Friday, January 22, 2010
Another Dream Starring Catherine
I posted about my dreams involving you all yesterday. Then I had another one last night, again with Catherine in the leading role. Catherine had posted on her blog a huge tribute to a Valentine's Day 5K that she was running. The post was so huge that it came off of the computer screen and onto my desk, unfolding in a 3-D fashion. There were all sorts of videos and virtual runners bopping around everywhere. It was amazing! Props to my dream Catherine for being so creative and, mostly, for figuring out how to do that! :) :) :) LOL!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
How To Figure Caloric Intake and Expenditure: The Cara Example
Hey, Cara. I could not post this as a comment because it was far too long. But I wanted to let you know this info tonight before I went to bed (or today for you :) ). If you don't mind me posting it (tell me if you do), it may also be helpful for others to see how it's done. And don't be intimidated by the information below. It's really not complicated, but I just wanted to make sure I covered everything I could think might pose an issue for you or anyone else.
Okay, calculating caloric intake and expenditure is a two-step process really (but a simple one if you go to the sites and use the easy calculator). I don't know if I explained the process well initially. That may have been what mucked poor Cara up. So I'll try to do a better, more thorough job here.
First you go to the BMR calculator page at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/. I don't have a link to this one (though my link has a link :) ). This is different than your BMI, so don't even think about your BMI while you're doing this.
I cannot recall how tall Cara is, but I entered (guessed) 5'5 since I figure she is somewhere thereabouts (and that is about average--at least for Americans). (If your height is wrong (sorry :( ), you can go to that site and enter your height and other info). So what you do when you get there is enter your height, weight, and age (and you can even use the metric system--you can click a simple link to do this right above where you enter the info). I used the Imperial (US-used scale to make it easier for me--after I converted her kilos to pounds). After you enter this info and hit 'Calculate BMR', your BMR should be in red right above the calculator. (By the way, this is the area where you can change your weight to your goal weight and such to see what you will need to do to maintain when you get to that point).
Next, you go to the Harris-Benedict Formula page, which is where the real action happens (that is my Caloric Intake Formula Link on the right--it's a whole different page than the BMR page). Remember to use the BMR number you just calculated and not your BMI or any other number. So what I did with you was take Cara's BMR number and multiply it by the sedentary activity number of 1.2. I used the sedentary activity level in calculating this (I do this with mine almost every time to see what I could technically eat with the least possible activity--but you can change this to more accurately reflect your lifestyle if you do it again).
So, again, multiply your BMR--the number in red from the BMR calculator website above--by one of the activity numbers on the Harris-Benedict page. It is really as simple as this last sentence. For Cara (at 5'5" tall, which may or may not be her height), I got 1874.838 when I multiplied her figures by the sedentary 1.2 number (on my trusty pink calculator). Of course, you can do that part by hand too--and there is a formula for the whole deal that I can give you if this still doesn't work or make sense. Good luck everyone!
Okay, calculating caloric intake and expenditure is a two-step process really (but a simple one if you go to the sites and use the easy calculator). I don't know if I explained the process well initially. That may have been what mucked poor Cara up. So I'll try to do a better, more thorough job here.
First you go to the BMR calculator page at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/. I don't have a link to this one (though my link has a link :) ). This is different than your BMI, so don't even think about your BMI while you're doing this.
I cannot recall how tall Cara is, but I entered (guessed) 5'5 since I figure she is somewhere thereabouts (and that is about average--at least for Americans). (If your height is wrong (sorry :( ), you can go to that site and enter your height and other info). So what you do when you get there is enter your height, weight, and age (and you can even use the metric system--you can click a simple link to do this right above where you enter the info). I used the Imperial (US-used scale to make it easier for me--after I converted her kilos to pounds). After you enter this info and hit 'Calculate BMR', your BMR should be in red right above the calculator. (By the way, this is the area where you can change your weight to your goal weight and such to see what you will need to do to maintain when you get to that point).
Next, you go to the Harris-Benedict Formula page, which is where the real action happens (that is my Caloric Intake Formula Link on the right--it's a whole different page than the BMR page). Remember to use the BMR number you just calculated and not your BMI or any other number. So what I did with you was take Cara's BMR number and multiply it by the sedentary activity number of 1.2. I used the sedentary activity level in calculating this (I do this with mine almost every time to see what I could technically eat with the least possible activity--but you can change this to more accurately reflect your lifestyle if you do it again).
