Fruits and Veggies - infographics to help you buy in season.

Take a minute or two to look at each of these charts.  Do you usually buy produce in season OR out of season?  Review these infographics on a monthly basis and find something in season and "new to you" to try.

Why should you always try to buy produce in season?
1)  The food is usually higher in nutrient value.
2)  It will contain fewer chemicals (if not buying organic).
2)  The cost per pound is greatly reduced.

 

Creamy Veggie & Crumble Casserole - bread, rice, pasta and potato free

I don’t know what else to call it!  However, I eat it at least twice a week.

No one in my family likes this but I LOVE it.  So I get it all to myself!  It makes enough to get 3 good sized meals.

Everyone loves starchy and high-carb ingredients but it is also nice to have meals to turn to that are protein and veggie based.  There are so many variations of this and I am not even going to give you an exact recipe as I never make it the same way.  I make my version with Morningstar Soy crumbles but you can also use ground turkey/extra lean ground beef or even shredded chicken breast.

What you see pictured:

·         1/2 bag of Morningstar Soy crumbles (warm up in microwave or on stove top)

·         1 chopped bell peppers

·         1 chopped onion

·         1 chopped zucchini

·         2 chopped celery stalks

·         ¼ cup roasted garlic

·         6 cups of spinach or spinach/arugula mix

·         1 container of sliced mushrooms

·         1 cup chopped carrots

·         ½  cup of Prego Light Smart Tomato sauce (50 calories per ½ cup)

·         ¼ cup Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce (60 calories ¼ cup)

·         Trader Joes Seasoning Blend and Sea Salt

·         You can always add in other things like peas or beans.  Pick whatever you like.  You can also easily hide chopped up veggies if your kids do not like to eat them.  Evil moms and dads.

How to make it:

·         Chop up the veggies.

·         Steam them for 5 minutes to soften them up a little bit.

·         Saute the veggies with a ½ tsp olive oil for a few minutes.

·         Season with spices to your liking.  

·         Add the tomato sauce and Roasted Red Pepper sauce.

Enjoy!

The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper

Just read through Bob Harper's new book, The Skinny Rules.  Good read.  I wish he would have used the word healthy or fit vs skinny but he really does not focus on "skinny" in the book.  A lot of little tips and tweaks to share.  The list of "rules" is really nothing new but still a great refresher of things to consider.  If you want to read the list of his rules, you can go to Amazon.com and click on "search inside this book".  Like every other nutrition book, take away what can work for you and ignore the rest.  

Detox and Fiber - something that applies to everyone

Is detox necessary?
I get asked on a regular basis about "detox" and if I think it is necessary.
For the average person:  NO.  You do not need to fast (stop eating), do a juice cleanse or add drastic dietary modifications.
YES, you should focus on eating cleanly (veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains, lean organic meats etc).  Those changes can be made over time.  You need to reduce or eliminate (as much as possible) all of the things that are not good for our bodies like sugar, hydrogenated fats, refined grains, food coloring and preservatives (just to name a few).

What about colon cleanse supplements?
If you are feeding your body heaps of junk food and trying to take colon cleanse/detox supplements, you are not accomplishing anything positive.  You are creating a vicious cycle of diarrhea, dehydration and reducing the ability of your gastro-intestinal system to help your immune system (the two are very connected in function).  Given sufficient amount of water, our bodies have an amazing ability to clean themselves via the function of our kidneys and liver.  If you consume a lot of water, that only helps the process along.  If you do not like water, try iced or hot tea sweetened with stevia.

So what should I do?
In my opinion, the most beneficial thing that anyone can do to help naturally detox is to greatly increase their consumption of fiber.

How much?
Do not add huge amounts all at once.  Start small (2-3x a day) and increase your intake until you find the right amount that your digestive tract can handle.

Most Americans get only about 5-10 grams of fiber per day in their diet.  But the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends:

• 25 grams for women and teenage girls
• 30-38 grams for men and teenage boys (as they usually consume more calories than women)

Different types
There are two different types of fiber and they both help clean our bodies in different ways.

