This was my response (written first thing in the morning, so bear with me):

I wish I could say it’s all muscle, but that only accounts for maybe an extra quarter calorie per minute (225 calories over 15 hours)**. I burn ~2750 calories a day at an idle, so that extra 500-1000 comes from deliberate daily exercise. 30m on the treadmill, a couple 15 minute brisk walks, etc. The 4500 calorie days are a Zumba class or a combination of weights and some intervals.

I’ve had a couple surplus days though – no exercise and usual intake. That’s good food, too. After tracking with a Body Bugg like this it’s really easy to see how tossing a Double Bacon Western Cheeseburger in the mix (or something similar) would EASILY pack on the pounds.

So, why 3000 calories at an idle instead of 2000 (USDA break-even calorie number)**? I’m carrying 100 lbs of extra ballast. I’m used to carrying it, so it’s like a workout you do for too long and plateau.

If I had to guess I’d say 2000 is a average, 2500 (extra 500 for the muscle composition), and then an extra 250 for carrying the extra weight brings us to 2750.

So the secret is to either be 100 lbs overweight (I really don’t recommend this one!) and/or lift weights to get the added benefit of the extra burn.

** This is a complete WAG (wild @$$ guess) based on what I’ve been heard from other bodybugg users who average 1-1.5 calories/min at an idle.

We’ve all had this problem where we’re trying to do real good on our diets or healthy living choices yet things around us get in our way and try to make us fail. This photo on failblog captures that exact thing in just one picture.

What keeps you going? What helps you block out the negative indulgences around you? Leave a comment and let us know.

I think a lot of people don’t realize that a lot of benefit in losing weight and working out comes from not being repetitive.

Original Article

My routine so far for this trip:

• wake up at 6am
• get ready for work
• have breakfast in the room
• work for 8–12 hours
• head directly to the gym
• cardio or weights, alternating days
• back to the hotel & shower
• dress in comfy clothes

At that point it’s 8 or 9pm. I figure I have 2–3 hours of time I could spend filling the gaps. On a “school night” some TV in the room, a video on my laptop, or something else I can turn off when it’s time to sleep is probably a good idea.

What about Friday night through Sunday?

Yesterday I was laying on my back doing my ab workout and she walked right over to me.

“Want a tip?” she asked, and walked over to grab one of the half-circle balance platforms and placed it under my feet.

I had been doing leg lifts and touching my heels all the way back to the ground before pulling them back up to my chest. She put the balance platform under my heels and it made a big difference. I wasn’t bouncing when I hit the floor any more and there was a lot more control in the motion.

I thanked her for the tidbit and we got to chatting about my struggle with losing weight, what kinds of things I’d been doing, and of course, the GeekFit Podcast. She was really nice about everything; said she’d noticed how hard I’d been working and that she remembered where I was when I started at Bally years ago.

It was a really nice bit of motivation and one that was perfectly timed with me heading to Chicago for 3 weeks this Sunday. I’m armed with my national gym membership, a reservation at an extended stay, and a determination to return either 6–8 lbs lighter or 1.5 – 2% lower in body fat. It’s going to be awesome.

Today marks the 30th day of my “official” start of my new workout program and my new diet. After weighing and measuring up with my trainer today, I’m totally stoked to say that I’ve lost 18 pounds (down from 220 to 202), my body fat has lowered from 28.8% to 23.2%, I’ve dropped 1.6&Prime off my waist, 1% off my neck and about a 1/2% each off all the other areas (legs, thigh, etc…). Needless to say I’m very happy, and plan on continuing on with things until I reach my first goal weight of 192 and a body fat under 20%. I’ll regroup and set new goals there.

Thinking back, I remember hitting 300 lbs. I felt great and clothes fit that hadn’t in a really long time. I can’t quite pin-point what brought on the backslide, but it’s not hard to guess how it snow-balled. It just takes a couple days to fall back into the old routine. It’s unfair, and it sucks – oh how it sucks – but that’s just how it goes. You would think that if you were doing something for 2 years it’d take a little longer to revert, but it just doesn’t.

Cheating once or twice a week, doing things in moderation, but keeping the routine going is the only way to truly make a lifestyle change.

Okay thats the workout update. Weighed in at 210.1 today. Thats down over 10 pounds in 2 weeks, so i’m quite happy. My current goal with my trainer is 192 by mid july. The diet is definitely helping out…I’m on a pretty regular 6 small meals a day and I keep it right at my 33 weight watchers points. I don’t feel hungry all the time and I’m eating stuff that I like so that doesn’t make me grumpy like most peoples diets do. Also doing 64-96oz of water a day. [] I feel better then I have in a long time…..so I guess as long as this doesn’t kill me or I give up I should be doing great in month or so. Here’s to no early cardiac arrest!

We’re sure he’s not alone, so shoot us a message about your updates!

Below is a video showing you one of the ways to go about submitting a photo or video to the GeekFit Flickr Group. Let me know if you have any questions.

[HTML1]

Last week I was going to the gym pretty regularly and I could tell that I was feeling better. It was the usual batch of progress: more energy, less stressed, looking forward to my next trip. Then something happens and I’m moved to take a day off from the gym. It could be I stayed up too late and a morning gym trip is unreasonable or the afternoon was busy and I didn’t have time to go then. The really interesting thing happens the day after the day off from working out which I’m calling Second Day Syndrome (SDS).

Like I’m constantly trying to convince my wife, my memory is terrible. I can pretty well remember yesterday, sort of recall the day before, but beyond that it’s a good thing I take notes well. During SDS the memory of going to the gym and not going to the gym are both fresh in my mind. Not going to the gym is a slightly fresher memory so I’ll say that a workout has about 40/60 chance of happening. On the next day the odds drop to 30/70. Add that to the guilt of not having gone now for 3 days and you have a recipe for disaster.

So what do we do about the dreaded SDS? If your memory is as bad as mine you might want to follow a steadfast rule of “no more than one day off in a row.” I’m going to give it a try and see how I do. If this is all I needed to do to stay consistent I’m going to be relieved and upset I hadn’t done it sooner.

Last night I put my sweats, tank, shoes, socks, etc. in my office chair and when the alarm went off at 5am I crept out of the bedroom, got dressed, and headed to the gym. There were a lot of new faces, so I’ll have to introduce myself to 1 or 2 at a time. This morning I met Tyler with whom I commiserated about the “getting started again” blues. He sympathized and I hustled through my workout ending with some ab work. Tomorrow I’ll do some good old cardio.

In short, it seems the only time that’s consistently available to me is the early morning whether I’m home or traveling. So back to mornings I go although not as early as I had been going initially. 3am comes a bit too early…

And now, on to the second part of the subject: goals. They say the best way to stick to something is to make a public declaration of your goal so you won’t be able to squirm out of it. Here we go: I’m going to lose 40+ pounds by January 1st, 2008. That means clean intake, consistent output, and putting out a new podcast on a regular basis.

This is a public link to my backpack page that gets updated throughout the day as I eat and exercise: http://xinu.backpackit.com/pub/1218865. If you create a food log of your own, post it here in a comment and we’ll mention your name on each new show, encouraging you to keep kicking butt & and taking names. Let’s do it!

Jason’s public backpack page is: http://abstrakone.backpackit.com/pub/1229049

1. Visit www.SparkPeople.com, sign up for a free account and setup your personal program.
2. From your MySpark Page (if logged in) click on the �SparkPoints� tab.
3. From the SparkPoints section, click on the �Groups� sub-tab
4. Search for your organization�s group name. Your group name is filled in below.
5. From the Group Homepage, click on the �Join this group� button.
How to Get Started Today!

http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/groups.asp

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