It’s week three and once again I am at a standstill. According to the running total of calories burned that I keep in my journal, I should have lost three pounds by now.
So, the thought came to me the other day as I was recording the calories I consumed versus the calories burned: Could the fact that I’ve lost weight have an effect on the calories I burn each day?
When I first began recording my calories, rather than going to the website each day, I decided to write down how many calories I burned each minute with every activity I did. In order to find out that information I had to enter my weight which was based on the amount that I was before I began losing. So, I decided to check out the website once again to see if my change in weight would make a difference.
Wow, was I surprised! Each activity that I did was reduced by at least one calorie per minute. This meant for several of the activities I did each day I would need to work twice as long to burn the same amount of calories. I then realized that I wasn’t burning nearly as many calories as I thought each day.
I went back and recalculated. I quickly discovered that I had not only burned fewer calories per day than I thought I had, but on a couple of days I had actually consumed more calories than I had burned. This was quite an eye opener.
It almost seems unfair to work so hard to lose weight and then you seem to be penalized for being more fit. Now I will need to either eat less, exercise more, or do a little of both in order to have the same results that I’ve been getting. I believe my best choice will be to do a little of both.
So, instead of eating 1400 to 1700 calories per day, I plan to eat 1400 to 1600 calories. Additionally, I plan to increase my exercising to an extra hour and a half per week. This extra time can be fitted into any day or days that I have available; however, I understand that the additional effort must be made in order to have the same results that I had been receiving.
Even though I hit a little bump in the road with the disillusionment that I had concerning the calories, I am over that hump now and have a better understanding and know what to do to change it.
So, I will keep persevering, keeping my eyes on the goal, and believing that God will give me the strength, wisdom, and willpower to be victorious.
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