Let's Get Scientific, SHALL WE?

Holy crap…two blogs, two weeks in a row!!! Not possible. NOT POSSIBLE!!!

OH BUT IT IS!

Happy Sunday workout buddies! It’s been quite a week. My goal for this last week was just to eat to maintain my weight. I’ve been counting calories (and calorie cycling, which I’ll explain a little bit more about in a minute) to stick around my current weight’s RMR (definition here: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_BMR.php).

With my spinning instructor out of town all week, I even took most of this week off from hard exercise. Just the dog walking, and one Jillian Michaels workout at the end of the week because my sleep schedule is still not where I want it, and I’m testing my energy levels.

With all that said…I dropped over 6 POUNDS…since Tuesday (the actual day I started calorie counting)…that’s 6 pounds in 5 days!

So starting tomorrow, I will be eating my goal weight RMR (which is 1,462 calories), and developing my workout schedule. I cannot wait until my weigh-in next week!!!

Now to get scientific on ya’ll. Let's discuss one of several innovative ideas I’ve received by reading Pete Thomas’s book “Lose It Fast, Lose It Forever”.

Calorie cycling…basically you take your RMR, and throughout the week you either subtract 10 or 15%, or you add 10 or 15%.

Start off Day 1 subtracting 10%, Day 2 adding 10%, Day 3 subtracting 15%, Day 4 adding 10%, Day 5 subtracting 10%, Day 6 eating at your RMR, and Day 7 adding 15%.

What this accomplishes:

• It prevents your body from getting accustomed to having a certain amount of calories daily, which helps to stave off plateau; pretty much the same idea behind muscle confusion, but in terms of nutrition.
• It allows you to eat more calories on certain days, so you won’t feel like you’re depriving yourself all week (which I can attest to just from this week).
• It makes you think ahead a week calorie-wise, so you can plan out meals and events, and by the end of the week, you are still consuming your RMR on average every week.

I’ve heard A LOT about calorie counting (pretty much my entire life), but I’ve never heard of it being taken to this level. So far so good on my end!

I promise to get a little more fun and psychological with you next week, but for this week, YOUR CHALLENGE is to try this out! Get a calorie counter (my personal favorite is the My Fitness Pal app and website, and you can find me there @RainmakerRoxy), calculate your RMR for both your current weight and goal weight (Pete Thomas’s website has a great calculator: http://petethomas.com/calculators/), and see what results you can come up with!

And if you’re following this blog, find me on Twitter, Vine, Facebook and Instagram (see contact page for links). I would LOVE to follow you back ;)

Your Workout Buddy:

Roxy

I'm so SICK of Day 1

Yep...again.

I think I need a place I can turn to as a reminder of what eating out does to my body:

T2R - RESTAURANT VERSION

• Steak and Shake = Milkshakes make my stomach feel like crap, and my digestive system go wonky, plus they always forget the ranch dressing for the onion rings...yeah, and the onion rings are just too much for your belly too.
• Applebee's = No matter what you order, it always makes you feel bloated, plus, they somehow find a weigh to mess up your order when it's just a salad.
• Wendy's = A burger AND a salad is too much for your stomach (See Steak and Shake), just get the big salads they have, and you'll be fine, don't touch the flavored boneless wings.
• QDoba = They always get your order right, but the shell of their salads, while tasty, is way too heavy, take a break and get the salad naked, Chicken is the only decent meat they have.
• Chipotle = The chips upset your stomach, provide your own or just get the burrito bowl without chips, and the barbacoa meat is WAY too salty...YUCK! Tacos are occasionally fine if you need something crunchy.
• Taco Bell = You better be extraordinarily drunk cause there is NO REASON you should be eating here...you only like the stuff that's bad for you here.
• Aladdin's = You should only eat here for dinner, and only if you have 600 extra calories for the day, you know you like the tabouli and the chicken mishwi salad with the hot sauce and yogurt dressing...maybe the shish kabob salad, that's a lot of calories, and ask them to give you less pita bread to stop you from eating or wasting it
• Starbucks = Ok, anything you order should be NONFAT NO WHIP, and for pastries, you have no reason to order anything that isn't reduced fat...don't want the few things they have that are reduced fat? Then don't order any pastry, also Grande is the biggest size you should ever order...Venti is WAY too much.

TIPS FOR ANY OTHER RESTAURANT NOT LISTED HERE:

•  Just get fish and vegetables, or a salad of some sort...even if they make it with added calories, you still get some nutrients you probably wouldn't with something else.

That's more like it!!!

Day 1...this is it, I can feel it.


Your Workout Buddy

Roxy

Daily Check-In: Day 2

Day 2 review: Let's get to it!

Workouts = 30 Day Shred Level 2 (owie, owie, owie), walking the dog (about a 30 minute walk), and 20 minutes on my mini bike pedals (love 'em)

I really wanted to go to Curves today, but of course my job got in the way. And I know what you're thinking. Something like, "Don't make excuses, blah, blah, blah."

Hey guess what. You need to get to Curves by 7:00pm in order to get a workout in, or else they lock you out. Didn't get out of work till 7:20pm. Course, I'm suppose to get out around 5:30pm, but when you're in Sales, you don't get to have much of a life.

Seriously, once I get a better grasp on my health, I'm getting out of Sales. Thank the gods for my morning workouts.

Nutrition = 1545 calories...not as great as I was hoping it would be. Definitely went over calorie-wise. Ate, watermelon, blueberry smoothie, 2 servings of Kashi crackers (spread out through the day, but I could have cut 130 calories if I only had 1 serving), oatmeal, banana, 1 pack organic chocolate cookies (had a chocolate craving, should have ignored it), egg beaters with spinach, onions, and grilled chicken, 1 slice wheat bread, 2 Babybel cheeses, and 1 serving of Lindt chocolate (another craving I shouldn't have fulfilled).

Early, almost expected, setback. Luckily, just to maintain weight, I need to eat about 2000 calories. So, I'm not worried about the scale. If anything, I should be looking forward to more energy at work for my Friday.

BONUS! HOLLA!!!

T2R The List Continues...

• Ok, I hate taking pills. If I take too many, my throat starts to tense, and the pills start to get hard to swallow (ha, ha, ha swallow, we're all 12 years old). So, I need to remember to split up when I take my Vitamin D and Multi-Vitamin pills. I'll take the multi at lunch and the D at dinner...decision made!
• Tea, remember tea dag nabbit! Makes me happy.
• Kids are nice and all, but if I want a really good workout when I'm walking the pup, I have to avoid residential areas...I had around 8 different kids stop me to pet Buster...of course, he's so cute, why wouldn't they?

To be continued...

Day 3 coming up!


Your Workout Buddy,
Roxy