Back in step!

I have been off and on sick the past week. My right ear was completely clogged. I finally broke down and went to the ear doc and had my ears irrigated. I can hear again! I'm not getting dizzy at the drop of a hat anymore!

So, time to get back to it. I bought the Step Diet book to get to know all about the steps program. It was at Ross for only $3.99. Not bad!

I've only read the first chapter, but the book converts calories in and calories out into steps so you can figure out a good amount to eat for yourself and a good amount to workout.

It has a very cool appendix section. Section A is about Energy Awareness. It talks about portion control and gives you tips of what to cut out (like using one egg and one egg white for scrambled eggs) to help you stay energized with less calories.

Section B is a BodySteps table and gives you the amount of steps your body burns for you considering your weight and height. What it doesn't say is if the number applies towards a year, month, week, etc. I'm confused! I looked in the book and it is for a formula to find out your percentage of energy burned during your typical day. I'm not quite in that part of the book, so I will wait on this one.

Section C gives you a chart to find the MegaStep value for foods. It helps you calculate how many steps it takes to burn off the amount of food or how many steps you need to splurge.

In the book there is also a section of steps per minute of other activies like swimming, skiing, etc. It has one chart for men and one for women. Men burn more calories per minute. No wonder it's easier for them. Bah!

I also found a useful chart of steps per calorie, again, one for men and one for women. If I want to burn off a pound, according to the chart, I will need to take 115,500 steps. If I want to lose that in a week, I need to take at least 16, 500 steps per day. Yikes! I'm barely getting in 2,000-6,000 on average. I'm hoping there is another number in there somewhere that decreases this.

As soon as I read more, I will blog more. It seems like a well thought out plan, although perhaps a little complicated at times. However, taking steps and taking more steps is something we all can strive for (pun included!).

Fitnfun :O)

Back at it take 2,000,0003

It seems like I'm always starting again. I guess that is life. I'm feeling a little better now so I'm back at it for real this time.

On my day of feeling better, I made my goal and a few more...6,223! So, today, let's see if I can get to that again or more. To get to the goal, I did stairs and Nordic Track in the morning and then for an hour bounced around and walked my downstairs floor plan while watching the Biggest Loser. It worked, but I think I rather actually do an activity instead next time.

Yesterday I had a day where I felt bad again, but it might have been something I ate. I logged only 1, 522 steps.

Right now at 10:10AM I'm at 1,009. Good start to the day. I hopped on the Nordic Track for 15 minutes to get me a better start to the day. It is rainy outside so I will have to resort to working out inside today.

Eating wise, my portions have been smaller so I think I am doing well and eating healthy, and I'm taking supplements (vitamins and herbs) to boost my system too. I've been taking extra vitamin B and that seems to help quite a bit for more energy.

This morning I realize more than ever that I need to become more focused and slow down a little bit in general. I've been thinking about the theory of compartmentalizing which is thinking about clearly setting the boundaries so that whatever you are doing is the focus. I think I let work bombard my day even when I'm not working. And of course, when I'm working, I feel like I need time off. So, what if I put this compartmentalizing theory to the test. Right now I'm blogging, so I focus on blogging. Later I will work, and I will focus on work. Then after work time is over, it will be all about focusing on me, friends and family, my cats, etc. To actually have time for myself during the day would be a big improvement. I can pick up hobbies again like gardening, tending to my indoor plants, playing music...the world is full of possibilities!

Fitnfun :O)

How many steps equals losing 1 pound?

So I looked up the formulas. I found that 2,000 steps is approximately 1 mile. 10,000 steps per day then is 5 miles, which is what is recommended.

2000 steps = about 100 calories for someone that weighs 150 and a little less if you weigh less.

1 pound = 3500 calories. This means that it will take 70,000 steps to burn 1 pound, which equals a weeks worth at 10,000 steps per day.

If you aren't losing weight, it's recommended you up it by 2,000 steps per day (or one mile).

This is only an estimate. I found in one study that walking for an average woman only burns 43 calories. That would be 164,000 steps to equal one pound. Yikes! Running for an average woman burns 91 calories or closer to 100. Obviously, the more active the steps are, the higher calorie burn.

You can also balance this with your calorie intake to chisel calories off from that end too. Someone eating 1800 calories per day, in order to lose 1 pound dieting would need to go down to a 1300 calorie diet. You'd lose two pounds if you were to do the 12,000 steps for the week too.
It all depends on metabolism, weight, activity levels, etc to find the right exact balance. I'm wondering if someone out there can finally narrow all this down so you would know exactly what you as an individual would need to do to lose the weight. I don't think we are quite there yet, but maybe in the future, we can all be handed our individual regimes so we don't have to even think about any of this stuff: you need to eat x amount of calories per day and do x amounts of steps to lose x amounts of pounds in x amounts of weeks.

I guess until then, I have to stretch my math brain to the limits to figure it all out. To lose the 16 pounds, I'd need to take 1, 120,000 steps at least! I'm glad I know that the journey only starts with one step at a time.

Fitnfun :O)

Sick and back!

I had a few days of the flu to get through. I didn't do much exercising during the past three days. I ended up gaining 2 pounds that I had lost last week. However, after one day of slightly more exercise, I lost one pound.

