Week 17, Day 4

I haven't been out of the house for DAYS. And I think I'm pretty happy about that. Between the snow and ice and temps waaaay below zero and the multiple wrecks out there caused by insane people who don't know when it's a good time to stay home or AT LEAST when it's time to drive slower, I'm okay with being safe inside. I have to go pick up Adam at work tonight, though. The temp will be 24 below zero. The shivering ought to burn a few extra calories. That and having Adam home again will be my silver lining. (He's a neat kid -- I wish you all could meet him.)

I've done pretty well today, both on the exercising and food fronts. I did leg lifts this morning, a half hour of weight work for my arms while watching TV this afternoon, and 20 minutes of biking this evening. I had a half a sandwich for breakfast, the other half for lunch, and a couple of yogurts for dinner. I think I'll have a cup of soup a little later after I get home from picking up Adam. I need to go easy on the reading -- I feel much more upbeat when I'm not spending several hours at one time reading about how awful our food supply is. I think I'll limit it to maybe an hour a day and spend the rest of the time doing something more active. Sounds like a plan!

Today's Tip:
Do you know what your BMR is? I always wondered how many calories it takes to keep this old machine running. My fear was that since I'm not a terribly active person, it's probably something like 300 calories a day and I'm just going to spend the rest of my life either having to starve myself to lose weight or resign myself to the fact that I will continue to gain. Not so!!! I get Jillian Michael's newsletter, and she tells how to calculate your BMR -- basal metabolic rate, or how many calories you burn just at absolute minimum capacity (like me -- the quintessential couch potato). Her explanation and formula for figuring out your own BMR can be found here: http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fitness-and-diet-tips/BMR-formula As for me, unless I am a complete dolt with math (and that's not too far from the truth), my BMR is about 1670. That's waaaay more than I thought it would be! Not that I'm going to use that as permission to go hog-wild with food. But it does make me feel a lot more hopeful about my chances of actually reaching my weight loss goals.

Personal note:
My dad's having a test this coming Wednesday to help the doctors decide what can be done about his aneurysm. He is too old for them to hold out much hope for his surviving the full-blown repair surgery, and right now they think the aneurysm is too large for a stent to work. Please keep him in your prayers.