So, again, multiply your BMR--the number in red from the BMR calculator website above--by one of the activity numbers on the Harris-Benedict page. It is really as simple as this last sentence. For Cara (at 5'5" tall, which may or may not be her height), I got 1874.838 when I multiplied her figures by the sedentary 1.2 number (on my trusty pink calculator). Of course, you can do that part by hand too--and there is a formula for the whole deal that I can give you if this still doesn't work or make sense. Good luck everyone!
Weighty Websites
I lifted these from a blog I love to follow, and I think these sites are neat (But I'm still am a big fan of the Harris-Benedict Equation. Please click on my link on the right side of my blog that says Caloric Intake Formula, and you can determine how many calories you should be taking in each day. I posted a blog about how to do this the other day).
Fatburger:
Compare the calories at your favorite fast food joints.
How Many Calories is in a Thanksgiving Dinner?
Slideshow
Eat, Drink, and Be Wary
What will it take to burn off some of those favorites?
The Top 100 Foods to Improve Productivity
Buy Better Groceries
Two Foods
Compare the nutritional value of any two foods.
Fatburger:
Compare the calories at your favorite fast food joints.
How Many Calories is in a Thanksgiving Dinner?
Slideshow
Eat, Drink, and Be Wary
What will it take to burn off some of those favorites?
The Top 100 Foods to Improve Productivity
Buy Better Groceries
Two Foods
Compare the nutritional value of any two foods.
Bandster Dreams
In Cara's last post, she mentioned that she is 'seeing' other bandsters when she is out and about. I have been dreaming about you all lately instead. I've recently had dreams about Brooke (whose house I was visiting), Catherine (who I was pretty much stalking in NYC--disturbing even to me), Angie, Liz (who was driving around with me and her kids) and Amy W. (before I met her--she didn't really like me in my dream). I can't get enough of you guys--even when I'm asleep (and when I'm having bad encounters with you all in dreamland at that :) )!
By the way, I am planning to go back and respond to comments on my blog and add new followers. I am also going to put up some pictures (but maybe black out the face). I hope to take care of those things soon.
Have a good day!
By the way, I am planning to go back and respond to comments on my blog and add new followers. I am also going to put up some pictures (but maybe black out the face). I hope to take care of those things soon.
Have a good day!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Science of Weight Loss
I have been wanting to post something like this for months and am finally getting around to it. As you all know, I watch a lot of documentaries and other programs concerning weight loss. I also read a lot about WLS and weight loss in general. This post is about some of the more scientific areas of understanding weight loss that enable me to wrap my brain around the subject.
First, there is the Harris-Benedict Equation. There is a site devoted to calculating this that is one of my links on the right side of my blog (called Caloric Intake Formula--although it is for expenditures too). It has been very helpful to me. I found out about this equation through my emails from Jillian Michaels--not personally, mind you, it was a listing-type deal :). If you aren't already familiar with it, the site states that the Harris Benedict Equation is a formula that uses your BMR [which you can also calculate on the site as well by simply inputting your height and age] and then applies an activity factor to determine your total daily energy expenditure (calories). So essentially, you plug in some numbers (you can plug in your goal weight, your current weight, or any number in between) to see how many calories EXACTLY you should be taking in and expending to maintain (or in some of our cases, to achieve) a certain weight. For the more math-minded folks, there is an actual formula too (you can find it on the site if you'd like), but it is a lot easier for me just to plug in the numbers. I like this formula because it tells me directly how many calories I should be eating and burning each day based on my height and age...and how many I will need to be taking in at goal when I get there. Once you use it a couple of times, it is really not that complicated to understand and is most useful and convenient.
Another interesting bit from science that I want to share is with regard to Leptin. Leptin has been referred to as the 'appetite gene' by scientists dealing with obesity studies today. It is attributed with controlling the impulse to overeat. Without this gene, people will desire to eat too much. In studies with mice (poor little guys--evidently they like to use them in weight-loss studies; I know I've blogged about their use before), mice without Leptin were always hungry and ate continuously. Fat mice and thin mice were distinguished from one another because thin mice had the gene and fat mice did not. The mice had the same environment, exercise, water, and food. They could be cousins or brothers and sisters with thin mice, but Leptin was the only difference. Leptin tells mice and humans that we've had enough. Without it, there's no signal from the brain to stop eating. Many other genes help determine appetite in humans too. And from all of the studies of these, science is showing that it is not greed or lack of willpower but genetic makeup that makes us want to overeat. Years ago, Leptin and other genes developed to help fight famine, but with today's fat diet and couch-potato lifestyle, these helpful genes have become things that could kill us. Obese people are obviously aware of what they are doing to themselves when they gain weight, but science has shown that even though they know that they will feel wretched if they eat more) they do it anyway because the drive is so strong. Where one person eats and is perfectly content not to eat again for five or more hours, people without the Leptin gene are looking for another meal to eat in two hours. It is more than willpower to eat less. Therefore, as one doctor stated, "People can either accept Leptin as the appetite gene or think that obese people are weak willed, fat, lazy, and disgusting" and that the obese "are not as good as they [the thin people] are because they're thin." This area of study makes a lot of sense to me and is part of the theory that many weight loss surgeons and staff use.
