C25K Update!

Wow - has it really been almost one month since I've posted a blog?!? That's nuts. Since summer struck, I've been a busy bee. As I am always preaching about prioritization and such, I suppose the blog took the back burner.

We've also been dealing with a teething child who has been trying to get on a 2 nap sleep schedule for the last 2 months. We've had some rough days and nights.

In regards to the couch to 5k program... we are rocking it! we are currently in week 8 of a 9 week program! We are tentatively set for a July 3rd 5k! So exciting. We've also gone a little rogue and signed up for a 10k in September. That should be interesting.

The past few weeks/months of this training have been awesome. I'm so glad I challenged myself to this. I can say that we have had great days and we've had really hard days. The great days are when P is sleeping the whole way. The not so great days... when he cries the whole way. I think the crying was in part to weather conditions (i.e. too hot or too windy). We changed up the time I run and he seems to be doing better. We've lost quite a few pacifiers on our journey.

P also has become much more mobile in the last two months. He's walking everywhere with his push toys and on the brink of walking by himself. I think him sitting in the stroller for 30+ minutes multiple times a week was getting old for him.

We also had a couple times where it rained ALL week long so I wasn't able to get a run in. Coming back from a week of cardio at the gym was a STRUGGLE. The hills are relentless.

Overall it's been a great time with P. We get to see so many exciting things and it gets him out of the house and fresh air. I think doing the couch to 5k was great because it helped build my stamina slowly, and kept me motivated!

I think if I had to change anything going back and redoing it, I would probably change my jogger stroller. I love my Graco. It is great. But I think if I am going to do this seriously in the future, something a little more aerodynamic would be great. However, the Graco is getting the job done.

Here is my progress along with a few photos from the past few weeks.... B even got to join us a few times!

Calculating Calories Per Day

Determining Caloric Needs

On many of the mom blogs/facebook sites I follow, one question that I see arising quite frequently is “How do you maintain your milk supply while losing weight?” Another question in this topic I also see is “What method do you use to try and lose weight?”

As I have said before, I think the best method of losing weight is simply, diet and exercise. This coming from my health/exercise science and nursing degrees. Yes there are other methods out there, and they may work for you. However, I am just going to talk about what I do, which is diet and exercise.

First and foremost, DIET. UGH… that ugly, four letter, curse word. Right?! WRONG! As I have discussed before I strictly calorie count and give myself 1-2 cheat meals per week (usually on the weekend). But how many calories should you eat per day?

Many programs and apps can work great for calorie counting and logging. If you type in your age, weight, gender and height, they may also provide you with a daily calorie limit. However, be weary, those sites simply use an equation but can often times be robotic. What I mean by this is that they use a formula to calculate your daily calorie count and how much to decrease your intake by to lose weight. However, they may not take into consideration your BMR and the minimum that you need per day. There is actually a point where going too low in your daily intake becomes harmful, and if you go past that point, you might actually retain weight.

One of the better ways to determine your calorie count is to use the Mifflin St. Jeor equation. This equation helps determine your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). That’s fancy lingo for the minimum amount of calories your body needs for essential functions like breathing, digesting, etc. (aka to stay alive). This is a number you should never go under.   

Men
10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) + 5
Women
10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y) – 161.

To determine your weight in kilograms take your weight in pounds and divide it by 2.2

To determine your height in centimeters take your height in inches and multiply by 2.54

Example:

A 130 pound (59kg), 5’8” (172cm), 29 year old, female

[10 x 59] + [6.25 x 172] – [5 x 29] – 161

590 + 1076 – 145 – 161

1360 calories/day.

So as you can see, per the example, that individual should not eat less than 1360 calories per day. This is the minimum number that she would need to maintain her bodily functions. This number is presuming you basically sit on a couch all day and do nothing but breathe! Hehe. This doesn’t include the amount of calories burned walking around, doing chores, exercising, or producing breast milk.

If you play around with the numbers, you can see that as you age and lose weight, your body needs less calories per day. That is because as we age our metabolic rate decreases naturally. When you lose weight, there is less of “you” (i.e. fat) that your body has to maintain, thus decreasing your basal metabolic rate.

Total Calories Per Day

To determine how many calories you need per day including exercise/physical activity, you will need to multiply your BMR by your physical activity level (see chart below). This is just an estimate based on average physical activity level. When trying to determine what category you are in, be honest with yourself. If you over estimate or under estimate, then you might not see the appropriate results. 

