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It’s the Calories STUPID!!!
By Kenny | January 5, 2008
Tommy’s right about calories. If you want to get more specific think about this; There are 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat. Here’s what it boils down to. If you want to lose 1 pound of fat, you simply have to burn 3500 more calories than you consume. For our purposes here, it doesn’t matter if those calories come from protein, carbs or fat. A calorie is a calorie. There is a lot of evidence out there that shows that a fat calorie is metabolized differently from a protein calorie, and a carb calorie, etc…, but that really only matters to geeks and scientists and other fat asses who sit around all day eating and trying to act smart. Just remember, so long as you’re keeping your calories in relative check, the above “a calorie is a calorie” mantra is true.
The first thing you have to do is figure out what your Metabolic Rate is. Your Basal Metabolic Rate BMR is how many calories you would need to consume every day to keep your body and it’s basic functions up and running. There are hundreds of little 2 second programs on the web like this one that measure your BMR. Your BMR is nice to know, but not all that useful when trying to lose weight- you really need to know more about your individual overall metabolism, which is how many calories you would need to consume every day to maintain your current weight. This is much trickier to calculate, because we each have different metabolisms and lifestyles.
I know that my current metabolic rate is about 2700. So this means that theoretically, if I keep living like I live, and eat 2700 calories every day, I won’t lose or gain any weight. However, if I consume 3500 calories less over the course of, let’s say, 1 week (about 500 less per day), I’ll lose 1 pound that week.
I know what my BMR is because I track everything I eat, and how much I exercise on a daily basis, as well as how much I weigh on a weekly basis and enter all the data into into a software program I purchased. So long as I keep good records, the program will track changes to my Metabolic Rate as I lose (or gain) weight, eat less (or more) and exercise more (or less). In reality our MR fluctuates all the time, so by logging everything into a program that has all the algorithms and stuff figured out, I will always know what my Metabolic Rate is each day. Armed with this knowledge, if I can manage to eat less than 2700 calories today, I will have burned more fuel than I have consumed and I will lose weight as a result. If I do this over time, I will lose a lot of weight. Or if I want to get more specific and set a goal for myself like, “I will weigh less than 215 pounds by April 1st and will be crowned the Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge Champion and make Tommy cry and give me money”, the program can create a daily budget, that continually adjusts over time that guarantees that I will taste Tommy’s salty tears of sadness and defeat.
Tommy, you can climb all the mountains you want, but when the rainy season comes and your fat ass is sitting on the balcony, drinking a coke, eating dog meat, staring at the picture of me accepting my belt, wondering where it all went wrong, just remember- It’s the calories STUPID!!!
Topics: Weight Loss Challenge 2008 |
January 5th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Was introduced to your blog today, via Blogging Zoom. I love the concept and love the humor here. Good luck, gentleman. I shall be watching your progress (and trying to lose weight myself). I hate dieting and I hate exercise. But I drug my fat butt outside today for a 2 mile walk. Felt great when it was over. Used to do steps (100 steps, 15 times up and down) and got in excellent shape. Would love to start up again. They’re killer. Very effective.
Anyway, love the blog and I’m rooting for both of you.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:41 am
@Kathy: Thanks for the encouragement. I hope you’ll enjoy following our little competition. Isn’t it funny how we dread starting to exercise, but once we do it we feel great at the end? I guess it’s the endorphins.
January 6th, 2008 at 1:58 am
What program do you use to track all of your exercise, diet, and weight data?
January 6th, 2008 at 3:32 am
@Kathy- Thanks for the well wishes. Wow Steps…you’re a glutton for punishment, but I bet it was effective indeed. You don’t do them anymore?
@Pete- I’m going to make a post about it this week; it’s called dietpower if you wanted to look it up.
January 6th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
@Kenny and Kathy: What is Steps? I’m guessing it has to do with climbing stairs, but from the way you are talking about it it sounds like some kind of system?