And to briefly review one other area of scientific tackling of weight loss, I have also heard about advances in the Battle Against Head Hunger. In fact, cutting-edge technologies (and even surgeries) have been developed and are addressing it (although they are not perfected at this point).
Saying all that, nothing I mentioned above discussed metabolism. We hear a lot about this. So how does that factor in to the HB Equation (I REALLY want to know this since the formula that is constantly touted is 'calories in, calories out'--not that this isn't right, just that I am curious about this)? And what about how it fits in with the Leptin gene? If metabolism truly has nothing to do with it, then are we obese people truly eating more calories each day than our skinny counterparts? Sometimes that's hard to accept, but I, for one, haven't done a quantitative study on that particular subject--so it's not for me to know or say.
What about things that have been scientifically shown to miss the mark? Some things that haven't been found as effective at permanent weight loss are body wraps, colon cleansing, and steam rooms (to shed water weight, which will inevitably come back on since we have to drink to live). Also, as my surgeon told me, the things that many weight-loss drugs will do to a person (side effects and such) are more harmful by far than surgery. Of course, we definitely want to avoid anorexia and bulimia nervosa. My understanding is that some bandits see WLS as an opportunity to engage in those types of behaviors more easily. Not to sound preachy or anything, but we all should try to keep in mind that we did this for our health (in addition to other things, yes), and starving and vomiting will hurt, not help, in bringing about more healthy lifestyles.
So I guess we have to stick to what we do know at this point--simplify our understanding that it is, at least to some extent, all about intake and expenditure of calories (guided by BMI, BMR, and the Harris-Benedict Formula). Also, drinking water, getting fiber, taking vitamins, trying to get as close to a normal BMI as possible (and if inside normal, my Wii told me the other day that a BMI of 22 is supposed to be the BMI number for optimal health--although on whose BMI scale? :) ), and exercising with cardio and weights (excercise has been labeled by several to be the best medicine for the body) are the tried and true approaches. And thank goodness for the band, of course, to help with backsliding and to remind us that we need to stop chowing down sometimes (it's our surgically devised Leptin substitute, I guess :) )!
First, there is the Harris-Benedict Equation. There is a site devoted to calculating this that is one of my links on the right side of my blog (called Caloric Intake Formula--although it is for expenditures too). It has been very helpful to me. I found out about this equation through my emails from Jillian Michaels--not personally, mind you, it was a listing-type deal :). If you aren't already familiar with it, the site states that the Harris Benedict Equation is a formula that uses your BMR [which you can also calculate on the site as well by simply inputting your height and age] and then applies an activity factor to determine your total daily energy expenditure (calories). So essentially, you plug in some numbers (you can plug in your goal weight, your current weight, or any number in between) to see how many calories EXACTLY you should be taking in and expending to maintain (or in some of our cases, to achieve) a certain weight. For the more math-minded folks, there is an actual formula too (you can find it on the site if you'd like), but it is a lot easier for me just to plug in the numbers. I like this formula because it tells me directly how many calories I should be eating and burning each day based on my height and age...and how many I will need to be taking in at goal when I get there. Once you use it a couple of times, it is really not that complicated to understand and is most useful and convenient.