Lifestyle	Description	Multiplier
Sedentary	Little to no regular exercise	1.2
Mild Activity	Exercise for at least 20 minutes, 1-3x per week. (ex. Bicycling, jogging, basketball, swimming, etc). Also includes no exercise but a busy lifestyle that requires frequent walking for long periods.	1.375
Moderate Activity	Exercise for at least 30-60 minutes, 3-4x per week.	1.55
Heavy (Labor Intensive) Activity	Exercise for 60 minutes or greater 5-7x per week. Labor intensive jobs also qualify for this level (i.e. brick laying, carpentry, construction work, farming, landscaping, etc).	1.7
Extreme Activity	Exceedingly active or demanding activities such as marathon training, multiple daily training sessions, assembly line jobs. Note: this level of activity is very difficult to achieve and highly unlikely for the general population.	1.9

Let’s use the same girl from the above example. Let’s presume that she exercises for about 60 minutes 3-4 times per week and on the days she doesn’t workout, she has a fairly laborious job where she walks 3-4 miles during her workday. She would probably qualify under “moderate activity” using the chart from above.

If we used her total calories earlier (1360) and multiplied them by 1.55 (moderate activity), then we would get 2108. So this female needs about 2100 calories per day to MAINTAIN her weight. This number does not include calories from breastfeeding/milk production.

Breastfeeding Caloric Needs:
To continue this example above and presuming the individual breastfeeds, one would need to add in the additional calories burned from producing milk. This equates to about 20 calories per ounce of milk produced. For those who exclusively pump (like myself) the amount of calories is super easy to figure out. I simply multiply my daily total pumped (usually around 50 ounces) by 20. This number equates to about 1000 calories (for me) burned from breastmilk production.

For those who actually breastfeed from the boob, the way to determine caloric needs is a little more difficult. Some individuals will say “breast feeding is about 300-400 calories more per day.” This may be true, but if you have an over-supply, twins to feed, or your baby just consumes a lot more than the average baby, your production may be higher than 20 ounces per day. The best way to determine how many ounces is by weighing your baby pre and post feed using a baby scale. This type of scale can convert to ounces. By subtracting your pre from your post, you can see what your baby actually consumed. You could do this for every feed or just do it once and then multiply by how many feeds per day baby has (more of an estimate). [Note: make sure you weigh after a good feed, rather than just a snack].

Once you determine this number, you need to add it to your total activity that you previously calculated. So for the female above, let’s say she also produces 50 ounces of breastmilk per day, she would need to eat 2100 (daily total) + 1000 calories (breast milk). That’s about 2360 calories per day. That’s a lot of calories just to maintain your weight!

For those of you who are dieting and breastfeeding and wondering why your supply isn’t being maintained, check out how many calories you are eating per day. If you are trying to lose weight and cutting your calories significantly, then your body may not be getting enough food to make the milk your babe needs!

SUMMING IT UP

1.  Figure out your BMR
2. Use your BMR and multiply it with your daily activity level  
3. Add in calories from breast feeding.

The number you get is an estimate that you need to eat to maintain your weight!

Stay Tuned for more information on creating a calorie deficit, to help lose weight!

Dieting Tips & Tricks

Apparently, God was laughing at me when I was trying to make an outside running plan (and stick to it!)... he does that ya know?! All of this cold weather and rain. ARGH! Just another test of learning how to be flexible, I suppose!

This past week I was clearly unable to take our LO out in the jogger because of the weather (lots of rain and cold) and because he had his first cold. I'm pretty sure doctors frown upon taking your sick kid out on the cold weather. LOL.

However, I did get in another circuit workout followed by a 1 mile jog on Wednesday. Friday was also cold and rainy so I just walk/jogged 2.5 miles on the treadmill. My circuit did get me a bit sore. Holy moly! I haven't done a push up in about 2 years. So that was great fun. We've also been trying to transition P from three naps to two naps per day. That's a story for another day. Sigh. If only the act of parenting could qualify for physical activity or make you gain muscle :) ... my husband and I would be ripped!