I've been wearing my step meter religiously. One sick day was around the 800's which was pitiful. When I felt a little better, I was at 1,098. The next day with a little more was 2, 235. Today I'm finally feeling like I can get back to it. I did some stair work and Nordic track for 20 minutes and right now am at 1,157! Can you believe it?! This is more in a few hours of being up compared to the one entire day! So, I'm setting a goal today of around 6,000 steps and see how I do. I can always jump on my Nordic Track if I want a little tv break. I can go for a little walk before coming home from my errands. I can also do a dvd to make sure I get some toning. The possibilities are endless!

It made me think, while I was sick, how much we sit around and are on the computer, or watching tv, or playing video games. We say we don't have time to work out, but many people are watching tv 2-3 hours per day. What if during one of those hours, you worked out during the commercials or even worked out the entire hour with a Nordic Track, eliptical, tread mill, or other home gym equipment. I'm wondering if any of you still have the Gazelle. That's perfect for doing while watching tv too!

I think the Biggest Loser is attempting to promote doing crunches and toning during commercials. It will add up. An hour show is about 20-25 minutes worth of commercials. That's a great toning workout right there!

I'm going to attempt to be creative and find new ways to add up more steps. I'm also researching today how many steps equals how many calories. It's fun having an easy way to keep track.

Fitnfun :O)

As I promised myself, I went for a walk. I have also been keeping track of my steps today to see where I fall in. I walked close to 2 miles and have been doing laundry and other house chores, and I went out for a few errands too.

So, right now, I'm up to 5,655. So I would need 4,345 more steps to make it to the 10,000 that was recommended. I'm actually not going to try, but just see what I actually do normally the rest of the day for my own research.

These little trackers are pretty cool. They may not be 100% accurate, but at least they give an indication. I highly recommend getting one and they are so small, no one will notice.

I was so proud of myself when we went out for Chinese today. Not only did I order something healthy - no fried stuff - I also got a box and took half home!

Today I am going to look through my dvd's and get a clue as to what I would like to do the rest of this week. I'm thinking 20-30 minutes cardio and 20 minutes toning per day. I'll be posting my workouts when I do them.

Fitnfun :O)

Accountability Post!

Okay, I did 30 min. of Nordic Track with 5 minutes of using the arms. The other thing I did today was to pick up a copy of the Dr. Phil book on weight loss, The Ultimate Weight Loss Solution. It was only 50 cents at a thrift store so I thought, why not? I was in for a surprise just reading the first couple of chapters.

I had prided myself for doing 30 minutes of working out 4-6 days a week, but he suggest that you need to do 3-4 hours per week. Add up my 30 minutes a day and it is barely cutting the mustard (only if I do the 5-6 days a week!). At my age and fitness level, I am capable of doing the 4 hours per week, which is 240 minutes per week or 40-60 minutes per day depending on the 4-6 days per week.

He pointed out that 10,000 steps per day was sited as optimal. I know since switching to a stay at home job, I'm not moving as much as I used to, plus, the 30 minute workout was still lower than 600 steps. Yikes! This means during the day I need to have 9,400 more steps per day.

He taught how to form clear and concise goals making sure there is a measurement value. So instead of saying you want to weigh a certain weight, state that you want to lose so many pounds by so many weeks so you can feel _________.

In order to stay realistic, healthy weight loss is about 2 or 3 pounds per week. He had a waist to hip ratio to track your progress - waist inches/hip inches = percentage and women are best if lower than .80. The lower the value, the healthier weight distribution.

Lastly, he had charts that were more realistic for what you should weigh for you height, taking into consideration your bone structure.

So with all this to consider, I want to lose 16 pounds, 2-3 pounds per week by May 16th (6 weeks). This will put me at a medium range weight for my bone structure and it is realistic since looking back, this was a good weight for me. It was not my skinny minny high school weight either, but my adult body weight when I was feeling pretty good.

I want to lose the 16 pounds so I can feel better about myself, feel lighter, have more energy throughout the day, fit into the cute clothes I had at that weight (couldn't bring myself to get rid of the clothes I really liked), and feel healthier all around.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day, meaning, I'll perhaps take a walk or something else to keep moving, but not as a major workout. Monday will be my day off. I'm not a Monday person!

Other things I can do is to limit my portions a bit, I already eat the healthy stuff. Eat 6 small meals a day and drink 6 glasses of water. When I go to restaurants, I will try the trick of asking for a box right away and put away half for a later meal. It will save money too!

How's this for an accountability post?!

Fitnfun :O)

Post-workout Post!

Yay! I did it. I opted for an all around workout. Today was a Cardio Flex Band Workout by The Method. The instructor was great with easy combinations, using the band while moving, and she hit every major muscle group. The low impact was a little too low for me, very beginner, but for a 35 complete body workout, not bad.

The instructor's cuing was really good, but she was a little lacking in personality. However, I would still recommend this workout if you are shorter on time and want to hit all the muscle groups and still get some cardio. I will add it to my list.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the flex band inside was a little on the short side, even for a pint size like me. So, lucky I had other bands to work with.

If anyone out there has a recommendation for an all around workout that is under 45 minutes, let me know.

I'm going to keep pushing play, and I hope you join me soon!

Fitnfun :O)

Pre-post

I haven't been the best the past couple of days, but I'm looking to get a work out in today before tonight's events. So, here's the pre-post and I will blog at you afterwards!