Friday:  275.4 lbs., burned 3537 calories, consumed 1517.
Today:  274.6 lbs., Activities:  4.6 miles on my real bike.

Hey I got another comment - I get so excited when I get comments to this blog thing!  This comment was another question…

 Megan asked:  “how do u burn almost 3000 calories in one day tell me how!”

I’d be very happy to explain how, because I just recently came to understand how the whole calorie-math-thing works and I’m really excited about it because it makes SENSE and OMG my whole life I have struggled with weight gain that made no sense to me and diets that made no sense because I walked around feeling like I was starving and still didn’t lose any weight.  And now that I know how the math works, I know why. 

So here’s my version of CALORIE MATH 101…

CALORIES.  Okay, the word “calorie” is a measurement word, just like “inch” or “gallon” or “watt” are all measurement words - but while those words measure length,  liquid and electrical power, what exactly does a calorie measure?  One might think it measures some weird fat-creating element in food, but actually, calorie is a measurement of heat.  Weird, huh?  Because of how the body oxidizes food into fuel, when the word is applied to food, a calorie is a measurement of fuel or energy value. 

FUEL.  Okay, so if you’re measuring the fuel value of your food, think of it as the gasoline that powers your body - and your body is a complex machine with many pre-programmed automatic settings - like how fast we burn our fuel - also known as our metabolic rate, or metabolism. 

BASAL METABOLIC RATE.  Our bodies burn calories all day, every day, even when we’re not “doing” anything.  Think of it like the gas that your car burns when it’s idling… the car’s not moving, not going anywhere, but it’s burning fuel nevertheless.  Your basal metabolic rate is the total number of calories your body burns given your daily lifestyle.  It’s different for everyone and can vary greatly, based upon many factors including how active one’s “usual” daily lifestyle is.  Someone who works in construction, climbing ladders and lifting building materials might have a basal rate of 5,000 or more while someone who sits in front of a computer all day might have a basal rate of 2,500 or even less.

THE MATH.  If you can determine (in the ballpark) what your basal metabolic rate is, then you can use math to lose weight!  Fitday.com has a feature which calculates approximate basal rate - and though I find it’s not totally accurate for me - it’s a good place to start.  Once you know your basal rate, then you can adjust your fuel intake to result in weight loss.  If you burn more calories than you consume, then your body will burn the stored fat.  For example:

        Daily calories eaten:                 1800 calories
        Daily basal metabolic rate:   - 2300 calories
                                                                     —————-
        Stored fuel utilized:                     500 calories 

        500 calories x  7 days =  3500 stored fuel calories per week
        (3500 stored fuel calories = 1 pound of fat)
                                                              
Notice that this weight loss is achieved with basal calories only.  No additional effort, no additional exercise.  Just eating less than you burn.  If you want to step it up, though, you can lose weight faster by adding additional activity into your day.  Fitday.com also has a feature to tell you how many calories each activity burns.

        Daily calories eaten:                 1800 calories
        Daily basal metabolic rate:   - 2300 calories
        Additional calories burned:  -   500 calories
                                                                     —————-
        Stored fuel utilized:                    1000 calories 

        1000 calories x  7 days =  7000 stored fuel calories per week
        (7000 stored fuel calories = 2 pounds of fat)

SO… without lowering your food intake, you can double your rate of weight-loss by just burning a few more calories each day.  You can burn 500 calories lots of ways:  40 minutes of swimming (vigorous) laps, 40 minutes of bicycle-riding (14-16 mph), or 2 hours of (brisk) walking.

WEIRD SETTINGS.  Like I said earlier, our bodies are machines with pre-programmed settings.  One of those setting is the OMG-I’M-STARVING setting.  Okay, it’s not really called that, but it’s an automatic response that occurs when daily caloric intake drops too low - and what happens is that the metabolism is lowered to conserve stored fuel.  So, all those times that I went on 800-to-1000-calorie diets, I was walking around feeling hungry all the time - and meanwhile my basal metabolic rate had dropped from my normal rate of 2300 down to probably 1200 or so, so I was barely seeing any results!

Other weird automatic settings can actually be helpful.  There are things we can do which can actually raise our basal metabolic rate.  Here are some:

- Eat breakfast.
- Eat smaller meals, more frequently during the day.
- Eat early.  The metabolic rate drops, and continues to drop, the later it gets.
- Muscle burns calories, fat does not.  The more muscle you develop, the higher the basal rate.
- Either don’t procrastinate, or don’t age.  The older you get, the lower the basal rate, so do it now!!!
- Eat lean pure protein - 30% of its calories are used during digestion.
- Fiber also makes the body work during digestion.
- Get enough sleep.  Sleep-deprivation will dial the metabolic rate down.

So, Megan, to answer your question… Fitday.com says that my basal metabolic rate is 2300.  If I go for a 1-hour bike-ride, I will burn an additional 700 calories, bringing me to a total of 3000 calories burned in one day.

I’ve always been a sucker for math! 

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