Here we go!

Starting with the (high!) numbers

My name is Tracey and I need to lose weight to become as healthy as possible! I am 37 years old, have been married for 15 years and have two kids ages 11 and 7. I have lived in the area for the past 10 years and 45 mins away for most of my life prior to that. After having my first baby, I left my career and became a stay at home mom. Right now, I work at a restaurant most days of the week and work at the YMCA as a fitness instructor, personal trainer and personal conditioning centre staff in my “spare” time, when I am not at an arena or chauffeuring kids elsewhere.

I am writing this blog to help keep myself accountable as I lose weight and increase my fitness level. I also want to share my knowledge and tips to help others get in shape and lose weight. I figure that since I have lost over 500 pounds (and found it! again… and again… J) that I can offer my suggestions for what works for me. They are only suggestions as I don’t have any formal education in this area, just years of trial and error and reading everything I can get my hands on. I can help with fitness goals as I do have experience and education in that area. I just have trouble practicing what I preach, but that’s another blog.

With the help of Canada’s Food Guide, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ , www.eatrightontario.ca , and exercising, I will be losing no more than 2 pounds per week. I feel for this to work, I need a slow and steady approach. That will help me keep the weight off as I won’t be feeling hungry or deprived and I won’t be using every waking hour exercising. This is a lifestyle change, not a quick fix.

I will be cutting my daily calories by 250-500 in order to lose ½ to 1 pound a week. I will also be exercising off an extra 250-500 calories per day to balance out the weight loss. I figured out how many calories I need by using the BMI link below. I found out that my BMR (the amount of calories my body needs to live if I didn’t move at all in a day) is 1664 at my present weight. Once I knew that number, I put it into the Harris Benedict Equation link on the same page and figured out that I need 2579 calories a day to maintain my weight. I have been joking that it takes a lot (of food) to maintain this figure and that is certainly a lot for my height! I used the moderate exercise/sports 3-5x per week calculation because of the exercise I do, but also because my other job requires me to be walking about 7 hours a day 4 or 5x per week. For the first month, I will be keeping my caloric intake around 2100 and modify it from there if that’s not working (or is working too well). I am counting calories and figuring all of these calculations out because I like playing with numbers. This method has worked before too.

I am 5’2” and weigh 205 pounds. That is a very unhealthy BMI of 37.49 which is in the category of class 2 obesity. To find out your BMI go to: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/ . A normal BMI is between 20-25 and I am aiming to have my BMI at 25 by the end of the year. Using the same link, you can also do your waist to hip ratio which is another way to determine your risk for many diseases. Under .80 for women is a low risk for certain diseases. Even with my weight as high as it is, my waist to hip ratio is .76. To me that just means that my butt is much bigger than my waist. I do have a pear shaped body which means I carry my fat in my hips, butt and thighs and am a lower risk for health problems than apple shaped people who carry their weight in their bellies. That being said I am still 69 pounds away from a BMI of 25, so my risk is very high, no matter what my ratio.

I will be weighing in and taking measurements at the beginning of each month. I wrote my first blog entry before the holidays and have maintained my weight since then.