In college I was 133lbs and thought I needed to lose 10lbs. Recently, 8 years later, I realized I'd hit 188.9lbs.
At 5'2" (30 years old, F) I was kind of overwhelmed by this number and, needing a focus in COVID times, found my motivation to lose the weight.
I've been pretty healthy this whole time/my whole life: I love veggies and whole grains, I love to exercise (backpacking, walking, hiking, swimming, martial arts, weight lifting; a little bit of everything, I'm no expert at any of it), I even love to cook pretty healthy/nutrient rich food.
My main problem is treats. I like ice cream, toast for breakfast, too much half and half in my morning coffee, cheese in meals, and extra health food store snacks. It doesn't matter how healthy the foods you eat are if you're eating that many calories and so that's how I gained weight. Anyways, the point of this post is not my life story, the point is the math:
8 years (Roughly 2,920 days)
55.9lbs gained
55.9 lbs x 3500 (calories per lb) = 195,650 too many calories
195,650 too many calories / 2,920 days = 67 extra calories per day
SIXTY SEVEN CALORIES.
It's not really the whole picture (I went up and down as I naturally gained and lost weight from eating a bit differently, being more or less active, etc. over the years), but it's so crazy to me. 67 calories above CICO or maintenance + activity is.... so small. An extra little scoop of ice cream, a bit more cream in my coffee, an extra large helping of rice at dinner, or even just a fancy meal out once a week where I eat a bit too much and it has too much butter in it... I could easily down an extra 67 calories in just raspberries for goodness' sake and even still feel light and plenty healthy.
Anyways, I've turned things around and made myself a meal plan and have been eating 1295 calories (of mostly good things and a few treats) and making sure I'm getting moving almost every day in ways that I find enjoyable. I've lost 11.7lbs off of my highest ever weight, although really 9.8lbs off of my starting weight of 187.0lbs (naturally went down a bit without trying first) and am happily at 177.2lbs give or take and losing.
It's not super fun, but it's also not really a big deal and I'm doing it (today is day 26 since 187lbs), but it is damn slow. The slowness has been the hardest part for me. Even when you're losing weight "quick!" (which, honestly, I am) it is sloooooooow. So slow. Isolation/COVID, etc., has added to that for me since it's harder to do a lot of the activities that would normally keep my brain off of this project.
Somehow doing this math is helping. I gained it 67 calories at a time, so I can lose it 500+ calories at a time and reframe my thinking to consider that damn fast! Because it is!
Anyways, do your own math and share below! It's fun and seems an interesting way to change the narrative in your own head around the speed.
(N lbs gained x 3500 calories) / (N years x 365 days) = # of calories "extra" you ate each day to gain the weight
[link] [comments]
source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/hmn1vo/crazy_gaining_weight_math_and_a_formula_so_that/
No comments:
Post a Comment