Just a reminder that we have a recipe section chock full of nummy foods to choose from when you can’t think of anything healthy to make. The recipes are set up on a separate blog and database so they can be categorized by meal/snack/drink, etc. It’s linked right in the top menu.

I made this the other night — delish! The chicken was tasty and moist, and there’s very little fat.

(moved to the Recipe Section)

Once in a while, we need fresh tunes on our iPods, MP3 and CD Players while we’re working out.

Just how many calories do our cells need to function well? The number is different for every person. You may notice on the nutritional labels of the foods you buy that the “percent daily values” are based on a 2,000 calorie diet — 2,000 calories is a rough average of what a person needs to eat in a day, but your body might need more or less than 2,000 calories. Height, weight, gender, age and activity level all affect your caloric needs. There are three main factors involved in calculating how many calories your body needs per day:

* Basal metabolic rate
* Physical activity
* Thermic effect of food

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest. This accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of calories burned in a day and includes the energy required to keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the kidneys functioning and the body temperature stabilized. In general, men have a higher BMR than women. One of the most accurate methods of estimating your basal metabolic rate is the Harris-Benedict formula:

* Adult male: 66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs.) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

* Adult female: 655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

(Note: The first number in the equation for females is, in fact, 655. Strange but true.)

Figure out your BMR? Now you need to know how many calories you need, just to keep doing what you’re doing.

Source: Howstuffworks.com

From the Howstuffworks.com website:

Why diets tend not to work

The reason why most diets tend not to work for very long is because they are not sustainable. A person gains weight because he or she consumes more calories per day than needed. The diet creates a temporary deficit. When the diet ends, the person goes back to normal eating and the weight comes back.

Let’s look at an example. Say that you weigh 150 pounds. That means that you burn 1,800 calories per day in a resting state. Let’s also imagine that in the course of a day you burn 200 more calories living your life — walking up and down steps, carrying in the groceries and so on. Your calorie needs then are, on average, 2,000 calories per day. Now let’s further imagine that, on average, you consume 2,050 calories per day. On a daily basis your body is taking in, and therefore storing, 50 calories more than it needs. So every 70 days (3,500 calories in a pound / 50 calories each day = 70 days) you gain 1 pound (0.45 kg). If that “50 extra calories per day” trend continues, then over the course of a year you would gain 5 pounds. This, by the way, is the pattern for a big portion of the U.S. population. If you over-consume by just a few calories per day, over time you will gain weight. Keep in mind that just one Oreo-type cookie contains 50 calories, so over-consuming is incredibly easy.

Building a sustainable diet

The first step to building a sustainable diet is to start counting the calories that you consume in a day so that you become conscious of two things:

* You need to understand exactly how many calories you are eating on a “normal” day.

* You need to realize where each calorie comes from — you need to build a calorie database in your brain so that you know, whenever you eat something, just how many calories it is supplying.

In the United States, any food that you buy in the grocery store is required by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to have a nutritional label with that food’s calorie content. You can also look at a chart like this one to find out the number of calories in different foods. Any chain restaurant will supply you with nutrition information both at the store and on the Web.

The second step is to figure out how many calories you need in a day. You can use the “12 calories per pound” rule, or you can get more precise by looking at the formulas in How Calories Work.

Pick your “ideal weight” — the weight that you would like to maintain. Then calculate how many calories a day you can consume to maintain that weight.

The third step is to compare the two numbers — You may be startled by the difference between the “number of calories you need” and “the number of calories that you take in” in a day. That is where the extra pounds are coming from.

The fourth step is to figure out how to bring the two numbers in line. What you will soon realize is that 1,600 or 1,800 or 2,000 calories per day just isn’t that many. You have to watch and count everything you eat and drink every day and stick to your daily limit.

The fifth step might be to add exercise to the mix so that you can raise the number of calories you can consume per day. Online resources like this exercise calculator will show you how many calories different forms of exercise can burn. Burning 250 or 500 calories per day through exercise can make a big difference.

Read more:

Cutting Calories – making wise food selections

Fitting in exercise

Weight loss myths
And even more stuff…here.

A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. To lose 1 pound a week you will need to expend 3,500 more calories than you eat that week, whether through increased activity or decreased eating or both. Losing 1 to 2 pounds of fat a week is a sensible goal, and so you will want to use the combination of increased activity and eating less that will total 3,500 calories for seven days.

Credit: Discovery Health Channel

Here’s a range of activities (a huge range) with calorie burn calculator, based on your own weight. What a great tool to have handy! (I’ll add it to the sidebar under Helpful Links.)

Discovery Health Burn Rate Calculator

I just clicked on one of those google ads in the sidebar and wound up here:

Discovery Health 8 Week Body Challenge

It starts January 14, for anyone who wants another source for meals, exercise planning and a base by which you can measure what your daily intake should be – check it out!

Also, through Calorie King, you can download a 2 week free trial program where you can keep a personal record of your daily intake and keep track of what you’re eating and how much your exercise is helping you. Find out more about the Nutrition and Exercise Manager here.