Calories And Cheat Days

As part of this blog I am going to be recording some of my meals, workouts and diet plans.  I know that this sounds bad, seeing this is the first day that I am posting on the blog, but I am going to be honest.  Today is going to be a cheat day.  I believe that when figuring out your calories to lose weight, you need to include a cheat day or meal at least once a week.
It’s my companies annual baseball outing.  So I am probably going to have at least 1 cheeseburger with onions, mayo and mustard, one brat, and probably 6 beers.  I know that this is not the healthiest meal but hey it’s a cheat day.  But I will still be OK overall if you average all my calories.
I guess the important thing that I really cheat like this rarely.  I actually have different types of cheat days.  Some are just one meal and others, like holidays, I eat whatever I want.  The amazing thing is that even I those cheat days I do not eat as much as I used to.  It all has to do with the times and quantity that I am accustomed to eating now.   I will explain more about this tomorrow.
In short I wanted to tell you that it is OK to cheat on your diet once in a while.  In fact I believe that it is almost necessary to do so.  Your body does not like change.  If you consume too little calories for too long your body will actually slow your metabolism to maintain its weight.  Again, more on this tomorrow.  If you can’t wait then you may want to take a look at the Diet For Abs blog.  There is a lot of good info here.


See you tomorrow

Calories To Lose Weight

When starting a diet you need a starting point.  Fat or weight loss basically boils down to consuming fewer calories than you expend.  So the question becomes what that’s magic number.   How do I find out the calories to lose weight for me?
One easy method is using the Basel Metabolic rate.  This is the amount of calories that expend if you did nothing but lie in bed all day.  Obviously, you do more than lie in bed all day.  That is why you multiply this number by an activity multiplier.  Now you should have a somewhat accurate number of the amount of calories you expend in one day.
So here is the formula:
Body Fat for Men
Lean Body Mass = (Weight * 94.42) – (Waist * 4.15)
Body Fat Weight = Weight – Lean Body Mass
Body Fat = (Body Fat Weight * 100) / Weight
Body Fat for Women
Factor 1 = (Total body weight x 0.732) + 8.987
Factor 2 = Wrist measurement (at fullest point) / 3.140
Factor 3 = Waist measurement (at naval) x 0.157
Factor 4 = Hip measurement (at fullest point) x 0.249
Factor 5 = Forearm measurement (at fullest point) x 0.434
Lean Body Mass = Factor 1 + Factor 2 – Factor 3 – Factor 4 + Factor 5
Body Fat Weight = Total bodyweight – Lean Body Mass
Body Fat Percentage = (Body Fat Weight x 100) / total bodyweight
To Figure out your BMR we need our lean body mass in kg
Lean Body Mass in kg = LeanBodyMass / 2.2
BMR = 370 + (21.6 * Lean Body Mass in kg)
Finally we need to multiply this number by our activity
Sedentary = BMR * 1.2
Light Activity = BMR * 1.375
Moderately Activity = BMR * 1.55
Very Active = BMR * 1.725
Extremely Active = BMR * 1.9
Now that you have this number all you need to do is on average consume less than this.  To give you an idea of how many calories to cut, there is 3500 calories in a pound of fat.  That is why a lot people follow the idea of cutting 500 calories from this number a day.  Then they exercise to expend another 500 calories.  This will lead to 7000 less calories a week for a 2 lb per week weight loss.
Well I hope that you enjoyed this first post.  I know that this may sound like work at first but in future post I will tell you how to make this process easier and in ways you do not have to count calories.
Talk to you soon.


PS - If you like abs exercises I just found some great ones.  Check out this lower abs exercise site.

Calories To Lose Weight Info

I am a fitness fanatic. Always looking for the best information out there. Whether it be nutrition, exercise or motivation.I am always looking for something that will give me the edge. You may also want to check out my other blog at Calories To Lose Weight. I try to keep all my blogs update but there is a lot on archived info on that blog.

I am really excited about creating this blog.  I hoping that the information you find will really help you in your fitness goals. I am also hoping that I will learn from all of you as well, so make sure that you leave a comment.  I am really hoping that this is a one stop shop for all your fitness, nutrition and motivational questions.

Thanks For Visisting!
David Renier