Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Experiment? Do I look like a guinea pig to you?!?

Hopefully the answer is no, I do not look like a guinea pig, although they are very cute. My late guinea pig, Captain Jack, also struggled with his weight. I think he was wider than he was long.


Yes, my pig did enjoy his food and sedentary lifestyle. But they say parents are role models for their children, and as Jack's adoptive mother, I set a very poor example ;)

So this week, I am having a little experiment that I have kind of been putting off for a while because of fear. For a few weeks now, I have been having a discrepancy between what my Bodybugg tells me about how much weight I should lose and how much weight I actually lose. For those that don't know what the heck a Bodybugg is, it is a stylish (not!) armband I wear 24/7 that measures how many calories I burn a day. Then at night I upload the data to my computer and input the food I eat. See, with my Bodybugg it's cool because I can measure my calorie deficit (calories burned-calories consumed) every day, then add up the calorie deficit from each day at the end of the week and divide by 3500 (calorie burn needed to lose 1 lb) to get how much weight I should lose. Hope I didn't lose anyone doing all that math hahaha. So for the past few weeks my Bodybugg has been saying I should have lost about 2 lbs more than I actually lose. It's been quite frustrating because I can't figure out where those 2 lbs are! I know my calories burned are accurate because they are measured with my Bodybugg, and I have also been very careful with portion sizes and measuring food, so I think my calorie intake is accurate. So I did some research, and have come to believe that my daily calorie intake of 1200 calories may be too low for my activity level and current weight, which may be the reason behind my missing 2 lbs. Weirdly enough, I may actually lose more weight eating 1500 calories a day if I am correct. Unfortunately, the only way to test this theory is just to add calories and see what happens. Or clone myself and see what happens to the clone when I add calories. Or discover my previously unknown identical twin and test her. That's a little too much work though. So this week, I am trying to eat 1500 calories a day instead of 1200. Okay, I think everyone (including me) has had enough science and math for the day!

I know the science behind this theory, but I am still scared that I will gain weight, not lose! But now is the perfect time because it's the week before I start phase 2, so I don't have to worry about getting behind on that goal yet. Plus it's my birthday this week, so I will probably be eating more calories anyway. Don't worry, I'm not going crazy or anything and shoving massive pieces of birthday cake in my mouth. I'm trying to just accept what happens with this experiment. If I lose more weight, fantastic! If I gain, well, I'll know my theory was wrong and I'll just go back to what I was doing before. Contrary to what Gertrude sometimes tries to tell me, the world will not end if I gain weight or even stay the same weight. Nor will that mean that I will gain back the 67 lbs I have lost. Seriously, Gertrude is so mean sometimes. At times, I think she needs to be slapped in the face, but that would be painful for me since Gertrude shares my face. I guess I will just have to mentally face slap her!

Tune in for the results of "Experiment Eat More to Lose" next week!

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