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 
Chips and soda for breakfast?? And here I thought I was being bad having frosted flakes.
Comment by txmere25 — June 5, 2009 @ 1:54 pm
I’ll be interested to hear how you like the LoseIt app. I regularly tracked my eating and exercise for about 3 weeks with a fair amount of diligence. Overall, it helped me understand my intake and my calorie burning, but it just became too time-consuming or just too little of a focus for me to keep it up. As you mentioned, it can be difficult to determine true calorie count in meals that are a conglomeration of several ingredients.
All in all, I believe that I eat better (e.g., less cheese!) thanks to the tracking I did on LoseIt. I also find much satisfaction in the amount of calories I’m burning while vigorously vacuuming for an hour or working in the yard for two!
Comment by katietelschow — June 5, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
Hi Katie,
Thanks for visiting the site. In fact, I’ve been using the LoseIt app for the past couple of months and love it for its simplicity. The only draw back is the limited database of food searches. Just don’t eat anything exotic. Go fig that Bulgogi isn’t included. For those instances, I use CalorieKing.com and just create a new food item.
To Jenni’s point, the calorie counter and the exercise tracker are pretty fun to watch. Though, if you try any other apps..let us know I’d be willing to shell out $0.99 for a good app.
Kristine
Comment by gloriakt — June 5, 2009 @ 10:50 pm
On the exercise component…if y’all really want to understand how your body metabolises calories, get your VO2 Max (a measure of your aerobic capaacity) tested. Your VO2 Max will identify your target heart rate zones during exercise, which help you optimize both your weight loss and gain lean muscle mass. This is the key to interval training.
For instance, training in Zone 1 will help you burn fat calories and quickly drop some pounds, but you’ll quickly plateau if you never leave this heart rate zone.
Adding in work at Zone 2 continues to burn fat and is especially good for burning off all those carbohydrates we liek to consume. Also, since you’re now starting to work closer to your anaerobic threshold, you’re burning more calories than you would in Zone 1 (more intensity = more calories burned).
Training in Zone 3 takes your body anaerobic, i.e., your muscles burn glycogen instead, which leads to improvements in your metabolic rate. The more time you spend in Zone 3 the more calories you burn and, even better, you •can increase your resting metabolic rate, which accounts for up to 75% of the total calories you burn in a day. A highe RMR means you’ll burn even more calories while you’re sitting at your desk during those long work days.
One more thing about calories: it’s not just about caloric intake but also the nutrition your body gains from the calories you consume. There are “good” calories that provide your body with essential nutrients that help you maintain your energy level even while you increase your exercise level and cut your caloric intake. And then the are “junk” calories that are, basically, a complete waste (other than the satisfaction of some chocolate ice cream every now and then). At the end of the day, though, you could consume 500 calories of a candy bar that your body will quickly burn through (and leave you more tired afterward), or you can eat 300 calories of lean protein like chicekn or fish that will provide long-lasting energy and promote your weight loss goals.
Comment by Matt — June 16, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
Matt — I sense a guest blog opportunity
Comment by Jenni — June 16, 2009 @ 12:37 pm