Calorie intake! How many should you be eating? And what's with all the calculators?

How many calories does our bodies require in a day? How many calories are too much or too little? These are questions I never worried about until recently, believe it or not. For many years I struggled with my thyroid. I was often never hungry. I hardly ate, and I gained lots of weight due to the combination of my hypothyroid, insulin resistance, and unknown (at the time) allergies to wheat. If you have read my past posts, you know that I have these issues and that I never thought I would be able to lose weight. In fact, every day I have to convince myself over and over again that I will be able to lose weight and that I won’t suddenly digress like waking up from a dream. Recently I discovered that I may not be eating enough calories. I don’t starve myself- I eat when I’m hungry, but I’m eating a lot of fruits and vegetables that don’t have many calories. On average, I’m probably eating 1500 calories a day. Not eating enough can have negative effects, I have started to learn.

 

If you are not eating enough calories, your body enters into “starvation mode” and starts saving and storing to fat instead of burning up the extra fat cells. I have read many different sources on this- including weight watchers- also discusses the starvation phenomenon and is careful to tell you to be sure to eat all of your points. The weight watchers calculator, interestingly enough, based on my height, weight, age, activity level, and amount of pounds I want to lose recommends that I have 40 points (which is about 2000 calories I figured out; each point is 50 calories to the best of my knowledge) with extra 35 bonus points to use throughout the week. And this logic seems counter intuitive to me; I always thought that if one ate less calories, and exercised, that was the key to losing weight. That would allow the body to burn up extra fat stores.  Never did I think that not eating enough would be a factor.  Free dieting.com provides a calculator that will tell you the recommended number of calories a day, based on three different schools of thought. http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

 

In general, the maintenance or basal metabolic rate is the lowest amount of calories that one could take in a day to just provide basic maintenance for your body. This means if you were in bed, all day, this is the lowest amount that would be recommended. All websites mentioning this and material I’ve read also warn readers that not eating enough calories will actually have adverse affects. Another handy website is the BMR calculator http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator There are many such calculators, and every one of them tells me something different. I have seen that I need to eat anywhere from 2000 to 3000 calories. So which one is correct?

 

All of these methods are subjective, in my opinion.  I think that the only thing that is clear for sure, is that reducing intake of 500 calories a day if one is trying to lose weight is a good start. Reducing calorie intake of 500 a day plus exercise is widely agreed to increase weight loss results. These different methods of calculation take into consideration age, weight, height, activity level, sometimes even pant size, your BMI (which can also be calculated by various sites), or your body fat percentage. I’ve calculated it several times with several different methods with all different results. The original Harris Benedict equation was created in 1919. It is known to be inaccurate for individuals who are very muscular or very fat (great!). It takes the weight, height, and age, with that solution being multiplied by a number that includes an estimate for the level of exercise. The Katch McArdle equation takes weight, height,  body fat, and activity level into consideration. Supposedly it is more accurate because it takes into account lean muscle mass (but how can you really know how accurate that number is?) but the biggest problem is clearly defining the activity level. Mifflin St. Jeor is the last type. It is said to be the most accurate and is also based on weight, height, age, and activity level. As far as I can tell, the activity level is more updated than the Harris Benedict- that being the main difference- since the Mifflin St. Jeor was updated in 1990. The one thing that none of these calculators can possible know is: What is my metabolic rate? If I do sprints for a half hour do I burn the same amount of calories as someone else? The same weight and age as me even? I doubt it, unless that person also has Hashimoto’s disease and recovering from insulin resistance, etc., etc. We all know that my metabolism has not been working for a very long time, and we also all know that my body does not respond to things the same as normal people’s bodies do. It is safe to assume that none of these are going to be 100% accurate- but, they will give you a place to start. If you are looking a guesstimate of how many calories you should be eating a day, this is a good way. All three calculators do agree that even for “extreme weight loss” the lowest amount of calories a day I should be eating is about 2100. So I’ll go for that and see what happens (I’ll let you know). This great article again at http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm mentions that people who drop their calorie intake per day by lower than 1000 calories typically have a “yo-yo” affect and gain all of their weight back again. Again, it (like many articles) mentions the “starvation mode” so I’m going to pay close attention to that from now on.

