November 14, 2004 at 3:53 pm
Being overweight is like being in debt. Instead of owing money, I owe calories. Most sources agree a pound of fat equals about 3500 calories. So, if I am 230 pounds overweight, I owe a staggering 805,000 calories. Eee gads!
But it gets worse. If I wanted to maintain a weight of 160 pounds (my goal weight), I should only be eating about 1600 calories a day. We divide 805,000 by 1600 and – holy shit – we find out I am 503 days overdrawn. That’s almost one and a half years worth of eating I’m ahead on.
So many Americans are in debt (including myself), that perhaps it is not surprising that so many of us are behind when it comes to burning off our calories. But solving both problems take similar approaches. You figure out what you owe, pay down a little at a time, and chart your goals and progress. Thankfully my fat cells are not demanding interest payments. But my body image is currently a lot worse than my credit rating.
Hopefully in two years I’ll be out of debt – both financial and caloric.
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kate... again • March 20, 2006 at 5:14 pm
1600 calories seems low for someone of your height. where’d you get that number? i only ask because i’m 5’11″ and i like that i get to have 2000-2200 cal/day to maintain once i get down to goal.
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PastaQueen • March 21, 2006 at 9:27 pm
Hmmm, I don’t remember where I got this number. Maybe I was looking at my basal metabolic rate (http://health.discovery.com/tools/calculators/basal/basal.html) which is the number of calories you burn just lying around all day. You’re right though, if you take into account moving around and exercising it should definitly be higher.
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mac • March 25, 2007 at 11:13 pm
The less you weigh the fewer calories you burn, whether moving or sedentary. I just realized that myself recently. That explains why my weight loss slowed even though I am moving more and eating the same (more or less).
[Damn the ice cream my skinny husband keeps offering me!]
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