Soluble Fiber	Insoluble Fiber
slows down digestion	prevents constipation
makes you feel full	speeds up the passage of waste through your gut
helps control weight
helps blood sugar levels
helps lower LDL “bad” cholesterol

My favorite supplements
I try to get as much fiber as I can from real food sources but I also have a few staples that I use on a regular basis.

1) VitaFusion Fiber Gummies.  Target has a generic that is exactly the same.  Walmart has a generic that is lower in fiber with a few more calories.  It essentially has 0 net calories because the only calories that it contains are not readily absorbed by your body.  And it packs the largest amount of fiber in a small serving.  Two fiber chews have 10 calories and 5 grams of fiber.  That is 20% of what you should be consuming each day.  If you had no other sources of fiber in your diet (BAD), you could eat 10 fiber chews each day, which contain 100 calories, to get 25 grams of fiber (remember men need a little bit more than women).

2)  For someone who does not eat gluten, wheat, soy, dairy or animal products (are vegan/vegetarian), Fiber 35 Diet chews are a great option.  188 calories to get 25 grams of fiber.

3) Another great vegetarian product from GNC.  250 calories to to get 25 grams of fiber.

Other favorites in our household

Some of my other favorite fiber containing foods:

Quaker High Fiber Oatmeal - 1 packet has 40% of daily fiber for a woman

Fiber One 50 calorie yogurts - one container has 20% of daily fiber for a woman.

My husband and kids could live on Fiber One Chocolate, Caramel & Pretzel 90-calorie bars.  We buy them by the case.  They provide 20% of daily fiber needs for a woman.

At the metaphorical end
Try increasing your fiber intake for a week and let me know what you think.  I won't even mind the dirty details.

Waldorf Salad - my lower-calorie recipe

My mom used to make this all of the time when I was younger.  I got a craving for it last night.

Crunchy, sweet, creamy, nutty - delicious!

Ingredient                               Calories

1 chopped Fuji Apple                70

¼ cup Celery                             4

1 tbsp raisins                             30

5 sliced grapes                          20

1 tbsp crushed walnuts              40

1 tbsp hellmans low fat mayo     15

2 tbsp low fat cool whip            25

1 packet splenda or stevia          0

Throw all of the ingredients in a container, put the lid on and shake. 

Makes 2 larger servings about 100 calories each or 3 smaller servings about 70 calories each.

*I have made this with vegan mayo, fat free-mayo, fat-free cool whip, vegan whipped cream (coconut milk based) etc.  It pretty much always tastes the same, regardless of what I use. 

Favorite new snack

A new snack that I have been enjoying - only 67 calories!  Odd, as I usually avoid calorie-laden bagels and most dairy.  But this is kind of yum!  Nothing original, but the mix of flavors is still a great combo.

Update: 
I forgot to add that I love adding Eggbeaters to this too.
I cook eight (1/4 cup) Eggbeater/egg white omelets at a time.  I keep the extra stored in the fridge and warm them up as I want a snack.  Each 1/4 cup omelet adds 5 grams of protein and 25 calories.  So Egg beaters added to the 1/2 bagel and spreadable cheese = 92 calories.

Other flavor combinations:
My son loves the cinnamon raisin bagel thins with reduced calorie plain cream cheese.
My daughter loves the plain bagel thins with the reduced calorie plain cream cheese.

I have also tried the Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb spread (love it) and the Laughing Cow Mozzarella, Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil spread.  I really like it too but it has a strong basil taste.  If you like basil you will love it.  If you typically do not like basil, I'd skip it.     

What are your non-negotiables?

Lesson learned (yet again);  Deprivation does not work for me.