 

 

So, if you read my previous posts you know that I felt like I made a complete ass out of myself at the gym- worrying that my current trainer was going to leave. Well, yesterday was his last day! Talk about intuition! I wish I would have trusted myself and gone with my gut, but now I trainer-less again, although I am handling it better than last time. I learned a lot from the second trainer, and the last three workouts were really enjoyable. I felt that he was really starting to know me and come up with workouts that were good for me and that I enjoyed. I started with him in the middle of January; we went a month training together (although it intersects two months) and in that time I lost 9 pounds. I also lost inches around various extremities including 2 inches of my legs, thighs, hips, and shoulder area to name a few. I also lost 2.5% of body fat, which makes me happy.  I am nervous now because the trainers they have available (two at the moment) are both pretty young. They look like they are in their early 20’s and the past two trainers I have had were very experienced and knew what they were talking about. Beyond that, they both knew how to talk to me, reach me, challenge me, and well, deal with me. As I have admitted before, I am very emotional at the gym because it such a hard thing mentally for me to accomplish. I push myself every day so having the mental support of a trainer is important to me. How are two young guys going to understand my struggle? How are they going to understand that I am not just some slob who couldn’t put down the fork? I don’t want someone’s pity. I’ve been through a lot the last ten years and am finally moving forward. It took a lot of help from a lot of different people, books, professionals, and a hell of a lot of determination to fix myself and I’m still struggling. I don’t have a session scheduled with anyone for next week yet although I plan on giving both of them a chance. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

Since we are on the topic eating, I would just like to take a moment to beg you: don’t judge a book by their cover. I never over ate or stuffed myself. That’s not why I’m overweight. In fact, I am not eating enough- but by the look of me, you might think, what is wrong with her, why can’t she just cut down her calorie intake? It’s so simple? Why don’t fat people just eat less? It’s more complicated than that. There are many health issues that could affect people’s ability to lose weight, such as mine. In general, jump starting your metabolism is a very difficult thing to do. Is Chris Christie a good politician or is all people can say about him is that he’s fat? Is that all you got? Come up with something better than that, please. I have no idea if he’s a good politician because the press are focused on his weight. Thanks as always for reading my blog! Be happy, be healthy, have energy and LIVE!

Acid vs. Alkaline!

One of the recent books I have read is the Acid Alkaline Food Guide by Dr. Susan Brown and Larry Trivieri. I became interested in the topic of acidic vs. alkaline foods after reading The Wheat Belly and discovering that wheat is a highly acidic food that can cause inflammation and weaken your immune system (among other things) because it disrupts the pH balance in your body. But what does that mean exactly? Can having an over-acidic diet cause other problems? I picked up this book (where else but at Half Price Books! Ok, yes, I work there) and would like to share some of the most interesting bits with you. Interestingly enough, Dr.OZ had a nutritionist on today, who was also talking about acid/alkaline foods, and the different nutritional values of alkaline foods that your body desperately needs. Everything the nutritionist said coincided with the Acid Alkaline Food Guide and with The Wheat Belly so this is an important dietary issue to consider!

 

Our bodies have their own pH balance- this is created through the balance of various compounds and body fluids within the body. The body itself produces a lot of acid through its daily processes, and the cells/tissues of our bodies require alkaline to process the acids properly. pH is measured on a scale of 0 to 14 and right in the middle 7, is neutral (not too acidic or alkaline). Anything lower than 7 is considered acidic, anything higher than 7 is alkaline, although our bodies should have a slight tilt toward the alkaline side- somewhere between 7 and 8. The kidneys, and lungs (and the skin a little bit too) are the parts of the body that eliminate acid buildup. In order to alkalize, the body needs certain compounds, such as calcium and magnesium. If you are not eating enough of these alkalizing supplements through foods, your body will start to take the supplements it needs from your muscle tissue and even your bones! Eeek! This can lead to having a lower immune system, inflammation, and osteoporosis just to name a few. Only a certain amount of acid can be released per day so if a lot of acid is being produced in your body, and there aren’t enough of the alkalizing ingredients in your body to combat this, acid can build up in your body which will also result in disease (Dr. Susan Brown/Larry Trivieri, Acid Alkaline Food Guide, Chapter 1).

