Counting Calories Correctly Makes A Huge Difference

I'm about to get my groove on and do HIIT 25 and Sculpt 30, which is a TurboFire workout. It's a really intense cardio workout with high intensity, but I don't do the jumps because I have bad knees. Still, I've lost 35 pounds, which is fairly impressive..considering.

I found after reading PUSH by Chalene Johnson, which is the creator of the TurboFire workout, that I was not counting my calories correctly. I was not eating enough, and my body was storing fat to use as energy from the daily workouts I was doing. After I made the correction and adding calories to my meal plan, I am happy to say I lost 4 pounds in 3 days, which to me was amazing! It shows how important it is to figure out your caloric intake with the amount of calories you are burning each day.

Also, avoid alcohol! I had one beer last night, and I felt so tired and woke with a headache. I was, also, very dehydrated, which made me feel icky this morning. Now I don't feel like doing my workout. Although, I am still going to do it. I've forced myself to do it in worse conditions. Like when I got the flu over Christmas. After the the fourth day of feeling weak I decided to push myself and just do it. I felt good after the workout, but wow...it was hard doing it. I didn't feel like I could keep up. My energy had been completely depleted.

So, in conclusion, if you are working out, but not losing anything you should use this formula to check your caloric intake. You might be surprised at what you find.

For a woman:

BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

For a man:

BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in year)

These equations will give your total in caloric intake. REMEMBER, as you lose weight you need to reconfigure the total by redoing these equations. Also, the BMR (basal metabolic rate) is based on a common number. If you feel your BMR is different here then you can get that tested or they have things like the Bodybugg or Fitbit, which is a device you can wear to tell you exactly how many calories you have burned in a workout.

I'd like to add I got all of this wonderful information from Chalene Johnson's book called PUSH. You should really look into it. It's a very good read and very informational!

Quote of the day: "Choices are the hinges of destiny." – Pythagoras