Painting by numbers

Just a reminder, I’m not a doctor or a dietician. My knowledge is from years of having 3 meals a day (and sometimes more). My principal source of information is available on the internet. 
 

After this disclaimer, back to your regular programming. I’m painting a master piece, one number at a time. When this chef d’ouevre will be completed, it will be 65 pounds lighter than when I started on this blank, over-sized, canvas.

The first number is 3500

From most sources, it is the number of calories you need to burn more than you take to lose 1 pound. It doesn’t care if you are thin, large, men, women, nor your nationality or the color of your skin. – 3500 calories = - 1 pound or as what has been my problems for years + 3500 calories = + 1 pound

Let all be just negative here, no one is allowed to gain weight while reading my post today!

Time has no impact, if you have a 3500 calorie deficit and it took you a year or a month or a day, it does not matter, you lost 1 pound.

When I turned 50, I thought that I would lose a pound a month and that would be easy. In 5 years I would have been getting close to my goal. Didn’t happen! Perfect plan but not enough of a challenge to stick with it.

Now at 55 and with all the wisdom I have now *cough* *cough* I am challenging myself to lose 1.25 pound a week, which is 3500 + (.25 * 3500) =  4375. From Monday to Saturday, I will do nothing to lose the weight and Sunday I ‘m going to burn that 4375 calorie. Of course I can’t do that, it would not be feasible. So the recipe for me is to lose 625 (4375 / 7) calories per day. This is exactly the same number for anyone who wants to lose a 1.25 pound a week. That number by itself is exciting but you will not get anywhere if you don’t know the number of calories you burned in a balanced (no gain no lost) day.

Let’s all sit down. That is where it gets a little bit complicated. Anyone just sitting is burning calories, the rate they burned them will greatly varied from one person to the next. It will vary with your metabolism (age), your size and your gender. So if you extrapolate this to a whole day, every one will be burning calories but not in the same amount for similar days.

The second number for a male, 200 pound, 50 years: 2600 calories

The second number for a male, 200 pound, 60 years: 2480 calories

The second number for a male, 180 pound, 50 years: 2450 calories

The second number for a male, 180 pound, 60 years: 2350 calories

So in my case I’m 55 and around 200 pounds so my number to not gain nor lose any weight is between 2600 and 2480 calories. It means that for me, 2540 calories is what it takes to have a balanced calories, in and out. In 20 weeks when I reach 180 pounds, my balanced calories amount will be 2380 calories. It’s a difference of 160 calories per day. So if I eat the same amount when I reach 180, I will be slowing down my losing weight rate.

If you want to learn about your own balanced calories amount, you can go to the following link. The first table is for man and the second for women, the tables assumes you are in relatively sedentary occupations:

http://www.jrank.org/Staying-Well/pages/cmxyqyx3bu/calorie-balance-scientific-reducing.html

Let’s put the formula together:

Balanced amount of calories per day minus number of calories needed in a day to lose a pound a week equal number of calories available to eat in the day

My number: 2540 – 625 = 1915 Now how many Big Mac is this?

If you have problem understanding the tables and you want some help, let me know, I’ll be happy to help. All I’ll need is your HONEST age and weight, I’ll be discreet.

This is far from the end of the numbers game. Next time, I’ll look at the activities numbers.

Could you let me know if any one else was clueless about their numbers and if reading my technical post was of any help.