I already eat a diet that is pretty limited compared to most people.  I do not eat meat (poultry and seafood included).  I try to avoid dairy aside from a slice of light cheese every now and then.  I eat egg whites but avoid eating egg yolks.  I avoid sugar in terms of chocolate, candy, cake, cookies, etc.  I do not eat rice because I don't like it.  I avoid white bread and eating bread in general except for a few servings of reduced calorie bread a day.  You get the point.  However, it is a balance that I have personally struck between having mostly all healthy stuff with the right mix of indulgence thrown in to keep me appeased. 

Every now and then I get this extreme inclination to try to modify my diet to give up something else.  It pretty much results in me hyper-planning, initially executing successfully and then crashing when I realize that I feel deprived.  This week I decided that I was going to try an Atkins-ish induction type of plan.  I was not going to consume more than 20 net grams of carbohydrate per day to see how my body responded.  I tracked everything meticulously.  The first day went very well.  I was proud that I stuck with it.  Same with the 2nd and 3rd days.  I realized on the evening of day 3, I was starting to get slightly annoyed.  I wanted bread.  I wanted pasta.  I wanted vegetables!  I eat 5-15 servings of vegetables on any given day.  I love eating them.  But they did not fit in with the crazy plan that I had devised.  I could only have a small amount here and there to stay on plan.  

Late on night 3, I told myself to have a serving of SOMETHING to try to quiet the crazy feeling.  I could not stop fixating on all of the food that I was trying to eliminate.  In my head, I agreed to 1 portion of whatever looked the most appealing.  I ate 1 package of my kids' microwave mac and cheese.  I think it was the best mac and cheese ever.  The next day I woke up and went carb crazy.  Four servings of pita chips with hummus.  Four servings of biscuits and gravy.  I had 3 diet cokes.  I had french fries from McDonald's.  I felt gross and bloated.  But I finally felt satisfied and reached a point where I felt back in balance.  The crazy cravings were gone.

Lesson learned - when you have found that sweet spot that works, don't rock the boat.  For me, that means that I need to listen to my body and know what I can realistically give up and what I will never be able to part with, even in the short-term.  I think when you look at your diet and figure out what your non-negotiables are, you can start planning everything else around those things.

So, what are your non-negotiables?   

My favorite way to cut calories when eating at a sit-down restaurant ...

When you eat at a sit-down restaurant, your best bet is to start by choosing the healthiest thing possible.  However, sometimes we want to indulge and enjoy something not so healthy.  A tip that works in either instance is to: 

Pack up half before you even start eating!

Have you ever thought, "I will eat half and take the rest home."?  That usually equals eating the first half and some or all of the rest!  Once we start the process of enjoying a meal, it is more difficult to emotionally disconnect and to realize when we are full or that it is time to stop.  So ask for a takeout box.  Pack away half of your food to take home and then eat the half that is left.  Bonus:  You have another small meal to enjoy at a later time.  

For a healthier breakfast, skip the drive-thru.

My favorite low-calorie, on-the-go meal is from Subway.  I get an egg white and mozzarella cheese (easy on the cheese) English muffin.  I add spinach, tomato, green pepper, onion and salt and pepper.  That is a whole serving of veggies there!  I also add just a few drops of fat-free honey mustard.  This sandwich comes in at right around 150 calories!  You can get TWO egg white and cheese melts at Subway for the same amount of calories of ONE egg and cheese muffin (300 calories) at McDonalds.  Um, not a difficult choice.

You can even add in a bag of baked Lays (130 calories) and still be under the calories you would consume at McDonalds.  280 calories at Subway vs 300 calories at McDonalds.

Not a fan of the vegetarian option?  The meat-based egg white muffin sandwiches at Subway are all under 220 calories each.

Remember:

• choose egg white, not egg.
• no condiments, sauces or dressings.  If you want them, get them on the side and add just a tiny amount.
• go easy on the cheese.

Subway serves breakfast food all day long.  YAY!  More fast food calorie hacks coming in the near future.  Send me some of your favorite fast food meals and I will help you find ways to make them as healthy as possible.

