I was laying in bed last night and my mind was wandering. I started thinking about the weight loss journey I started a little over 2 months ago. When I graduated from high school 19 years ago, I weighed 135 pounds. Eight years later, when I got married, I was up to 150. This summer when I decided enough was enough, I was weighing in at 180 pounds. Not bad, I thought as I drifted off. I only gained 45 pounds in 19 years. That's only a little over 2 pounds a year. As that thought filtered through my mind, I sat bolt up right.
I ONLY GAINED A LITTLE OVER 2 POUNDS EACH YEAR!
I wasn't sure whether to cry or throw up. Two pounds. TWO POUNDS!
This morning I decided to crunch the numbers. I'm going to use simple math. Stick with me here. I know I'm over simplifying this. I understand these numbers are not technically right because I gained the weight in spurts. I also know a lot more goes into your metabolic rate and how you burn calories like your weight, fluctuating hormones, quality of calories consumed, age, and a million other things. Let's be honest, though, most of that stuff is way over my head and there's no way I could do the math for them. So, simple math it is.
45 lbs / 19 years = 2.37 lbs per year gained
1.71 lbs/week = average amount lost in the last nine weeks (This is including the week that my weight did not change at all.)
So, 2.37 lbs would be approximately a week and a half of the calorie restriction that I'm functioning quite well on now. If I had reduced my calories for a week and a half each year since high school, I wouldn't have gained 45 pounds.
Let's try looking at this a different way.
2.37 lbs = 8532 calories
8532 calories/365 days in a year = 23.3 calories/day
5 1/2 minutes of moderate calesthenics = 25 calories If I had done 5 1/2 minutes of squats, jacks, pushups, and mountain climbers every day, I would still be at high school weight.
What if I didn't want to diet or do extra exercise? Let's look at that.
I used to drink soda. Not lots of soda like some people. Some days I'd drink two or three, other days I wouldn't have any. I'm going to assume an average of 4 sodas a week. (I think this is probably fair. At some points in my life, I was drinking WAY more than this and other times it was less.)
4 sodas = 520 calories (I took the average of the calories of my two favorite sodas.)
(520/2) * 52 = 13520 calories If I would have traded every other soda for water, I'd have saved more than enough calories.
How about simply not over eating?
(I'm guessing with these numbers, but I wouldn't say they're out of line.) I have 4 major times that I know I way over eat every single year - Easter, Thanksgiving, and twice at Christmas (different sides of the family). Looking at my calorie logs, when I hit about 750ish calories I am very full but not necessarily uncomfortably so. Knowing how I've felt at these holiday meals in the past, I'm going to estimate I was consuming at least 1250 calories at each one.
500 * 4 = 2000 calories If I'd stopped at the very full state, I'd have saved 2000 calories.
I overloaded on candy and sweets too. I'll guess as to the number of calories. During Easter (1250), 4th of July (750), Halloween (1500), and Christmas (1500).
1250 + 750 + 1500 +1500 = 5000/2 = 2500 calories If I had simply eaten half the amount of sweets during those seasons, I've have saved 2500 calories. That's 4500 calories (over half the goal of 8532 calories) without depriving myself or really trying.
So, the lesson in all this is that I got to where I am by not paying attention. By not LIVING INTENTIONALLY. I would never have spent money as carelessly as I've spent my calories. When I get to my goal weight, I WILL continue to count my calories and I will eat and exercise with intention. The numbers don't lie. I won't have to work too hard to maintain once I'm where I want to be. I'll just have to pay attention.