Another interesting bit from science that I want to share is with regard to Leptin. Leptin has been referred to as the 'appetite gene' by scientists dealing with obesity studies today. It is attributed with controlling the impulse to overeat. Without this gene, people will desire to eat too much. In studies with mice (poor little guys--evidently they like to use them in weight-loss studies; I know I've blogged about their use before), mice without Leptin were always hungry and ate continuously. Fat mice and thin mice were distinguished from one another because thin mice had the gene and fat mice did not. The mice had the same environment, exercise, water, and food. They could be cousins or brothers and sisters with thin mice, but Leptin was the only difference. Leptin tells mice and humans that we've had enough. Without it, there's no signal from the brain to stop eating. Many other genes help determine appetite in humans too. And from all of the studies of these, science is showing that it is not greed or lack of willpower but genetic makeup that makes us want to overeat. Years ago, Leptin and other genes developed to help fight famine, but with today's fat diet and couch-potato lifestyle, these helpful genes have become things that could kill us. Obese people are obviously aware of what they are doing to themselves when they gain weight, but science has shown that even though they know that they will feel wretched if they eat more) they do it anyway because the drive is so strong. Where one person eats and is perfectly content not to eat again for five or more hours, people without the Leptin gene are looking for another meal to eat in two hours. It is more than willpower to eat less. Therefore, as one doctor stated, "People can either accept Leptin as the appetite gene or think that obese people are weak willed, fat, lazy, and disgusting" and that the obese "are not as good as they [the thin people] are because they're thin." This area of study makes a lot of sense to me and is part of the theory that many weight loss surgeons and staff use.
And to briefly review one other area of scientific tackling of weight loss, I have also heard about advances in the Battle Against Head Hunger. In fact, cutting-edge technologies (and even surgeries) have been developed and are addressing it (although they are not perfected at this point).
Saying all that, nothing I mentioned above discussed metabolism. We hear a lot about this. So how does that factor in to the HB Equation (I REALLY want to know this since the formula that is constantly touted is 'calories in, calories out'--not that this isn't right, just that I am curious about this)? And what about how it fits in with the Leptin gene? If metabolism truly has nothing to do with it, then are we obese people truly eating more calories each day than our skinny counterparts? Sometimes that's hard to accept, but I, for one, haven't done a quantitative study on that particular subject--so it's not for me to know or say.
What about things that have been scientifically shown to miss the mark? Some things that haven't been found as effective at permanent weight loss are body wraps, colon cleansing, and steam rooms (to shed water weight, which will inevitably come back on since we have to drink to live). Also, as my surgeon told me, the things that many weight-loss drugs will do to a person (side effects and such) are more harmful by far than surgery. Of course, we definitely want to avoid anorexia and bulimia nervosa. My understanding is that some bandits see WLS as an opportunity to engage in those types of behaviors more easily. Not to sound preachy or anything, but we all should try to keep in mind that we did this for our health (in addition to other things, yes), and starving and vomiting will hurt, not help, in bringing about more healthy lifestyles.
So I guess we have to stick to what we do know at this point--simplify our understanding that it is, at least to some extent, all about intake and expenditure of calories (guided by BMI, BMR, and the Harris-Benedict Formula). Also, drinking water, getting fiber, taking vitamins, trying to get as close to a normal BMI as possible (and if inside normal, my Wii told me the other day that a BMI of 22 is supposed to be the BMI number for optimal health--although on whose BMI scale? :) ), and exercising with cardio and weights (excercise has been labeled by several to be the best medicine for the body) are the tried and true approaches. And thank goodness for the band, of course, to help with backsliding and to remind us that we need to stop chowing down sometimes (it's our surgically devised Leptin substitute, I guess :) )!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Judgmental People: Exhibit A (or Z even) of Why I Don't Put my Bandit Status on Blast
So many of you know that I keep my band quite hush hush. While I've only told two people total about my surgery, I recently had a nail in the coffin to not to tell people in my professional circle. The scenario was this: The other day, my co-workers and I (including my boss) were talking about another local professional. One of the people in the group said something to the effect that, "Well, he should have lost weight: he had gastric bypass." The rest of the group agreed and acted as if that is the 'lazy person' approach to weight loss. There was a little more that I gathered from that coversation, but it's too filled with unspoken opinions and biases, I guess you'd say, to really articulate well in this forum.
With the unfortunate stereotypes surrounding WLS, it is too risky for me as a new employee (and fairly new attorney) to carry the torch of the banded among my peers at work (and even heightens my fears in telling others outside of work), particularly in this current job market. Will people think that I don't have a good work ethic because I took the so-called 'easy road' or that I'll cut corners? This inability to speak about the band is annoying. I certainly don't want any of my bandster friends to feel like I have isolated myself from my proud band-wearing community. I AM proud of all of our achievements, but I guess I just have to keep those thoughts closely held outside of you all and select others. In my blog a few days ago, many of you mentioned that we have a great support network and that people 'get it' here. That is so true and makes me not feel alone when I hear comments like I did at work.
