 calories a day (it’s dangerous to go below this; men need to take in at least 1,800), and deducting 1,000 calories from my Harris-Benedict equation results would land me at roughly 1,200 calories a day. Perfect, considering a 1,000-calorie deficit is as far as most people should go – more than that can be dangerous, especially for people with only a small amount to lose.

Now I just need to make the time to burn off at least 500 calories a day through exercise, and hold fast at the 1,200-calorie-a-day intake. If I do both those things, I should see a 10-pound weight loss in five weeks. Pretty cool, right? These numbers are critical for me to know exactly what needs to be done for a set weight loss goal of at least 20 pounds in 10 weeks.

Resources and Tools:

BMR Calculator

BMI Calculator – from NIH

Calculate BMR with Weight Loss per Week – Livestrong

How to Calculate BMR – Livestrong

Determine Caloric Intake for Weight Loss – Livestrong

Five Things You Need to Know About BMR – Livestrong

MyFitnessPal – track calories burned and calories eaten

Note: The numbers in this post are accurate to the best of my knowledge, and the information contained in this post is explained to the best of my understanding. Depending on the formula/calculations you use, your results may be different. For the most accurate determination of your BMI, BMR, and caloric needs, visit your general physician.

The gym is a hot mess, literally and figuratively.

Few other places put you in direct contact with a strangers’ sweat, and few other places put you in such uncomfortable indirect contact with people who are all up in your biz. Here are seven types of gym-goers that leave me wondering if I should just stock my spare room with my favorite gym equipment and cancel my gym membership.

1. The Gym Rats

Oh, gym rats, where else would you inexplicably be at both 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.? Whatever it is you’re up to, it’s not a job, that’s for sure. In fact, I don’t even know how you’re paying to be here – not having a job must make paying for your gym membership pretty difficult. Are you paid to hog up the machines all day? Considering you’re here all day, show a girl some respect and go lurk over by the free weights until I’m done so that I can get back to the job that only gives me an hour lunch to work out.

2.  The Hurling Hulks

Oh, man. These guys. You know who they are. They’re the muscled-up freaks in tight tank tops, lifting some ungodly amount of weight. You can spot their reflections in the mirror because they’re inevitably checking themselves out as they press. You’ll also hear them drop all that weight onto the floor when their muscles predictably reach failure (even though there’s a sign that clearly says not to drop the bar and plates). This thud can be heard ‘round the gym and I sometimes think they’re doing it to show off. (Note: see also No. 1, Gym Rats.)

3. The Baby Gazelles

This is the nickname I started using in college to describe the stick insects that plague every gym. These are the tiny, unbelievably thin (and usually very young) exercisers it hurts to look at. Every time their itty-bitty hooves slam down on the treadmill while they run fast and furiously, you think, “This is it. This is where every little bone in their body simply shatters.” I’m never sure if they never eat, or just addicted to working out, but I’m certain they need help. Whatever’s going on is awful for the rest of us to witness, and surely awful for every organ and muscle in your calorie-starved body.

4. The Unsanitarians (yeah, I made up that word)

These filthy, filthy monsters. They’re on the elliptical, gripping the heart rate sensors with their sweaty little hands. When they’re done, they hop off the machine and toddle off without wiping down the machine with the obviously placed paper towels and disinfectant. I mean, it’s right there. You saw that other guy wipe down the machine right next to you, so I know you know where the cleaner is. Stop sharing your sweat and germs with everyone else, you damn dung beetle!

 5. The Hot Housewives

Oh, you. You lucky, lucky lady. Not only do you get to spend a seemingly unlimited amount of time making your body rock, you also get to come to the gym with meticulous makeup and perfectly coiffed hair. Sometimes you come ready to pout your way through spin class with those freshly collagened lips. To me, you look like a fish that someone dressed up like a suburban nightmare, but that lady over there with the breast implants looks pretty jealous. There’s a lady upstairs on a treadmill who I’m pretty sure is feverishly trying to fit in a workout during her lunch hour, in case you want to strut your leisurely way of life in front of her, too. Don’t miss any chance to make the rest of us jealous of your looks, your vast amount of free time, or your expensive workout duds.

6. The Tiresome Trainers

Holy geez, I get it. You know what you’re doing and you’re trying to meet some misguided corporate sales quota. But when you stop to try to sell me something as I’m zooming past to get to my workout, I’m going to respond with, “I’m sorry, I don’t really have time – I’m on my lunch hour.” I don’t think you’re entitled to become hostile over my wish to remain personal trainer-free. Please stop leaving me voicemails inviting me to come in for my free one-time training session. I already know my BMI (yep, I’m overweight) and my measurements (yep, I’m thick). I already know I need to approach weight loss with a combination of cardio and weight training. I assume that’s what all these treadmills and weight-training devices are here for. Just back off.

And the final most sinister gym dweller…

7. The Naughty Nudists

My goodness. I do not understand what’s happening in my gym’s locker room. I had no idea I signed up for a naked party, because that’s what the changing area looks like. Call me an old-fashioned, insecure, modest little Catholic girl, but we all learned in junior high how to take off a shirt by pulling it through the neck hole of another shirt. Please employ that method here. Sometimes the offending nakey is a Baby Gazelle (see No. 3) trotting through in nothing but a thong, but other times it’s the lady who looks, um, very new to working out and dieting, but somewhere along the line she lost her sense of modesty. No one wants to see what either offender has goin’ on. Put on some clothes, throw on a towel, buy a robe – just cover it up, ladies.