My "detox" from YAZ. The good, the sad and the ugly.

This post is related to health and wellness, so I consider it fair game.  If talk of things related to hormones makes you squeamish, you have been fairly warned!
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I have always been one to avoid medicines and things that I considered not medically necessary.  However, I as entered my late teens and early 20s, I started having problems with mild to moderate acne.  Not horribly disfiguring, just annoying enough to cause me stress and to force me to always wear a bit of concealer to cover up the spots.

I tried the following:  dietary changes, drinking more water, vitamins, naturopathic supplements, elimination diets, expensive cosmed skincare lines, chemical peels, microdermabrasion, Proactive and topical prescription medications (Differein, benzoyl peroxide and Retin-A).  Out of breath from reading that sentence?  Nothing really helped significantly.  I was seeing an awesome dermatologist and he said that based upon everything that I had tried, he thought I should consider trying YAZ for a few months.  I waited it out for a few months, not wanting to put additional hormones into my body.  After a crazy breakout cycle, I decided to give it 30 days.

From talking to many friends and family members, I have learned that YAZ (and its generics) is a love it or hate it kind of medicine.  It ended up being a LOVE IT medicine for me.  Within 2 weeks, my skin was the clearest that it had been in years.  I did start having headaches when I took the 4 inert pills in each pack.  I was told to skip those and take it 365 days a year.

I took it for almost 4 years and to the greatest extent, I never had any complaints.  However, I recently decided that I wanted to consider going off of it to see how my body would respond.  I have several friends or friends-of-friends that have estrogen-fed forms of breast cancer.  I started to get paranoid taking a medication that could increase my cancer risk.  This came along with another worry ... I hated the thought of dealing with my face breaking out.  I figured that I would once again give it 30 days to see how my body responded without the medication.

"Detox" has better than I expected in terms of breakouts!  In over 70 days, I have only had 2 real pimples on my face and 2 on my back (yuck).  Honestly, the biggest annoyance has been with my skin and scalp.  I feel like my skin and scalp are twice as oily as they were on YAZ.  I am always blotting with oil sheets and have to wash my hair more frequently.  The other annoyance is that I have to shave more often!  On YAZ, I shaved maybe once a week.  Now I need to shave every other day.  My chest size has also gone down a cup size (that is the SAD part!).  However, I can't pin that on YAZ alone, as I have been exercising like crazy so it is probably a mix of both things.  Funny how what you fail to consider as a negative outcome often ends up being more annoying than what you actually worried about.

At this point, I am going to take it month-by-month to see how my body continues to readjust.  I have talked with many of you about YAZ, acne, hormones and their effect on weight-loss or weigh-gain.  I thought you might gain something from my personal experience.

I'm not starving! How I eat 1,200 calories a day and feel satisfied.

If you would have told me 6 months ago that I would not only log all of the food I eat but also try to stay under 1,200 calories a day, I would have laughed.  I always had some excuse about why I did not need to keep track or count calories:

1)  I eat a plant-based diet, no meat or dairy.  I don't need to worry about it.
2)  I am eating gluten-free or nearly so and not really anything with sugar, so I should not have to worry about calories.
3)  I am focusing on protein shakes and eating a lot of egg-whites.  I can't be consuming many calories!
4)  I am staying within my Weight Watchers points for the day, so calories do not really matter!
5)  I worked out every night this week and burned thousands of calories.
6)  Blah blah blah ... some other similar excuse equal to those above.

NONE of those things worked.  It took a lot of frustration and wasted time on my part but I eventually figured out that tracking calories will probably always be a necessity for me.  I may get to a point where I do not track everything, everyday.  It would be nice to eventually use regular weigh-ins and how my clothes fit to assess if I am on track or need to cut down a bit.  I have heard that many reach a phase where they can intuitively know when to keep eating and when to stop each day.  I am nowhere near that point.

