“Laughter is an instant vacation.”
–Milton Berle
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Thought of the Day
“The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.”
–Charles Darwin
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Thought of the Day
“Let’s assume that each person has an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different. To realize whatever unique potential of body, mind and spirit he or she possesses.”
–John Fischer
A few weeks ago I started a food journal with one week’s worth of what I was eating. I found out that my calorie intake was not as high as I thought it would be. However I really had no idea as to what my calorie intake should be. I did some research and what I found out might surprise you or prove to you that you’re on the right track.
First off let me say that there are so many different sites that make an attempt to answer this question with charts, graphs and obscure answers. In my search I looked for information that took me through the step by step process of how they reached their numbers. I found one site in particular that did just that.
To figure out your personal calorie intake, or as I learned, your BMR (basal metabolic rate) you do a simple calculation. It is different for men and women.
For Women: 655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years) and For Men: 66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)
Step two of the calculation requires you to take into account how active you are.
So I took the equation for women and I added in light activity and found out that my total calorie intake should be much more than what i’m currently taking in. Now the equation does not take into account certain things, like muscle mass or excess fat, but either way I’m off about 600 calories.
Do you know how many calories you are taking in on a daily basis? To keep track of the calories I was taking in when I wrote them in the journal, I used the Calorie Count Website. Here you just type in the food you are consuming and it gives you the calorie count per serving. For items that vary, like a banana, a drop down menu appears to give you the possible choices involving a banana. Is it a medium or small sized bananas? Knowing how many calories are in the foods you eat, might make you double think what you put into your body and what you buy at the grocery store. Also when buying groceries take a look at the calories on packaged goods. One of my favorite treats was Marie Calendar’s Chicken Pot Pie. I never paid attention to all the little numbers on the box. It didn’t matter to me as long as it tasted good and filled my tummy. I read that the larger box, which was 2 servings, was over 1000 calories. 1000 CALORIES. I always ate the entire pie. I mean really how do you stop yourself from eating something yummy half way through??? If you’re like me than stick to buying things that you can easily break out into a single serving. Today its an easy task to find single serving products. 🙂
My result from my calorie intake calculation makes me believe that there are definitely other factors that affect ones weight. Stay tuned to find out what I learn….in the meantime find out yours at http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/blcalintake.htm.
Until next time
djrelat7
Categories
Thought of the Day
“A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a though is nothing at all.”
–Georges Bernanos
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Thought of the Day
“He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others.”
–William Hazlitt
Wow I’m getting deep on you guys, but I have to give you something to think about til Friday! How do you see yourself? Say your name, did you smile? Does it make you feel all warm and tingly? Do you take time to appreciate all the things you do for YOU?
Saturday I enjoyed a relaxing day with myself! Treated myself to a spa afternoon with a hot stone massage and pedicure and looked forward to an evening at a restaurant with a yummy meal. Now I do not do that often, once in a blue moon really if I find a good deal, but we treat others with care and respect; Please do not forget yourself. The better that you take care of YOU, the more you will appreciate YOU and the more others will appreciate YOU. Know that you need to love yourself before others can love you. ‘He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others.’ Swallow it and let that one sink in today, take note on how you treat yourself.
djrelat7
Last Money Monday I talked about how its smart to sometimes hide your money…On occasion I still do for some of the smaller things that come up and I know are coming in advance. How do you prepare yourself for all the things, big or small that come unexpectedly?
A few years ago I was asked a series of simple questions, Do you pay all your bills on time each month? My answer was yes. Whatever it takes to pay the bills each month I do. Second Job, extra hours, and side gigs like babysitting were always on the list of things to do. Do you have an Emergency Fund? No. (In my head I was thinking umm, never heard of that.) Do you save money each month? When I can, is how I answered that one. If there is extra money at the end of the month I put it into my passbook savings account. Most often there is not enough money at the end of the month to pay everything AND save. So, you give all your money to strangers and none to yourself? Umm, Yes, I guess I do. What if you were to count yourself as a bill? Huh,What do you mean? … It was after that conversation that I understood that in order to keep savings in my account, I had to put money in there on a monthly basis. Little by little it made more sense. I will admit in the beginning of trying to understand, it did not make sense to me. But slowly and surely the light bulb turned on.
Pay Yourself First! To me this was a foreign concept. However, people are taught this at an early age. I must have missed this class! If you happened to not get this lesson to, do NOT worry. You’re learning it now. Rule of thumb is to put away 10% of every paycheck you earn. When I heard this the first time I thought “10% is impossible”. Had I started this when I first started working, back in 1996, then I would have been able to. But no one explained to me then how money really works and how it would effect my future. So in my budget I added ‘Emergency Fund’ to the list of bills, putting it at the top of the list. Before I knew it, I had saved $500 bucks. This is not to say that over time I had never saved as much, just that it was never in my savings account at one time. Something always came up that would have made that money disappear.
Bombarded with all of life’s expenses? This is why you definitely need to start an Emergency Fund ASAP. The emergency fund is to help you in case you get this unexpected expense. If you cannot reason with yourself to commit to one then start small. At first all I could do was put in $10 each month…then it went up to $37. I was hesitant to start with 10 bucks a month. How could I start to make a difference in my finances with 10 bucks? Then I understood it was getting into the habit of savings. Of taking money and putting it aside each month and to one day watch it grow. Any extra money that came my way also went into the account. The ultimate goal of your emergency fund is to have at least six months worth of income in this account. Again that sounds like a big number but remember it is the ultimate goal. This goal will take you years. Like all goals you need steps to get you there. Start off with $500 as your first goal…then $1000…then three months worth of income. If you start today, you’re closer to that goal than if you NEVER start it at all. I promise you that once you start seeing that money grow, the way you think about spending money will change drastically and you’ll get exciting with the peace of mind you’ll have knowing that if anything were to happen, you’ve got it covered.
The next logical question is Where do I put that money? Stay tuned for next Monday Monday to find out…until then start it up and Be Patient!
Until Next Time
djrelat7