So now that I've prefaced this, here's my opportunity to address my co-workers' comments (without the risk of being 'discovered'); please excuse my aggressive-assertive bitterness, by the way. Okay, so WLS has better long-term success rates than non-surgical weight-loss approaches. If you have been skinny all your life, you likely wouldn't pay any attention to this fact. You are probably also lumping us into that societally imposed lazy group of big people that just don't care--maybe even believing that we willingly choose to be big. But that just isn't true. Most of us know a lot about fitness and nutrition (hello, we've been working at getting there forever). Also, it seems like a lot of us here are working a lot harder than many skinny folks I see. We are watching with CAREFUL scrutiny what and how much we eat. We are also jogging; gyming it; doing Pilates; participating in Boot Camp classes; training for races with the C25K and other programs; spinning; doing yoga; getting fit with the Wii; swimming; doing aerobics with and without exercise videos; dancing; using the ellipticals, treadmills and gazelles; lifting; hiking; snowshoeing and skiing; seeing Grim Reapers and such while doing Zumba classes (see Amy W's blog); and moving in general. Heck, I hear far more about exercise and food choices here than I have ever heard in my life--and that's coming from someone who was registered for daily fitness/nutrition emails from Jillian Michaels for three years!!! That said, these stereotypers need to take a hike, but they'd best watch out for us beating them up the hills! Hrrmpphhh!!! So there!!!! Take that!!!
Okay, now I have to go back to my life as an undercover spy. :) I hope you are all having a good week.
With the unfortunate stereotypes surrounding WLS, it is too risky for me as a new employee (and fairly new attorney) to carry the torch of the banded among my peers at work (and even heightens my fears in telling others outside of work), particularly in this current job market. Will people think that I don't have a good work ethic because I took the so-called 'easy road' or that I'll cut corners? This inability to speak about the band is annoying. I certainly don't want any of my bandster friends to feel like I have isolated myself from my proud band-wearing community. I AM proud of all of our achievements, but I guess I just have to keep those thoughts closely held outside of you all and select others. In my blog a few days ago, many of you mentioned that we have a great support network and that people 'get it' here. That is so true and makes me not feel alone when I hear comments like I did at work.
So now that I've prefaced this, here's my opportunity to address my co-workers' comments (without the risk of being 'discovered'); please excuse my aggressive-assertive bitterness, by the way. Okay, so WLS has better long-term success rates than non-surgical weight-loss approaches. If you have been skinny all your life, you likely wouldn't pay any attention to this fact. You are probably also lumping us into that societally imposed lazy group of big people that just don't care--maybe even believing that we willingly choose to be big. But that just isn't true. Most of us know a lot about fitness and nutrition (hello, we've been working at getting there forever). Also, it seems like a lot of us here are working a lot harder than many skinny folks I see. We are watching with CAREFUL scrutiny what and how much we eat. We are also jogging; gyming it; doing Pilates; participating in Boot Camp classes; training for races with the C25K and other programs; spinning; doing yoga; getting fit with the Wii; swimming; doing aerobics with and without exercise videos; dancing; using the ellipticals, treadmills and gazelles; lifting; hiking; snowshoeing and skiing; seeing Grim Reapers and such while doing Zumba classes (see Amy W's blog); and moving in general. Heck, I hear far more about exercise and food choices here than I have ever heard in my life--and that's coming from someone who was registered for daily fitness/nutrition emails from Jillian Michaels for three years!!! That said, these stereotypers need to take a hike, but they'd best watch out for us beating them up the hills! Hrrmpphhh!!! So there!!!! Take that!!!
Okay, now I have to go back to my life as an undercover spy. :) I hope you are all having a good week.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Zumba With Cheese and Sunkist
Tonight I went to a local Zumba class with Amy. As I told her when I was sweating and begging for an extra air hole, there is no way in Hades that I could have finished that class (or the first song) without having been jogging for months (well, that plus prayer plus Amy). I just have to say again how great Amy is. When I was about to pass out, she VOLUNTEERED to go in front of the class and dance! She was the ONLY one to do this!! I was so proud that I was there with her. What a star!!! Well, we already know that.
Also, as I mentioned to Amy, I think that this class is great for children: get their energy completely burned and gone so that they'll act like little angels. Zumba is going to be a weapon in my arsenal when I become a parent. :) :) :)
As for me, I must have burned at least a million calories, right?
Also, as I mentioned to Amy, I think that this class is great for children: get their energy completely burned and gone so that they'll act like little angels. Zumba is going to be a weapon in my arsenal when I become a parent. :) :) :)
As for me, I must have burned at least a million calories, right?
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