I aim to fall in the 1,100 to 1,300 range.  I have 1 day every week or two where my calories spike and another day or two when they go lower.  I very much believe in the concept of "caloric cycling," or trying to avoid eating the same amount of calories day after day.  If your metabolism knows what to expect, it goes into autopilot mode.  If you are always providing your body with a slightly different caloric intake, it removes the ability of your metabolism to adjust and become more efficient at a set caloric intake.

I LOVE to eat.  I am not someone that could eat three times a day and never snack.  Besides, that way of eating is not good for our bodies.  When you eat a lot and then go more than 3 hours without eating again, you create a huge spike and then subsequent crash in your blood sugar/glucose levels.  That makes you tired, agitated, irritable, etc.  You need to eat within an hour of getting up and every 2-3 hours throughout the day.  I have a whole list of 50, 100 and 150 snacks and mini-meals that I choose from.  This allows me to eat on a regular basis and to stay within my calorie range.  I went back through all of my food logs and found many of the non-fruit and non-vegetable snacks and put them together on a list at Pinterest.

You need to think of your calories like money:  put yourself on a daily budget.  If I know that I am going to have something higher in calories for dinner (usually a restaurant meal), I try to eat all low-calorie snacks earlier in the day.  If I have a high-calorie lunch, I know that I need to wisely budget the rest of my calories in the evening and also at night.  Some nutritionists believe that you should stop eating a few hours before bedtime.  I really enjoy a bedtime snack.  If a snack at night and its ensuing digestion bothers you, skip it.  If not, enjoy.

This exact plan will not work for all women but consider analyzing everything that you eat for a few days.  I think most of us underestimate exactly how much we consume.  Experiment with the amount of calories that you eat to find an amount that leaves you satisfied yet also allows your body to maintain your health weight.  And for men, I would not recommend anything under 1,500 calories a day.

What are your main obstacles to eating what you consider to be a healthy diet?  Share them with me below or via email and I can assist help you think of a few tips and tricks to try.

Geometry what? Volumize your foods!

Yeah, you read that right!

As in Volumetrics.  It is one of the best nutrition books around.  It has been well-rated at Amazon and by different consumer rating organizations since its release in 2000.  It can be used by 99.9% of people to make almost anything that they eat healthier.  An updated version of this book will be out in April and I have already pre-ordered it.





The basic concept:  We tend to eat about the same amount volume-wise each day.  For example, if I feel satisfied on 10 cups of food on Monday, I will probably eat about 10 cups of food on other days of the week to feel equally satisfied.  The 10 cups can be low calorie foods or high calorie foods but the total volume or amount will usually be equally filling and consistent.

If you eat 10 cups of foods that are lower in calories, you can get full/satisfied and consume fewer total calories.

Also, you can pretty much each anything you want, you just need to decrease the amount of the unhealthy, high calorie ingredients (but still keep some) and add a lot of low calorie ingredients in to add volume to your dish.

How to put it into action:
1)  Start paying attention to every ingredient in all of the meals that you eat.
2)  Figure out the the calories that each ingredient contributes to the dish or recipe.
3)  Determine how much of the high-calorie ingredient(s) you want to eliminate.  A good starting point is to begin with at half.
4)  Add in low-calorie ingredients to increase the volume of what you are eating.
5)  You can focus on increasing your portion size and keeping calories consistent OR keeping your portion size consistent and decreasing calories  

Can you think of a favorite recipes or meal that would work well with Volumetrics?  If you would like assistance with some healthier substitutions, let me know and I can help you out.

Ideal Weight...What Is Yours?

Many of us have unrealistic goals in terms of our ideal weight.  We think back to what we weighed in high school, when we got married, had children or a size that we associate with a positive period in our lives.  Others often base their magic number on what relatives or friends weigh.  In the end, you need to learn to base the number(s) on you, your body type and something that is realistic to maintain.  Disclaimer:  there will always be people that will not conform to the weight ranges below.  Especially those that have a large percentage of muscle mass.  However, I think the information below tends to provide very realistic and healthy ranges for most of us.

