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

Good Intentions

I had good intentions this morning. I took a picture of the meal I made for breakfast. It's one of my favorite meals and gives me a good boost of energy before I workout. The problem was that when I went to upload the picture from my camera I realized my SD card was not in it. What a bummer, huh? So, my picture got lost, but don't fret. I will be making it again tomorrow, and I found my card to put back into my camera, so all is right in the world now.

For now, I should tell you that I am a bit sleepy. My husband had to go into work early today to do the snow. He was not quiet about going through the house and woke my daughter up - who is excited about going outside in the snow today. I am about to make some coffee to sip before I workout. It always gives me a little boost of energy just before, but I don't add much to it. Actually, I found that sugar free French Vanilla by Coffee-Mate seems to work well. All I add is two tablespoons, and before you say "OMG that's a lot of creamer!" My coffee mugs aren't small. They are the tall ones as I do loooove my coffee.

Also, I'm a little sore from yesterday's workout, but wow...was it intense, and I loved it!! I did the Fire 45 EZ class along with Abs 10 class. The Abs 10 class is killer! For ten minutes she really makes you work it hard! It's what I love about her though. She really packs power to the punch.

Today I will be doing the HIIT 20 and Sculpt 30 classes, so it's going to be intense cardio along with strength training (using bands). I need to purchase weights soon though. I am on week 17 of Turbo Fire. Monday will be week 18, which means I will only have 3 weeks before I incorporate ChaLean Extreme into my workout schedule. I can't wait for that!!

I'm off to workout now! You all should do the same and join me!!