 

It is possible, although very rare to have an over alkaline body system. Breathing will decrease, as one symptom, and this can be equally as bad. The book goes into great detail about the definition and history of pH balance, and the function of the different organs and how they work to remove acid from our bodies. This is definitely a great book, and an easy read- it is not too long or over complicated. The back consists of many food tables that tell you the acid/alkaline level of various foods and drinks. The authors stress that even small fluctuations of the body’s pH balance can really affect your health. Over consumption of proteins, grains, sugar, refined foods, coffee, and alcohol WITHOUT EATING ENOUGH fruits vegetables, nuts, and seeds to name a few will result in a chronic acid state. The chronic acid state will cause loss of calcium, bone loss, and osteoporosis, increased levels of certain hormones, the loss of potassium and magnesium which results in high blood pressure!!!! And inflammation, muscle loss, increased risk of kidney stones, cell breakdown, fluid retention, DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS, yeast and fungal infections!, low ability to fight diseases and viruses, weakened mental state, inability to perform high level of intense exercise, gum disease, hypothyroidism, CHRONIC OVERPRODUCTION OF CORTISOL (oh yes, if you’ve read my past blogs you know even though I still have solved many of my other health issues, I still have high cortisol production and have been searching for an answer). There are many MANY other health issues related to having an acid imbalance- I just paraphrased some of them here- to really have an in-depth look, read the book- they are the professionals, not me. (Dr. Susan Brown/Larry Trivieri, Acid Alkaline Food Guide, Chapter 2). But to back up a second, the high blood pressure, and chronic overproduction of cortisol are two issues that I still had even after I stopped eating wheat. One of the things I read, and has been working (see my previous blog about blood pressure) was that to lower blood pressure to eat almonds every day (alkaline, No surprise there!), and also take a calcium and magnesium supplement. Well well, these are three of the things needed to restore alkaline in the body! And, having an over-acidic diet can result in high blood pressure! No wonder that even though I was dieting and exercising properly, my blood pressure was still high. This happened until I started taking supplements which little did I know was helping to restore my alkaline balance. It will be interesting to see if my cortisol levels have lowered once I have blood tests again in another month or so. I will keep you posted. So, to fight a chronic acid diet, one of the things you can do is make sure you have a healthy intake of calcium, magnesium, and potassium to name a few. The book makes suggestions in the back of specific supplements that will help you with all of this, if you want. The other thing that you can do is make sure that you are eating some alkaline foods with each meal. Your drive through meal at McDonalds of fries, a burger, and a coke is ALL ACIDIC. Nothing in that meal is alkaline- so if you feel crappy after eating it, don’t wonder why! If you want to eat a burger, you need to have some dark green vegetables, and a potato with it. Having a sandwich at lunch? All meats (even chicken and fish) are acidic, and so is the bread, so have some celery. Celery is a great alkaline food. I am NOT saying anything against eating meat here. I do eat meat, even though I know many people that are vegetarians or vegans. Your body does need protein- so eat the protein, just do it smart.

 

Want to see what your pH balance is? The book recommends buying some pH test paper, (Hydrion paper) and testing your first morning urine (don’t get all grossed out on me now! Just hear me out!) The color of the paper, once tested from your morning urine, will be compared with a color chart and will tell you approximately the pH of your urine. Make sure to buy a paper that has small enough gradients to measure in the 6.5-7.5 range. Dr. Brown uses Hydrion paper that measures pH from 5.5 to 8 with twelve gradients in between. They have more info in their book about where to order this paper, if you’re interested. The only tricky part is that the urine test will only be accurate if it is taken 6 hours after rest WITHOUT urination. So, no getting up in the middle of the night! Sorry! They recommend that the test be done a few times over the first week to reach a baseline. The back of the book has a detailed A-Z guide of foods and drinks that is very comprehensive and tells you how acidic or alkaline on a low, medium, or high level each different food is. Some other alkaline foods to fit into your diet are: mineral water, apples, asparagus, baked potato, baking powder, baking soda, bananas, beans, peppers, berries, ginger tea, vegetable juice, broccoli, celery, pretty much all if not most fruits and vegetables, just to name a few.

 

If you are feeling fatigued a lot, and constantly catching a cold, it could be related to your diet. Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”  I would have thought this was an insane quote 3 months ago. I probably wouldn’t have even understood what it meant. I thought people obsessed with eating healthy were nuts, and I certainly didn’t understand that food can have profound effects- be it healing effects, or harming effects- on your body. I have experienced both now! I can tell you for sure that eating what your body needs feels amazing and that you will have more energy and feel great. Live healthy, have energy, and LIVE!