When I checked my weight, I discovered that I gained a pound, so I was both disappointed and in investigative mode throughout the morning. What did I do? How can I improve? Etc. etc. On top of it all, I was queasy after being nauseous and throwing up last night. With being preoccupied, disappointed, and queasy, I only ate bread and crackers for breakfast. Then I set out to develop my plan of attack so that my downward trend would continue. I re-visited the past week and the only thing I can think of was that I was snacking too much. Since I was on my period and I had favoured salty snacks, the pound could possibly be water retention. But I figured I should probably get my butt into gear and figure out the world of numbers and calories. Currently I haven’t figured out my calorie intake for fat loss, nor have I ever in my life counted calories. I was hoping to get by without doing it, but I figure it’s the most effective way to lose weight. I did a lot of researching on the Internet and figured that with breastfeeding my BMR was 2121-2421, and my fat loss range was be 1253-2037. Yay breastfeeding for allowing me to keep my calorie intake up! I re-read all the information I knew before about weight loss and breastfeeding: aim for slow weight loss and that I needed extra calories to keep my energy up so that I can take care of the kids. As I read I thought, “I’ll never let myself do that!” Get rundown that is. After an incident with my first-born, I made sure I had a steady stream of calories coming in when I breastfed (although, lately I haven't been doing so well). Ironically, after exclaiming that I wouldn’t, I did. During lunchtime, I only ate 1 cup of chicken noodle soup. I wasn’t that hungry and I was still concerned about getting nauseous, and maybe a little part of me wanted to rectify the pound I gained. Wrong move. At the checkout, with two kids in tow, I experienced a crash of energy depletion. During breastfeeding this crash is far more sever then if I wasn’t. It comes fast and out of nowhere. Suddenly, too much was happening at one time. An elderly couple were kindly poking fun at my son. My son was begging for candy. There was a misunderstanding, so the cashier and the manager were demanding answers from me. My ability to focus and function was faltering, and my hands shook as I struggled for the emergency granola bar in the diaper bag. Afterwards, I started snacking like crazy on crackers I just bought to return my energy reserves, but it was already too late. I was rundown and irritable the whole time I drove home, gave my kids a snack, and put them to nap, causing me to be short and unfair with my son. I hate it like this. I vowed again that this would never happen. Maybe counting calories would be a good thing. To keep track so I wouldn’t over and under eat.
Update: Reading my past posts, I realized that I had a misunderstanding about BMR. I just want to clarify what that misunderstanding was before I mislead an unsuspecting dieter. BMR is Basil Metabolic Rate. It is the minimum calories required to maintain regular body functions. During this post (and another one), I had thought BMR was the daily caloric intake to maintain your weight. Sorry for the confusion.
3 comments:
The emergency granola bar is a great idea. I do the exact same thing because when I'm out and about and really busy, I often forget to eat and my calories drop too low. So I found granola bars on sale and bought six boxes a couple weeks ago.
I think the 2121-2421 number is your BMR, not your BMI. Actually it looks more like your maintenance calories. Your BMR is how many calories your body should burn every day just by existing. Caloriesperhour.com has a bunch of these calculators.
And the general theory these days is that while breastfeeding, you need 300-500 more calories a day than you ate at your pre-pregnancy weight. So if you weighed 120 lbs prior to getting pregnant, you would calculate your daily caloric needs for 120 lbs, add 300-500 calories and eat that many. You should still lose weight doing that, but like you mentioned in this post, slowly.
In response to your question about a 1000 calorie defecit causing a weight loss of 2 lbs a week: a pound of fat is the equivelant of 3,500 calories. If you cut 500 cals each day, you will have cut back 3,500 for the week and thus lost 1 lb. If you eat 1000 cal less every day than what you need to maintain your current weight (which I absolutely do not recommend you do :), you will supposedly lose 2 lbs a week. BUT - this is if you don't excercise at all. It is only based on diet, and of course, it is different for every person.
I've rambled on so long now that I forgot if I had anything to say in the first place.
Yes, like Kimberly, the 2121-2421 is your BMR, which is the caloric burn for your body.
Your BMI, based on your current height and weight is 25.9 = 703 x (weight in lbs/(height in inches x height in inches)) = 703 x 142/(62 x 62))
And like Kimberly suggested, a 3,500 calorie deficit should result in a 1lb loss per week, but this is if you don't exercise at all. If you do strengthening exercises, the muscle build may mask the fat loss, when really you are increasing your calorie burning potential. Also, if you aim to burn 3,500 calories per week solely by cutting back the food, your BMR may decrease with your body thinking that its starving.
Whether you decide to count calories or not, good luck to you :-)
Hhehe. silly me. I meant bmR.
Thanks for the advices guys!
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