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MizFit,

do you know of a good site that is easy to use that will tell me how many calories I need based on my activity? Thanks!

This is a great question.

There seem to exist a plethora of sites where you can obsess about look up/log calories and sites where you can figure out how many calories you’re burning doing given activities/log aforementioned exercise habits—— but not as many which are designed to help you figure out caloric intake.

Your best bet is to start by figuring out your basal metabolic rate or BMR:

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x your weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x your height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) – ( 6.8 x age in year )

Your BMR is the amount of energy your body needs to function.

Next, you want to incorporate your daily activity/exercise into your caloric needs:

  • If you are sedentary : BMR x 20 percent
  • If you are lightly active: BMR x 30 percent
  • If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 40 percent
  • If you are very active (You exercise intensely on a daily basis or for prolonged periods.): BMR x 50 percent
  • If you are extra active (You do hard physical labor for your job or are in athletic training.): BMR x 60 percent

Add this number to your BMR.

The result of all this mathfusion is the number of calories you need to eat in order to MAINTAIN your current weight (lost yet? I know…).

In order to lose you will just need to eat fewer calories than this number.

Remember, a calorie isnt a calorie isnt a CALORIE.

Chances are you could eat the number you generate (not the number. the calories.) and still shift your shape from fat to muscle if all your food is good and *clean*

What Mizfit-approved snacks could I keep on hand for when I need
ENERGY? Preferably lots of it. I don’t drink caffeine anymore and
sometimes there’s just no way to get a full night’s sleep. Or take a
refreshing nap. And I need some way to keep going. I would also be open
to quick-pick-me-up exercises.
Yours,
Desperately tired in a window-less office.

I must have misread this letter, emailer, as it appears you said you do not consume any caffeine (!).

Please to note that the MizFit is duly impressed. Quite.

Even though Ive been known to indulge a bit in the morning, I do have some thoughts for you with regards to energy pick me ups:

1. always keep your blood sugar level even. do not go too long a period of time with out eating and, for me, this also means that I never consume carbohydrates alone (even fruit) as it causes my blood sugar to spike and then fall. As a result, I feel more tired after my snack than I did before.

and hungrier.

the perfect snack in my opinion? complex carbs, fat and protein.

the ole apple and peanut butter snack. or even a few slices of turkey crammed in a pita pocket. almonds & some fruit? you get the idea. Keep your blood sugar level steady with many mini-meals throughout your day & a mix of carbs, protein and good fat at each mini-meal.

B. water water water. we’ve previously established that there is not a set amount we need to consume during the day, but drinking more can really help to make me (one? who can say) feel better.

it’s also the first thing I tend to forget when Im exhausted AND the foods I typically reach for when busytired are processed (50 lashes with a wet whole-wheat noodle, I know.) & *packed* with dehydrating sodium.

though it doesnt sound as if this is your case fatigue can often result from dehydration. when you’re not getting enough water/fluids in general it decreases blood volume which makes the body feel sluggish and tired.

2. as far as exercises I happen to know that you, emailer, are a fan of yoga. have you tried the breath of fire as a mid-day pick me up?

this is something Ive just started doing when I feel lethargic and Ive found it really does help.

C. have you thought of purchasing something like this? (perhaps not that specific one…)

I know if I worked long hours in a windowless office Id be sorely tempted to hang ANYTHING shiny and resembling a window/or the sun.

make sense, People?

have *way* better insights and answers?

Hit me up in the comments.

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Comments

  1. I agree w/ that formula for calorie needs… it helped me lose tons of weight, while still feeling satisfied 😉

    I second your comment about drinking water & mini meals – that is definitely my philosophy! Sometimes I even have a cup of hot or iced decaf green tea, and I feel like I get an instant energy boost (even if it’s simply in my head!)…

  2. Okay MizFit – Your next Monday Facetime MUST be you doing the Breath of Fire!!! The Tornado will need photographic evidence when she is a teen;) And the mirror thing is pretty cool too.

    Yay for mini-meals!! (At least that’s what I call my near-constant snacking. It sounds so much better than smorgasbord;) )

  3. As a reformed caffeine fiend (Diet Pepsi was my poison), I’m glad to know there’s someone else out there! lol These days, the only caffeine I get is in chocolate and I’ve become an aquaholic. 🙂 Still sluggish but what you’ve said here affirms what my dietitian has recommended (and I struggle to follow). Smaller, more frequent (healthy) meals + exercise should help.

  5. Mizfit-
    What are your thoughts on chiropractors? I’m a big runner, 55 miles/week…and have noticed my back and shoulders are getting very stiff. This leads me to be itching to crack my neck, back..etc, which I know is bad…any suggestions/thoughts?

