HOT DOG!

So, I know I have whined about this in previous posts, but I have new direction and am feeling the need to share. For some reason yesterday I googled something about caloric intake and was led to the following yahoo answer:

"Energy In/Energy Out:

If you eat 1,200 calories per day and one pound equals 3,500 calories,
to lose one pound per day, you need to burn your food intake plus your one pound of fat 1,200 (intake) + 3,500 (Outtake) = 4,700 Calories

You must burn at least 4,700 Calories everyday to loose one pound at least (per day). It is very easy to go up and beyond 4,700 calories each day. (Aside by Joy: Heck no! It is not easy to burn 4700 calories per day!) Best way to do this is to track your progress on a calorie counter monitor watch. If you do it by the numbers you can lose the weight. It is just a matter of changing the way you think about weight loss. Once you start wearing your calorie counter you can see the numbers increase and you fill find yourself doing extra things in your day, like tapping your foot while waiting at the light in your car, chewing gum, singing out loud and so on onto of your workout routines. You begin to see that everything you do in your day contributes to the overall numbers needed to loose that pound. (Aside by Joy: I don't know what kind of high tech calorie counter this girl found...I think most base the calories burned on number of steps you take).

Water Intake:
To determine if you are getting enough water use this simple formula. Take your weight, for example 150 pounds and divide by 2. Take your answer which is 75 lbs and change it to ounces, in this case 75 ounces. That is how many ounces of water you need a day."

That was a little long winded (I even took out some parts-if you saw the original post it was VERY long...I just cut out more than half). But, for some reason, this has hit home for me. Many times I have tried to track my caloric intake. After a few days it seems pointless too time consuming with no real payoff, so I stop. But the idea of tracking calories out really intrigued me. I have to reiterate that unless you are the either on the Biggest Loser and are being endlessly hounded by a trainer 8-10 hours a day or are the energizer bunny, 4700 calories is not an easy goal for one day.

However, creating a deficit of 1000-1500 calories is totally doable! I have looked up some basic numbers (very general-but they work to get a basic idea of calories burned). Sleeping 8 hours, your body's processes burn approx. 550 calories. Being sedentary (watching TV, reading a book, etc.) you burn approximately 100 calories per hour. So, if you sleep 8 plus 16 hours worth of your body simply functioning you are already up to about 2000 calories burned.

I bought a calorie counting (with pedometer) watch today. So, (I know I may be way off on this...but please allow me to be in my delirium if you know better) I figure that I will add the number of calories counted on my calorie counter (which I think are just tallied from number of steps walked) to the 2000 calories burned just being a person, then subtract the (hopefully) minimal number of calories eaten and the pounds will just melt away. Right?

By the way, I have been snacking on the yummy edamame suggested by Dawn and I am in love! Thanks Dawn!