First:

Determine your frame size by placing your right thumb and middle finger around your left wrist.

Small frame: your fingers overlap when you place your thumb and middle finger around your wrist.

Medium frame:  your fingers touch when you place your thumb and middle finger around your wrist. 

Large frame: your fingers do not touch when you place your thumb and middle finger around your wrist.

Next:

Find the correct chart for your gender.  Locate your correct place on the chart.

Ideal Body Weight Chart For Women 25-59 years of age.

Height in Feet&Inches	Small Frame	Medium Frame	Large Frame
4'10"	102-111	109-121	118-131
4'11"	103-113	111-123	120-134
5'0"	104-115	113-126	122-137
5'1"	106-118	115-129	125-140
5'2"	108-121	118-132	128-143
5'3"	111-124	121-135	131-147
5'4"	114-127	124-138	134-151
5'5"	117-130	127-141	137-155
5'6"	120-133	130-144	140-159
5'7"	123-136	133-147	143-163
5'8"	126-139	136-150	146-167
5'9"	129-142	139-153	149-170
5'10"	132-145	142-156	152-173
5'11"	135-148	145-159	155-176
6'0"	138-151	148-162	158-179

Ideal Body Weight Chart For Men 25-59 years of age.

Height in Feet&Inches	Small Frame	Medium Frame	Large Frame
5'2"	128-134	131-141	138-150
5'3"	130-136	133-143	140-153
5'4"	132-138	135-145	142-156
5'5"	134-140	137-148	144-160
5'6"	136-142	139-151	146-164
5'7"	138-145	142-154	149-168
5'8"	140-148	145-157	152-172
5'9"	142-151	151-163	155-176
5'10"	144-154	151-163	158-180
5'11"	146-157	154-166	161-184
6'0"	149-160	157-170	164-188
6'1"	152-164	160-174	168-192
6'2"	155-168	165-178	172-197
6'3"	158-172	167-182	176-202
6'4"	162-176	171-187	181-207

This should give you a healthy weight range to aim for when setting your goals.  Is your idea weight range higher or lower than you expected?

Don't Put All Of Your Eggs In One Basket...

Also known as...don't put all of your trust in one measurement when it comes to your body shape.  There are many different ways to quantify your level of health and body composition.

Weight in pounds or kilograms

Many people fixate on weight and get frustrated when they do not see changes that they consider equal to their effort expended (ME!).  It is important to remember that you might be the same weight or even gain weight when starting to exercise.  Not always a bad thing.

Body fat
I consider body fat to be the most important indicator of health.  There is no cheating your way around this measurement.  It proves that a thin person can still have too much body fat and that a 250 pound body builder can be really lean.  There are so many factors that can affect overall weight like height and build (endo, ecto and mesomorph).  Body fat measurements allow a way for you to track yourself against yourself.  After all, your body is not built like the body of anyone else.

How to measure it:
Body fat scale
Skin calipers
Water submersion
Taping
DEXA Scan

The American Council on Exercise uses the following categories based on percentage of body fat: 

Muscle mass
I think this measurement is most important for competitive athletes and body builders.  Keeping track of this number over time helps you assure that you are losing fat vs losing muscle when trying to get lean.

Body water percentage
Very important for women to track throughout the month.  It can let you know that a 5-pound gain is not related to fat or muscle, rather you are just bloated and retaining extra water weight.  Another application is based upon the fact that our bodies naturally tend to hold on to fat.  If your body thinks that it is being deprived, it will actually break down some muscle and dump water weight in order to hold on to its fat reserves.  Fad diets often suggest that you can lose 7- 10 pounds in a week, without specifying the type of weight being lost.  However, it is physically impossible to lose more than 2-3 lbs of body fat in a week.  Water volume measurements can also be used to assess hydration if one is exercising intensely in sessions longer than an hour.

