Goals

I haven't been exercising very much lately and I have figured out why I'm in a slump. When I first started I was very motivated and exercised every day. Well most every day. Then a few weeks ago I stopped. Well a few weeks ago I met all my goals I have set. Other than working out to get healthier and to lose weight I wasn't working toward anything. Yesterday I made new goals and today I am working harder to meet these goals. If you noticed you aren't working hard I would look into setting goals. I listen to The Jillian Michaels podcast and she had a topic of setting a goal pyramid. By doing this you have something you are working toward. With each goal you meet there is a reward. If you want to listen to the show here is the link.  It will be # 20 on the list.  I have found this to be very helpful.




Happy Exercising!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jillian-michaels-show/id418368811 

Helpful Info: Are you eating enough calories?

So recently my friend told me that she didn't think I was eating enough calories. For the past couple months I had been at 1500 calories each day and was also exercising but the weight was just NOT coming off. She figured out my REE (Resting Energy Expenditure) by doing what is called The Mifflin Equation. It figures out how many calories a person needs each day just to SUSTAIN life. My number ended up being 1711, which I should NEVER be under. So turns out that my body had been in starvation mode when I was only eating 1500 calories a day and that's why it didn't want to let go of the fat, hence the no weight loss.

I also did a wellness assessment at a local University that took into account body fat %, flexibility, strength and a bunch of other tests. I also paid extra to have my REE actually measured by a machine. It ended up being 2141 which seemed like A LOT to me. So since then, I set My Fitness Pal to be at 2200 calories and then I try to be a little bit under that (but NEVER under 2141).

This past week I have been mostly a little bit under my goal of 2200 calories and I did 30 Day Shred 5 times and Zumba 2 times. This past week I lost 1.5 lbs. Healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs. per week because at that rate it will STAY off and you are losing fat instead of muscle or water weight.

So I just thought I would share The Mifflin Equation with you guys if you were interested:

REE (Resting Energy Expenditure) = (10 x weight/2.2) + (6.25 x height in inches x 2.54) - (5 x age) - 161

Sometimes to get the calories you should be eating you will also need to multiply your REE by your lifestyle/activity level. 1.3 is sedentary, 1.5 is lightly active and 1.7 is moderately active.

Last night while going over my wellness assessment results with my friend's husband (who works in the lab that does all the tests) I asked him if I should be eating more since I've been exercising quite a bit and he said that if I have enough energy and don't feel hungry and I'm getting the results that I want, then he would leave it alone or maybe increase it to 2400. I think I will keep it at 2200 for now. If I multiplied it by a sedentary lifestyle (1.3) then my calories each day would end up being 2783. But if I don't change it to that number then I will end up having a little more than a 500 calorie deficit each day. Which would add up to one pound of weight loss per week. (3500 calories is in a pound). Then with my exercise, that should put me at another 3500, which would be a total of 2 lbs. of weight loss per week.

Another thing I found helpful while talking to him last night was that to keep our blood sugar from spiking and then dropping multiple times a day, you should eat carbs, protein and fat with EVERY meal and snack. It takes the body longer to process proteins and fats than it does to process carbs. Since it takes the body longer to process protein and fat, your blood sugar doesn't spike as fast or drop as quickly.

Also, every one is different but he recommended that each day 55% of my calorie intake be from carbs, 25% from fat and 20% from protein. The healthy ranges for each of those things are: Carbs 45-65%, Fat 20-35%, and Protein 10-35%.

I hope that gave everyone some helpful information! I want everyone to lose weight in a healthy way because that will be weight loss that will stay off. Way to go this past week ladies! And if you didn't lose any weight this week or you gained, don't stress! It's just one week and you can just re-commit to your goals! Also, whenever you change up your diet or weight loss routines, it sometimes takes a couple of weeks for your body to catch up and start losing weight, but then it should be consistent.

Have a great week ladies! :)

Emails!

The way I will be communicating with you is primarily by email. Once the challenge starts I will be sending out reminder emails and also results emails. (I'll probably send out a couple reminder emails before the challenge begins as well.) If you haven't already done so, please add me to your contact list.  Thanks! :)

Fit & Healthy Hotties Weight Loss Challenge!

Fit and Healthy Hotties

Weight Loss Challenge

April 14-July 21

I'm excited so many of you want to participate in this weight loss challenge! I created this blog so everyone could post on here, ask questions, and motivate one another. I will make all of the challenge participants authors on this blog so everyone can post on here. Below is more information about the challenge. Some parts are still up for discussion, so if you a have any ideas to make it better or if you don't agree with something, please let me know! I want to make this work for everyone! 

Weigh-Ins
The 1^st weigh-in will be April 14. Everyone will send a picture of themselves (front or side-facing…just make sure the beginning and ending picture is facing the same way so I can compare) and a picture of their weight on the scale. The last weigh-in will be July 21. Everyone will need to weigh-in on Saturdays and email me your results by Saturday night 11 pm ET.

Some people have said they won’t be able to weigh-in a couple of weeks because of family vacations. This is understandable but you will need to let me know beforehand which weeks you will be missing.

I've been trying to think of the right way to do this, because it's not fair to kick someone out the first time they miss sending in their weight on time but it's also not fair to everyone else if they consistently miss and then end up as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place at the end.

So what I think I've decided is, if people miss 2 weigh-ins (without letting me know beforehand) then they will be kicked out. Some people are going on vacations so if they tell me beforehand which weeks they will be missing then obviously that won't count against them. I want to make it fair to everyone.

I want to have scale pictures emailed every three weeks, April 14, May 5, May 26, June 16, July 7, and July 21 to make sure people are being honest. (I do trust you guys, but I think it would give everyone in the challenge peace of mind and keep people accountable.)

MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal is NO longer a requirement. It’s a FREE website that you can use to track your exercise and food. Some of the participants are already on there. I think it’s a great tool to use, but it's completely up to you if you want to do it. People can comment on your statuses (similar to Facebook), there is a weight loss tracker and it’s nice to have the support. If you do decide to join, you can add me as a friend. My username is hw1219.

Prizes

Each person will contribute a $10 gift card which will be sent to me postmarked by April 7. There will be a winner every week who will receive one of the gift cards. Every participant will cap out at 2 weekly wins. If they are the winner a 3^rd time, the person with the next highest weight loss that week will win. The remainder of the gift cards will be split at the end between 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners. The challenge is based on percentage so it’s fair to everyone. Weekly winners will be announced through email by the following Monday night, 11 pm ET. The gift card will be mailed to the winner by the following Wednesday. 

My Participation

I will also be a participant in the contest, so there is the possibility that I could win a prize as well. However, I will also be kept accountable. I will email my scale pictures to a designated helper in the group. That way, if there’s ever any question about fairness and people’s weights, I will have the pictures and my helper will have mine.

If you have any other questions or suggestions, please let me know! I want this to be a fair and fun way for everyone involved to lose weight and get healthy! I will be strict with the rules though and I also promise to reply to your emails as soon as possible.

*Currently there are 28 participants, myself included and one person who is undecided at this point. If there end up being more than 50, I will create 2 teams (with each team having a variety of weights). So there would be a weekly winner for each team and also 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd place for each team.

I’m super excited about this!! Let the weight loss begin! (Or in some cases, continue!) J