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Thursday, January 11, 2007
The RMR that dictates my meals
Ok, when we all started reading and searching and planning our menus and routines, we all learned that RMR is the energy requirements our body has in maintaining its normal function at rest. This value represents how many kcal a day our bodies burn without activity. Knowing this value allows us to properly plan daily caloric intake for weight loss, right? Right!
Our son-in-law studied Nutrition in the university, and helped us the first time around with some good tips. He also calculated few things for us, and according to what he came up with, my RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) is somewhere around these levels (depending on which method is used to calculate):
Mifflin - 1471.6 calories per day
Owen - 1394.0 calories per day
Harris-Benedict - 1535.3 calories per day
James - 1718.4 calories per day
World Health Organization - 1688.6 calories per day
Ok, so if I calculate the average, it comes down to this: I should consume around 1560 calories per day if I don't want to exercise at all and I want to maintain my weight. Since I do want to lose weight, and I spend around 600 calories every time I workout for two hours on the treadmill (at least 5 days a week), I'll lose weight if I consume only 1560 calories per day. Simple sweet math, isn't it? *s*.
Now, since I don't like to calculate calories, I don't exactly know how much I consume per day, but what I do know is that since I started my plan 9 weeks and 2 days ago, I lost 18 lbs. That shows I spend more calories than I consume every day. Also, it might show that I eat too little, but... we all know we lose a lot when we start on a diet plan, and later the rate of losing goes down. So, for now it seems I eat well for my needs, because I'm not physically hungry most of the time, and I keep losing weight.
Here's an example of a one day menu:
| 08:15 am |
Starter |
1 cup (250 cc) Pineapple or Orange juice, fortified with Vitamin C. |
| 09:30 - 10:00 am |
Breakfast |
1 cup of coffee (with 1/5 Soy milk)
Plain yogurt + raw oats + Kellogg bran buds + honey + Pineapple bits.
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| 01:00 pm |
Lunch |
1 cup of soup (from cooking the veggies)
100 gram of Salmon (fried in a nonstick pan)
2-3 servings of cooked Bok Choy
|
| 02:15 pm |
snack |
1 cup of coffee (with 1/5 Soy milk) |
| 04:00 pm |
snack |
1 apple |
| 05:15 pm |
snack |
6-8 halves of walnuts |
| 07:00 pm |
Dinner |
Bowl of salad (~3 serving) : Lettuce, cucumbers, radish, green onion + lemon juice, salt and dill
1 rice cake
1 ts white cheese
1 slice soy cheese |
| 08:00 pm |
snack |
1 small red grapefruit |
| 09:00 pm |
snack |
1 cup of coffee (with 1/5 Soy milk) |
| 11:20 pm |
snack |
1 cup of coffee (with 1/5 Soy milk) |
The 4 coffee cups per day are not a good thing (because of my high blood pressure), and that will have to change. I already started to replace them with herbal tea. But... I figured out one very important thing for me: I can only deal with one of my addictions at the time. Now I deal with food... coffee and smoking will have to wait for their turn.
In addition to the above, I try to drink at least 6 - 8 cups of water every day. I don't drink with my meals, and not after them (for at least 30 minutes). I do drink 2 cups of water with every 1 hour workout I do, so it has become much easier to drink water in that manner.
Lorien @ 4:40 pm MT
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