Body Mass Index (BMI)
Commonly used at health fairs and in doctors offices.  It is an acceptable measurement for about 90% of people.  However, weight lifters and anyone who has a high percentage of muscle mass can often fall into overweight or obese categories.

Click here to calculate your BMI.

Body taping (neck, chest, waist, arms, legs) in inches or centimeters
Pick a few specific spots and measure them at consistent times of the day over a month.  The measurements can show loss in size that might not be reflected in weight.

How clothes fit
The least scientific but one of my favorites.  If you have a favorite pair of jeans, use those as a gauge as to how you are losing or gaining.  As you drop weight, get a smaller size and use those as your gauge.

My favorite scale

EatSmart Scale

Buy this scale at Amazon.com.


What I plan to try in the future:
A DEXA Scan is the most accurate measurement for body fat.
You can read more about it by clicking here.

Find a few of these techniques that work the best for your needs and try to use them consistently.  

Calories Out > Calories In

Which “diet” is the best to follow?  Easy answer!  The one that you fits into YOUR life and that you can stick with for the duration of your life.

I am often asked, what diet works best:  Low-carb, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, Ornish, Paleo, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Sugar-free etc.  The answer is that they all can work because they all focus on caloric deprivation of one kind or another.  But can you eat THAT way for the rest of your life? 

Losing weight is about creating a deficit or difference in the number of calories your body burns vs. how many calories you eat.  At the end of the day, you’ve got to eat in a way that is sustainable for you, allows you to lose weight in a reasonable time frame and also that allows you to feel physically and emotionally satisfied.

Another question that people often ask me – Can you lose weight without exercising?  You can lose weight without exercising!  However, it will be a much slower process and your body will physically not look as good.  Once you lose excess fat, it is nice to have a little muscle definition to balance out your body shape.  Think of a thin person that does not exercise and how they look in tight pants.  Their butt may be small but it is not firm.  Their legs are straight but show no definition to accentuate their hips and waist.  Working out is like the icing on the metaphorical weight-loss cake! 

I will use myself as example.  This is my daily caloric differential graph from SparkPeople.com.  In my case, my basal metabolic rate (BMR) or the calories I need to maintain my body, my current weight and basic daily activity = 1,667 calories.

 What I eat is my caloric intake (CI).  I aim to eat about 1,200 calories every day.

NO EXERCISE  1,667 (BMR) -1,200 (Caloric Intake)     467 (Differential) If I have a difference of 467 calories a day, I know I should lose 1 pound every 7.5 days. 3500 (calories in 1 Lb) =  467 calories per day   7.5 days to lose 1 Lb

EXERCISE – 250 calories/day  1,917 (BMR + exercise) -1,200 (Caloric intake)     715 (Differential) If I have a difference of 715 calories a day, I know I should lose 1 pound every 5 days. 3500 (calories in 1 LB) =   715 calories per day   4.9 days to lose 1 Lb

I don’t know about you, but I would rather lose a pound every 5 days vs. every 7.5 days.  It just means you have to give up a little bit of your time to make it happen!

It my personal experience, it does not really matter what you do regarding diet or exercise, as long as you keep a daily caloric difference great enough to keep you satisfied with YOUR weight loss.  Of course, you should try to eat clean, real, unprocessed food.  However, if I ate 1,200 calories of Snackwell cookies every day, I would/could still loose at about the same rate, my body just would not look or feel as good (physically, mentally or emotionally) as it could on 1,200 calories of healthy stuff.  You just have to figure out what you can sustain long-term and find YOUR perfect balance between healthy eating, exercising and feeling like you can still occasionally indulge in your favorite foods.  What works for you will not be a great fit for others and vice-versa.

In the end, weight-loss is all about creating a grand science experiment with your body.  You need to record what goes in (food) and what goes out (exercise).  By doing so, you can make small changes and adjustments to keep losing or to maintain a weight loss.  It was not until I started charting everything that I was able to make the connections and to fill all of the voids that had sabotaged my weight-loss and fitness efforts in the past.