The down right truth!

So many times, myself included, we get hung up on the scale... We get hung up on the things we ate at work, at church, at our friend's house.... Yes, it all adds up.... And it doesn't at the same time.

Have you ever heard about muscle weighing more than fat? Well, people get all huffed and puffed about how a pound equals a pound, so that can't be correct... Well, its true, a pound equals a pound... Imagine that!... But the amount of space taken up by that pound is what people are failing to ponder. A feather pillow weighs, what? A pound and a halfish? That's a great deal of space! A one pound hand weight is close to the size of a cell phone....

So its ok to ignore your scale for three months at a time... Especially in the beginning of a workout regimen. Your going to be building muscle... The more muscle you have, the more you burn every single day... Even while you sleep.

"I don't want to bulk up!" "I don't want to look too manly!" NEWS FLASH!! Ladies, the wonderful news is this... IT'S IMPOSSIBLE, WITHOUT THE USE OF STEROIDS, FOR A WOMAN TO BUILD MANLY MUSCLE! YAY!!!! So get lifting! We don't have enough testosterone in our bodies to bulk up the way men do! This is fabulous news! Muscle doesn't bulk you up! ...But fat does!

So don't fret about gaining a few pounds... When you're eating healthy and gaining muscle. Pay attention to your body SHAPE! Take measurements, take pictures... Building muscle is what is going to get you stronger, healthier, leaner.

Weight lifting burns more calories than cardio throughout the rest of the day... And when you have more muscle, you burn more calories while doing cardio. Now that's a thought!

So there you have it... Some things just don't add up. But what does add up is your calories! 100 extra calories a day for a year equals a 10 pound weight gain for that year! Figure out your BMR ( the average amount of calories your body burns every day by doing bodily functions like pumping blood, etc).... The link below will do it for you... (Guys, its available for you too)

http://health.discovery.com/centers/heart/basal/basal.html

Then figure out how many calories you burn doing exercises. Add these two together and it'll tell you how many calories you need to consume to maintain your weight.

Ex.
My BMR (Calories burned each day just by living) is 1,519 (10,633 calories in a week).

I burn an average of 4,500 calories a week by exercising.

So to maintain my current body weight, I would need to consume 15,133 calories a week. Divide that into 7 days, and that's 2,161 calories each day.

BUT TO LOSE WEIGHT, you have to create a calorie deficit.... 3,500 calories to lose, or gain, a pound.

So to lose 1 pound in a week, my 15,133 minus 3,500 comes to 11,633 per week, 1,661 calories per day.

To lose 2 pounds in a week, it'd be 15,133 minus 7,000. Which is 8,133 for the week, or 1,161 per day.

Rule of thumb- Don't eat less than 1,200 calories each day! As you become more active, your BMR will increase... But you won't need drastic increases in your calories. Only 20-45 per day.

Be healthy! Make sure you're taking care of your body by making sure you get enough! Otherwise your body will force itself to burn fewer calories to prevent you from starving to death! Less than 1,200 and your are likely going to run into a wall... Not being able to lose weight.... It works to start with, then slows, and finally halts. Be kind! Be loving! And eat your vegetables!

If you ate something indulgent, well, factor it in a keep moving forward! If you beat yourself up, you're going to get stuck! And where you are is not where you want to stay, right? So keep your eyes on the road! Just like driving a car! If you're doing what you should be doing; working out hard, eating healthy and paying attention to your calories, you will get to where you want to be! It's unavoidable! Inevitable!

I recommend myfitnesspal to help track your calories in and calories out.... HOWEVER! I recommend using the website above (it'll take 5 seconds... Literally!) To figure out your BMR and caloric needs based on it and your calories burned from exercise. The number you get from the formula above, is the number you want to follow.

Myfitnesspal, if you log your exercise on it, will give you more calories to consume after you log that you exercised.... You automatically think "sweet!" NO! Not sweet! You've already done the math for your entire week and what it will take to lose that pound or two.

You can set your calorie goal in your settings on myfitnesspal to be the one resulting from above, but make sure you don't consume the extra calories they give you after working out. Food is not a reward for exercising. Food is fuel for your body. Don't live to eat, eat to live.