ddh blog

All my life, up to last month, I had never been a serious weight watcher. Not that I don’t care about how I look, this entry is to make a point that people shouldn’t fall for those expensive weight loss programs on TV or internet, just try my method and see it works wonder for yourself.

The formula for weight loss is very simple: calories consumed < calories burned.

It began with an application called Lose It! I installed on my mobile phone.  Then, it’s a must if you want to lose weight, I set goal to lose 5 pounds in the next month. After that, I used Lose It app to calculate how many calories I am allowed to consume and later burn on a daily basic in order to achieve my goal.  Of course, the calculation is based on some important factors that includes but not limited to height, weight and age.

Example 1*:

• 30 years old, female, 5’5 inches height and starting weight is 120 lbs
• Goal: 115 lbs at the end of next month
• Current daily calorie budget is 1837 calories (this calorie intake is to maintain the current weight)
• Need to subtract 500 calories/day from current daily calorie budget in order to lose weight
• Allowed daily calorie budget: 1337 calories
• Note: this calculation requires NO exercise, assuming your personal activity level is sedentary to light**.

Example 2*:

• 30 years old, female, 5’5 inches height and starting weight is 120 lbs
• Goal: 115 lbs at the end of next month
• Current daily calorie budget is 1837 calories (this calorie intake is to maintain the current weight)
• Need to subtract 500 calories/day from current daily calorie budget in order to lose weight
• Daily calories burned via exercise: 300 calories
• Allowed daily calorie budget: 1337 calories + 300 calories = 1637 calories
• Note: this calculation requires exercise, assuming your personal activity level is sedentary to light** (you can eat more stuff ).

To continue my story, the 1^st week went by, I found it a little challenging since I am not used to calculating calorie especially when it comes to Asian food. Unlike American food, which the app came in handy, some Asian dishes tend to contain a lot of ingredients. I came across one lousy site which calculates a number of famous Asian dishes such as Phở/Bún/Cháo, but I had doubt about its accuracy. So, I had to do the math myself.

My menu consisted of a variety of international food.  I tended to divide my intake portion into 4 parts: 3 of them were fruits, vegetables and grains.  The remaining part contained lean meat and/or fish/shellfish. 

The 2^nd week passed without much difficulties and the following weeks went by smoothly. In 30 days more or less, I achieved my goal: losing a total of 5 lbs.  Can you tell me how much I weigh now?

There you go, simple! All you need is your determination to see who is the boss, the mind or the body!

Note:

* These example used the Lose It! app. In case you don’t “want” to use it, please check out these sites: Dieting Calculator and Calorie Counter for your own little experiment.

** Personal Activity Level:

• Sleeping – 8 hours
• Personal care (dressing, showering) – 1 hour
• Eating – 1 hour
• Cooking – 1 hour
• Sitting (office work, selling produce, tending shop) – 8 hours
• Driving car to/from work – 1 hour
• Light leisure activities (watching TV, chatting) – 3 hours