Weight Math

After yesterday's disappointing weigh-in, I remembered (vaguely) that statistic about how many calories you need to cut to lose 1 lb. So, I turned to my friend The Google and did a little research.

There seems to be some debate over the precise number of calories you'd need to reduce or burn through exercise in order to lose 1 lb of fat in one week, but the general consensus was that 3,500 calories = 1 lb of 'weight'. Breaking that down into more manageable daily pieces, you'd need to cut back about 500 calories per day to lose 1 lb, or 250 calories per day to lose 1/2 a lb. Roughly.

Now, part of the reason the French Diet appeals to me so much is that I have never counted calories. The whole idea is anathema to me. I just hate it! I have enough things I need to juggle in my mind that I really don't want to add calorie counting to the list. First of all, I'd need to memorize the calories in  everything I eat, and then I'd have to try to calculate how much the portion of food X that I just ate contained. I just patently refuse to add this task to my daily to-do's.

Of course, with the advent of the iPhone and all the health/diet related apps that are available, you might say that all I need to do is find the right app and let it do the work. And, that might be true. But I still just don't want to do it.

So instead I asked The Google about exercise and how many calories each type of exercise (roughly) burns. Here's what I found, according to the Mayo Clinic:

For a 160 lb. person:

1 hour of...                    =              calories burned

  aerobics, high impact                          533
  aerobics, low impact                           365
  cycling < 10 mph                                292
  weight training                                    365
  swimming laps                                    423
  walking, 2 mph                                   204
  walking, 3.5 mph                                314

So yesterday, I went for a brisk walk in the morning. My iPhone app WalkTracker (I'm not opposed to using technology to help with health and fitness, it's just calorie counting that I despise) informed me that I had walked approximately 2.7 miles over 50 minutes at an average speed of 3.26 mph. According to my app, that represented 270 calories. Later that same day, I ended up walking another 1.5 miles when I found myself taking the train back home after visiting my parents. So, all in all, I had a pretty good day, exercise-wise.

My goal is to do some moderate amount of aerobic activity for 30-60 minutes each day, I probably would be able to take care of 1/2 a pound a week. The rest (if I want to make 1 lb a week my goal) should come from appropriate application of the French diet, especially from portion control.