Monday 9th March - Geting My Move On

Today began the transition into an active life. I’m starting slowly but I want to ensure that my TDEE is going to stay above 1900 because if I allow my metabolism to drop below that I know I will find it very difficult to keep the weight off once I have lost it. So far I have been working on the premise that I live a sedentary existence.

At the start of this diet my lazy-arse TDEE was 2072 calories, easy enough to stick to on non-fast days and just over 500 calories on a fast day, but as the weight has slowly receded so has my TDEE I’m now at 1939 calories. That’s 133 calories I’ve shaved off my daily ‘normal’ intake in the space of 8 weeks. Admittedly it has been a gradual process and I haven’t noticed overly much but I think I might struggle to maintain a daily intake of 15-1600 which is what it would be if I don’t get a little bit active.

I’m starting out slowly with some morning yoga and meditation, 40 minutes of Hatha yoga (that’s the slow and steady one) will use approximately 140 calories. It’s not a lot but it’s a step in the right direction. My intention is to do the yoga every morning, including Sunday’s, and an hour’s walk three times a week (definitely on non-fast days). I will also do half an hour’s walk on Tuesdays and Thursdays, not because I’m particularly vigilant but because it’s a 15 minute walk each way to my Greek lessons. 

I’m not sure whether I’ll start this week or next (it depend how my knees are feeling) but I also have two ’30 day’ challenges to complete. I’ve adjusted them somewhat in the sense that I’ve doubled the length of them by doing each number of exercises on two days rather than 1 and putting in weekend breaks rather than one day every 3 days. I don’t feel bad about it I like to keep my weekends mostly clear because that’s when I get to spend time with my husband.

My plan is this; As long as the calories used in exercise over the week justify the increased calorie intake I’m doing well

For example;

Weekly exercise as detailed :     7x 40 minute Yoga     =             1034 calories

                                                        3x 1hr Walk                 =             1149 calories

                                                        2x ½ hr Walk              =             383 calories

                                                        Total                             =             2566 cals burned / week (Cb)

Lightly Active (La) Weekly Calorie allowance                =             15561

                                                                                                                -

Sedentary (Sed) Weekly Calorie allowance                     =             13580

The weekly calorie difference (Dif)                                   =             1981

As long as (Cb) > (Dif)  (i.e. 2566 > 1981)I will still lose weight. The added bonus is that if you exercise you get happy dolphins (you know I mean endorphins but happy dolphins sounds better) running through your veins AND you end up looking better. Yes I am THAT vain.

Obviously the number of calories burned changes with your weight but then so does the calorie allowance so you will have to recheck your numbers every week but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

All of the figures seen above are for my current weight of 89.4kg and will change whenever my weight does (hopefully on Friday?).

Decision made, I’ll start the challenges next week when I’ve had a full week of my first bit of exercise.