Get It Started Circuit

• 50 Jumping Jacks
•  50 Crunches
•  45 Jumping Jacks
•  45 Squats
•  40 Jumping Jacks
• 40 Push Ups
•  35 Jumping Jacks
• 35 Crunches
• 30 Jumping Jacks
• 30 Squats
• 25 Jumping Jacks
• 25 Push Ups
• 20 Jumping Jacks 
• 20 Crunches
• 15 Jumping Jacks
•  15 Squats
• 10 Jumping Jacks
•  10 Push Ups
•  5 Jumping Jacks
•  5 Crunches
• 5 Squats
• 5 Push Ups

I also decided that since I met my goal weight, I needed a new fitness goal. My husbands work retains 2 personal trainers in their on campus gym. They do physical fitness assessments for free! So I had the hubby ask if I could get one done. The concept of this physical assessment is different than just weighing. They track body composition (weight, % body fat, circumference of arms, thighs, waist and hips). I'm going to go in quarterly to get this checked out and see my progress! My goal is to tone up a little more, rather than weight loss. I'd like to see some of my circumferences go down. I was quite proud of my accomplishments since January. I apparently qualify in the "athletes" body fat range. Ha! Long are the days I considered myself an athlete. Oh well, I'll take it! This momma needs it.

Now for the diet! This part of my post stemmed from a work weight loss/biggest loser competition that just got started. All my co-worker gals have been talking about the diets they are going to do, etc etc. Something that gets me every time is how people talk about how they did "this" or "that" and lost a bunch of weight, only to gain it back when they stopped the program. I've been asked a lot about how I lost all the baby weight and then some. I wouldn't say that I have done anything excessive or drastic. I don't spend hours per day at the gym slaving on various machines. I don't do anything crazy with my diet such as eliminating sugars completely. I PERSONALLY think that the best means to weight loss is something that will be sustainable for the rest of your life.

Sure various no/low carb diets, calorie restricting on alternate days (i.e. 500kcal/day), etc., will help you lose weight fast. But they are diets that don't allow you to eat the food that you actually like and want. How realistic is it that you are going to spend the rest of your life never eating pasta again? Never having beer again? Most people end up off the bandwagon because they allow themselves to eat something like pizza while on the diet, realize how much they miss it, binge, and then fall off the bandwagon for months or years. They regain weight, and then realize they need to get back on their diet again.

What if it wasn't that complicated? What if all it entailed was eating moderately, incorporating foods you like, having a cheat meal every once in a while, and moderate exercise?

The way I utilize my diet to lose weight is by calorie counting. I have determined how many calories I need to eat per day to maintain my weight and also the amount I need to lose weight. During the week (Sunday through Saturday afternoon) I keep track of every calorie I consume, not including fresh fruits and veggies. I give myself Saturday night to have a cheat meal.

I hardly deny myself something that I want. If I want a McDonalds cheeseburger, I eat a cheeseburger. I just make sure to look up the nutritional information, calculate the calories and adjust what I eat the rest of the day. Some days just looking up the nutritional information averts me from actually eating said desired food. Ha! is a 800 kcal chocolate shake really worth it? Am I going to feel full after that?

I also cook dinner for my husband and I on the nights I don't work. I never force "diet" things on him. We have things such as cavatini, spaghetti, pork tenderloins, tacos, etc. Normal dinner foods basically. I allow myself to eat those things. I just make sure to keep track of everything I put into the entire meal and then separate everything into servings so I know how many calories are in each serving.

For example, the other night I made burgers. I separated the meat out into patties and calculated the calories per patty. I added how many calories the bun and slice of cheese were and that was all! Maybe a little time consuming when you first get started, but nothing more than a few minutes.

Some may think it's tedious, which, at first it can be. But it actually becomes second nature. As human beings, we tend to eat the same few things every day. For example, my breakfast consists of either oatmeal or eggs with an english muffin. I use an app on my phone to keep track of all my calories consumed vs burned. It just becomes a matter of logging into the app and clicking the oatmeal item I have saved.

I personally use the Fitbit app to log my foods and exercise. However, you can also use other apps such as My Fitness Pal.

Also, Calorieking.com has pretty much every food you could think of and the nutritional information. Most restaurants have information for nutrition also. The fitbit app also allows you to save your foods, which makes it super fast and convenient the next time that food needs to be logged.

Little Man helping me blog! Cheat meal is in the oven!

Stay tuned for a future blog on figuring out the appropriate amount of calories you should be eating to lose weight or maintain it! There is such a thing as too little calories per day, which becomes unhealthy!

I'd love to hear your comments about what works for you in regards to dieting, exercise, and weight loss/maintenance! Lets hear it in the comment section!