  6. I’d pull a wiley coyote and paint a fake window on my wall. And even maybe a door just to watch people try and walk through it.

    No caffeine? Bravo, i must say. I wish I had the willpower. Im getting better though, i no longer have a cup of coffee before bed.

  7. I think the world is better off never witnessing my Breath of Fire.

    All the thoughts of which this morning have permanently given me an earworm (google THAT one) of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire.

    (That’s the title, yes?! Perhaps MizFit shouldn’t have given up the bulk o’her morning caffeine)

    M.

  8. I work in a windowless office, and I get EXHAUSTED in the afternoons. I’ve found that taking a quick walk outside–even if it’s just around the block–really recharges my batteries!

  9. I think you should have not crossed out “obsess about”! The part about keeping your blood sugar level steady is true; I can tell when I have gone even as little as 2 hours without eating something by the drowsy, lightheaded monkey that jumps on my back around that time!

    I’m trying my best to let it heal…I just got my bike back from the shop and it’s incessantly teasing me 🙁

    Jay

  11. I used to have a fake mirror window in my kitchen, before I moved to a bigger apartment. Curtains and everything (I totally made it myself, I’m such a geek) and it was great.

    I don’t think I could get away with doing the breath of fire at work. My lab mates already think I’m strange enough and I don’t want to give them any more reasons to look at me oddly.

  12. Hmm, am intrigued about the fake window mirror–but if it’s a window, and your office is a dim little office and not a garden, don’t you just end up looking through your “window” to another dim little office with another tired-looking person staring back at you? Where does the pretty garden come in?

  13. An apple and a glass of milk is a good protein/carbs/fat combo, AND you’re getting in some of your fluids for the day! Also I loves the peanut butter spread on a banana. Mmmm energy.

  14. no caffeine???? omg!
    love all the suggestions! i can use some pick-me-ups……hubby outta town for 6 weeks!! i’m home alone with two boys under 5! yikes! i don’t know how single parents keep it together????!!!
    i def wanna see the breath ‘o fire on facetime!:)

  15. MamaRunsWithScissors?

    Id be making my coffee with that caffeinated water they sell in yer shoes.

    good luck with that!

    (breathoffire. breathoffire. breathoffire.)

    M.

  16. I really like the window thingie. I am interested in those light therapy boxes. There are lots of windows in my house, but have any of you used those lamps and had success with them?? I feel much better when there is bright sunshine coming through my real windows, so I wonder if the light box would replicate those feelings when we have yet another gloomy day here.

  17. I’m 2080.5 I just sat there and did the math on my laptop calculator. I suppose if I think about it, I eat about this, maybe slightly more, every day. Except when we order deep dish. then BMI goes out the delivery guy’s window.

  18. I can get neurotic and eating disorder-esque is i start to count calories, so instead, i focus on hitting the food groups (and avoiding junk). Like getting plenty of veggie/protien/whole grain servings. the only thing i need to be mindful of is the portion sizes, but for me this is way less complicated than counting calories and it helps me focus on eating healthy food (and health comes before calories, to me at least 🙂

  19. I can get neurotic and eating disorder-esque if i start to count calories, so instead, i focus on hitting the food groups (and avoiding junk). Like getting plenty of veggie/protien/whole grain servings. the only thing i need to be mindful of is the portion sizes, but for me this is way less complicated than counting calories and it helps me focus on eating healthy food (and health comes before calories, to me at least 🙂

  20. I don’t agree with the BMR calculations, at least not for promoting weight loss and healthy eating. Mine came out to 2,383 Calories a day! Wowza! Going by the biggest loser calculator, which is much easier I might add (your weight x 7), which for me is 1,355 (the book advises never going under 1100 or 1200, I forget) still that is 1,000 calorie difference from the BMR. I guess the Miz is right though, if I ate 2,383 calories in veggies and mostly whole stuff I would be fine, but how much spinach can you eat at 30 cals/cup. When I first started tracking my calories and was really eating healthy, I was going by 2,000 calories because thats the number you hear everything is based on, it was a struggle and I almost never made it that high. I guess my point is, I have realized that when I’m eating the right things, correct portions, etc. my calorie intake is pretty low and so I don’t stress the exact number anymore. This has taken me about 4 months to get to, and I have fluctuated between at best losing 3 pounds in a week, to at worst gaining 2 pounds, at the moment I am down 15, give or take since I weight again Friday. The best part is a 4% drop in body fat %, which is way more important to me than the scale number.

    I also sit in an office all day with out any windows and agree about upping the water intake and taking an afternoon walk!

  21. Excellent information. Since I calculated my calories using this formula I found that I was actually consuming too few calories, I’ve since upped my calorie intake and started cycling the calories and I think I’m going to be quite pleased at my next weigh in. Thank you so much for your help!

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