Health Matters Magazine - Don’t Be a Repeat Offender!

Don’t Be a Repeat Offender!
Keep These 5 Laws and Lose Weight!

Kimberly Mendelsohn, CPT
Certified Personal Trainer & Triathlon Trainer
316-841-0466
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My Formula for Determining Daily Calories Needed
Women: Desired Weight x 10 = base calories per day
Men: Desired Weight x 12 = base calories per day

Guidelines for using this formula:
If you need to lose more than 10 pounds, calculate in 10 pound increments. So, if you weigh 250 now and you want to weigh 200 then put 240 as your desired weight into the formula. When you hit 240, put 230 into the formula and so on. In this way you will lose weight safely, steadily without shutting your metabolism down.

You don’t have to hit the nail on the head every day with your calories. Some days you might be a bit under, some days a bit over. But each week, on average, you want to net this calorie amount per day.

If you exercise or do physical work for a living, you need to add the calories that you burn doing these activities into your formula. So, for example, if I burn 500 calories during a run and I want to weigh 200 pounds (I’m currently at 210) I will need to eat 2500 calories to compensate for the additional energy burn I get from exercising.

Most of us are law-abiding citizens. We obey the laws because we fear the consequences and punishment if we don’t, and then get caught. For most of us, the potential to get fined or go to jail, encourages us to obey the laws, don’t they? Well, I’m here to tell you that when it comes to the laws of weight loss and food choices, too many people out there are hardened and practiced criminals! Yes, repeat offenders!

Well, my goal is to change that. I’m going to give you five laws, and I can guarantee you that if you keep these laws, you’ll lose fat and get a healthy and lean body, no matter your age. I don’t care if you are 70 years old, keep these laws, and over time, you will lose weight and not find it again unless you relapse, and start breaking the laws again!

Law #1

Eat the Right Amount of Calories

One of the keys to keeping weight off is to have a high metabolism. But, many people have too many days where they eat too few calories and/or don’t eat often enough. When we don’t feed our body, regularly, with the amount of calories it needs, it slows down our metabolism. Many women are in this cycle. They are so afraid to eat too much, that most days they actually eat too little, making them cranky, ravenous, and Lookout! raiding the fridge and pantry, or heading for the nearest fast-food drive thru! So, too few calories and we slow our metabolism down. Our bodies don’t trust us and then they start to conserve the calories we do put in for our future safety. This causes us to store fat. Essentially your body says, “Hey, I need “X” amount of calories to do what you ask. You’re not giving it to me, so I’m going to slow this machine down to burn fewer calories so I can keep you going.” It’s like going 40 miles per hour on the freeway when you could be doing 70!

Of course, too many calories and we can’t burn them and the body stores them! Unlike the gas tank in your car, which overflows if you fill it up too much, our body stores extra calories as fat. I think we all get this principle right?

So, how do you know how many calories to take in? I’ve got a simple formula for figuring that. If you use this formula, feel free to compare it to fancier and more mathematically challenging formulas…because my formula will be very close to theirs.

Law #2

Eat Foods High in Nutrients

It’s true, if you ate the right amount of calories and you only ate Snickers bars totalling that amount of calories, you’d still lose weight. But, and this is a BIG but, your body would not be healthy or operate optimally because the nutrition in a Snickers bar is well, next to nothing. I call these “Empty Calories.”

What does your body do when it gets empty calories? It sends you a hunger signal! Basically, when you eat poor quality food, your body is looking for a needle in a haystack. Food is more than just energy, it’s the nutrients that help your body repair and build, and defend itself. So, when food quality is low, often hunger is high!

It’s for this reason that you want to eat the most nutrient dense foods you can. Funny thing is that most of the foods with high nutritional content or density, are often quite low in calories. Think spinach, beans, and lean chicken for instance.

There are so many convenient and easy apps and internet-based programs now that allow you to accurately track not only your calories, but your nutritional quality as well. Look at those numbers and try to make the nutrients as high as possible within your calorie limit. Treat it like a game or a challenge, and in the process you’ll start to really learn about food and what makes certain foods good or not so good for you.

Law #3

Eat a Balanced Diet That Includes All The Macronutrients

Macronutrients are protein, carbohydrate and fats. You need all of these to operate optimally, be healthy, lose weight and have a high metabolism.

Carbohydrates are not evil and fat is not bad for you! If you follow Law #2, then following Law #3 becomes pretty easy. A good rule of thumb is 15-25% of your calories from protein, 15-20% from fat, and the remainder should come from carbohydrates which include fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Law #4

Keep Your Metabolism High

I talked a bit about metabolism in Law #1, but let’s talk more about how a high metabolism helps you lose weight, gives you lots of energy and helps your body quickly and efficiently burns the clean fuel you are feeding it. A good indicator that your body is operating efficiently and your metabolism is running strong is your body temperature. Ideal body temperature is 98.6. Check your temperature for 7-10 days and get an average. You want to be running as close to 98.6 as possible. There are other reasons besides a sluggish metabolism for a low body temp, but in general, without other adverse health conditions a healthy body is running close to ideal.

If you are running low, and there aren’t other symptoms (please check w/ your physician!!!) be sure that you are following Laws 1,2 and 3 and this will help to improve your metabolism.

Also, keep in mind that muscle mass helps us maintain a higher metabolism and, thus burn calories more efficiently. But, as we age, we lose muscle mass, starting at about age 40. This happens because our muscles leak calcium as we age. So, to maintain, and/or improve muscle mass, make sure to include weight-bearing exercises (ones that force you to use your muscular strength to work against gravity), like strength training, walking, jogging, dancing, tennis, etc., to your fitness routine, to help build and keep muscle mass. Weight bearing exercise also helps build and maintain healthy bones as we age. Remember, it is never too late to build muscle mass. A properly operating metabolism means a leaner and healthier body.

Law #5

Get Enough Sleep

Your body requires eight hours of sleep each night. Oh boy…gotcha, didn’t I? Unfortunately, studies show that most adults do not get even seven hours of sleep each night. But, if your goal is to have a lean, healthy body with a high metabolism, you need to rest! Your body has a lot of work to do at night while you are sleeping and it just can’t get an eight hour job done in six!! So, go to bed a little earlier, or sleep in a little later...it’s okay to be a little less busy to give your body the rest it needs.

Do you have any stress in your life? Okay, dumb question. Fact is, stress is a constant in many of our lives. If you have stress, then your body really needs the rest. Our stress mechanisms were meant to be used rarely and infrequently and yet, with today’s hectic lifestyles, most of us are operating this emergency system on a daily basis! So please, eat right and get enough sleep!