Daily Big Belly Eating Inventory

2008 is here and one thing I'd like to accomplish this year is being more disciplined in what I eat. This is not to say I want to lose weight, but rather that I'd like to be more conscientious about what I eat and how large my servings are. Yesterday (I usually "weigh-in" on Mondays and will do so again this training cycle), I stepped on the scale and weighed 188 lbs. Okay, friends, this is where I may get a little obsessive, at least in the short-term...

A BMR Calculator (Basal Metabolic Rate) calculates the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day. My current BMR, given my height, weight and age is 1905 cals!, but I do not plan on eating and lying in bed all day, so this total needs to be further adjusted to take daily activity into account. To do this, I can use the Harris Benedict Formula to multiply my BMR by the appropriate activity factor.

Given my current rate of activity, I would best describe the exercise I do over the course of a week as being "very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week)," so I take my BMR (1905) and multiply by 1.725. Based on this formula, my new adjusted daily caloric needs are 3286 cals.

The following impromptu log of my caloric intake for today (which was an admittedly odd one without lunch) excludes the bottles of water that I drank throughout the day.

1 serving of Quaker Oats with a splash of milk (150 cals)
4 cups of coffee with a tbsp of half-in-half (80 cal)
10 cups of popcorn (310 cal)
3 servings whole wheat Penne (600 cals) in a 1 cup of tomato sauce (300 cals)including two links of Italian Sausage (600 cal)
10 pretzel rods (550 cals)

TOTAL: 2590 calories

Just as I did last year, I will track my intake for a few days following which I'll identify some changes I may want to make. In the interest of having the "days" be truly representative it would probably be better to include some days from next week when I return to work and a more "normal" eating day.

Embrassez votre été invincible!