Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Interesting Facts and Numbers

Been crunching numbers this morning.  I quite like using Sparkpeople so I can look back on my calendar and see my overall numbers.  I'm a total numbers person.  Some interesting things I've discovered this month:

I haven't exercised at all on any Fridays this month, nor most Thursdays.  This is ironic considering I don't work on Fridays and Thursday night is the only weeknight I don't have other committments.  You would think these would be the easiest days to fit in exercise.

Sundays I burn the most calories (870 on average), however this makes sense because this is my long run days. 

I'm kind of suprised to see I only exercised 17 out of 27 days so far this month.  I thought for sure it was more frequent than that.  However, when I do exercise I average 464 calories each time - though that number drops to 254 if you don't include my long Sunday runs.

I eat the most calories on Thursdays (1539) and Saturdays (1697).  Consequently, I eat the least calories on Wednesdays (1302) and Fridays (1303).  Hmmmm ..... see a pattern there????  The most calories I've eaten in a day is 2110 and the least is 835 - that was kind of an extreme, it's the only day I've gone under 1100 and I had 2021 the day before.

Here's the average numbers:

Calories Eaten:  1452
Calories Burned: 292 (this includes non exercise days)

BMR (1716) - Calories Eaten (1452) + Calories Burned (292 ) = 556 Daily Calorie Deficit

This should mean that since the beginning of October I should be down 4.3 lbs (556 * 27 days / 3500 calories to lose 1 lb).  So ... what am I actually down??? .... anything from nothing to up 2 lbs depending on the day.

By playing with the numbers you'd think I'd be losing.  An average daily calorie deficit of 556 seems to be within normal I thought, though perhaps that leaves me a bit too low.  The other thing is that if I calculate the daily average calorie deficit just on days I exercise ... it averages 756.  OK that's an eye opener, didn't realize it was quite that much.

What am I doing with this information????  Well, I've made some pretty charts that I have no idea how to put on my blog (hahahaaa).  NOTE:  If anyone can explain to me how to insert a chart I would love them forever.....  But, seriously, in looking at this I think I may have to up my calories a little bit for one thing.  I know MANY of you have been telling me this for a while, but I'm a tad stubborn (and maybe scared...).  Recently I increased the amount of protein in my diet, but in doing so I made a cutback in carbs & fats because I wasn't comfortable increasing my calorie limit. 

I'm not even sure how I go about increasing my calories because, quite simply, I am not hungry - at all!  Very rarely do I actually feel hunger, and even when I do, if I get distracted for a while it pretty much goes away.  On days that I exercise hard I could probably go without eating.  It completely cuts my appetite.

The other thing I think I should do is to exercise more ..... or should I say more often.  I think on those days that I'm typically not exercising at all I should at least do a light walk.  It doesn't have to be hard core. 

Any thoughts???  Maybe I'm getting to the point where I need a dietician in my life, though I've done a teensy bit of looking around and have no idea how I find one in my area.  Even though I've gotten fairly trim, I know I still have some to lose.  My belly is soft & squishy and with everything else thinning out sometimes it even looks like an early preggo belly.

3 comments:

Missy said...

Although scary, I think upping your calories is not a bad idea. Especially with how hard you work-out. Remember - you can always adjust as you see how things are working but you don't want to starve your body!

OldGoogleAccount said...

Maybe up your calories only on the days you exercise then? Something high cal but healthy. Like a whole avocado! Or peanut butter cookies and hot chocolate after a run.

Try taking a screen shot of your chart. Then paste it into Word. Use your picture tools to get the exact "picture" of the chart that you want. Then right click on it and do a Save As and make sure to save it as a jpeg. Then you can upload it like you would any other picture.

I'd love to see your chart. I used to think I was a numbers person til I read this post! LOL! I got nothing on you girl! :)

Anonymous said...

And you said you didn't want to be an accountant....you are the best number cruncher I have seen for quite a while. Maybe if your mama would stay away you could stay on track a little better. Love you