Me: What is 122,500 divided by 120?
Boyfriend: What the heck kind of question is that you weirdo? This has something to do with calories doesn't it?
Me: Noooo...maybe. Just calculate it for me, I don't have my phone and my brain doesn't compute numbers accurately.
Boyfriend: It's 1020, and don't even think about burning that many calories a day, you'll die.
Me: I hate how well you know me.
This is the kind of math I like to do in Excel while I am at work or sitting around on weekends. I know this is not normal. But I like a concrete idea of how far I really have to go to meet my goals. Not just an abstract "lose X pounds" but a serious plan.
So I created this little spreadsheet, which I can change based on how many calories I plan to eat every day. The more calories I eat, the more I have to burn on a given day. I think that 1400 calories is reasonable, it's what many trainers have told me to eat, so that's what I picked.
There are 3500 calories in a pound, every girl who has ever dieted knows that well. I want to lose 35 pounds by the end of July (in preparation for an adorable bridesmaid dress AND summer) or, 120 days. Calculate calculate and that rounds to about 1021 calories to burn each day.
But that's not quite right, because it doesn't take into account how much food I eat every day, and what my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is. Mine is 1559, so if I ate that many calories every day and literally did no exercise, I'd maintain my weight. If I eat 1400 calories per day, I create a calorie deficit of 159.
Not quite 1021, is it?
So I need to burn an additional 862 calories per day. Son of a b-tch. That's a lot of calories guys.
Better make some adjustments...
Twenty five pounds by the end of July seems a bit more reasonable, don't you think?
I mean, burning 570 calories a day means that I'd be burning 570 more calories than I burn now, so it's no small feat. But I think I could do it. No pain no loss right?
So I should probably stop writing and get myself to the treadmill.
Read more: http://thecrazyfat.blogspot.com/2012/03/mental-math-prep-for-ready-for-summer.html