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

If I can do it, so can you

Let me tell you that I have always been a very lazy person. I hate to do house chores. I hate to exercise. The only thing during my middle and high school days that kept me active was sports. It was the only thing that was remotely interesting to me. I was very competitive - still am, and I loved the feeling of the crowd cheering for me. As I get older those things aren't there anymore. I don't have a crowd cheering for me to clean the house or cheering for me to finish my workout, but I have started to cheer for myself. I tell myself I can do this and get myself motivated before I step into a workout.

Today I had to do just that thing. I was up at 5 am to do my workout because I knew if I did my workout after I finished work it would either not happen or it would not have much intensity behind it, so I have to do my workout first thing in the morning. It's different for everyone, but this is how I feel and accomplish my daily goals.

It really is all about pumping yourself up and getting the motivation. Let me tell you that I cannot express how important it is to get your head set into the right state of mind before beginning a workout. It's all psychological. If you set yourself up for failure, you will fail. If you set yourself up to win then you will win. I set myself up for failure many, many times. It is why that I had gained so much weight, but now I've lost 30 pounds, and I promise that you can do it too if you set out with a positive attitude.