Saturday, February 25, 2012

How I Lost 10 Pounds in 1 Month

I'm nearing the end of my first month of my healthy lifestyle and I'm in my fifth month of bike commuting.  I feel really good!  Here are some tangible measures of my increased fitness:
  • Weight:  I've lost ten pounds since January 30.  More importantly, my percent body fat is down to 22.5% (from 24%).  If you do the math, that's about 5.5 pounds of fat loss.  Assuming 4 pounds or more is from water loss, I'm achieving my goal of losing mostly fat and not lean body mass.
  • Resting Heart Rate:  My resting heart rate is down almost ten beats per minute since Christmas.  
  • How I Look:  I've lost 2 notches in my belt, and I feel thinner.
What did I do to lose 10 pounds in a month?  Nothing more than eating fewer calories than I take in.  To make sure I really eat fewer, I track my calorie intake and expenditure using LoseIt! (there are other tools available, Google "calorie tracking app").  It's very easy to use with iPhone and Android apps and a database with nutritional information for thousands of ingredients, restaurant, and supermarket foods.

Based on my age, weight, and activity level (before exercise), LoseIt! estimates that I use about 2700 calories on an average day (see this article on the Basal Metabolic Rate from Wikipedia).  Based on this, if I eat more than 2700 calories, I gain weight.  Less and I lose.  I told the LoseIt! app I want to lose 1.5 pounds per week and it established a daily budget of 2,053 calories.

Using today as an example, I was planning a long bicycle ride so I knew I could essentially eat what I wanted.  Some insights I've gained by tracking what I eat:

  1. It's hard for me to eat less than 30g of saturated fat each day without making choices.  I have to work on this.
  2. A McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese value meal (see my lunch) really isn't good for you.  You can be told something is bad for you, but until you see it, you don't always comprehend.  This meal gave me 1200 calories and nearly half of my saturated fat for the day.  I would not have eaten this if I wasn't planning to ride.
  3. It's easy to add a lot of calories from soft drinks, especially with free refills and cheap large size drinks.  I normally drink iced tea so this was a treat made possible by my bicycle ride.
  4. I used to drink A LOT of skim milk (as many as 4 or 5 glasses with a meal).  Now I try to limit myself to one or two.  Some days I'm sure I consumed over 1000 calories from skim milk alone!
  5. I consume too much sodium.  My blood pressure is good, but still something to watch.
  6. I might have eaten 4 or 5 servings of something without thinking about it.  Now I try to practice proper portion control
  7. If I didn't ride regularly, I would have to reduce my calorie intake A LOT more to lose the same amount of fat.

 Below is my daily summary for today.  Do you know what your typical day looks like nutritionally?

 
Daily Summary for 2012 February 25
Export to spreadsheet
Daily Calories
5001,0001,5002,0002,500
 
Daily calorie budget
2,054
Food calories consumed
3,715
Exercise calories burned
1,757
Net calories so far today
1,957
I can eat 97 more calories today
Nutrient Calories
Fat108.4g27%
Saturated Fat31.4g
Cholesterol261.8mg
Sodium5,497.8mg
Carbohydrates495.3g54.9%
Fiber25.5g
Sugars303.5g
Protein163g18.1%
Meal Calories
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks
BreakfastLunchDinnerSnacks
16.7%32.2%33.7%17.4%
Today's Log
Breakfast: 619
Cereal, Cheerios, Multi Grain
2 Cups
300
Milk, Nonfat/Skim, w/ Add Vit A & D
1 1/2 Cups
125
Doughnut, Raised, Choc Frosted
1 Each
194
Lunch: 1196
French Fries, Medium
1 Each
360
Cheeseburger, Quarter Pounder
1 Each
513
Soda, Cola
40 Fluid ounces
323
Dinner: 1251
Breaded Creme Brie and Apple Stuffed Chicken Breast
1 Serving
340
Beans, Green, Cut
1/2 Cup
20
Potatoes, Ckd In Skin, Peeled, Diced
1/2 Cup
68
Lunchmeat, Turkey Breast, Oven Rstd, Grand Champion
1/8 Pound
50
Lunchmeat, Ham, Baked, Home Style, Svg
1/4 Pound
140
Milk, Nonfat/Skim, w/ Add Vit A & D
2 Cups
167
Peanut Butter Honey Ball
2 Servings
467
Snacks: 648
Milk, Nonfat/Skim, w/ Add Vit A & D
1 1/2 Cups
125
Juice, Cranberry Acai Plus, 100% Juice
16 Fluid ounces
260
Nuts, Almonds, Whole
16 Each
110
Beer, Can/Btl, 12 Fl Oz
12 Fluid ounces
153
Exercise: 1757
Bicycling
14-15.9 mph, fast
2 Hours
1757

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