Engineering and Weight Loss

Not a bad week, food was good weight was down, mental outlook not so bad.  On my thought for today page the quote was:

Education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness.   — Leo Buscaglia

Interesting thought.  You know all the diets that I read on the web pages I gather knowledge to put to use.  Both of my parents were educators and they stress learning and that what I have been doing.  I could follow that fad diet or that nutritionist latest learning but it all about my body and that is what I need to remember.  Yes the I need to follow the basic rules get three well balanced meals with portion control, but count carbs, denying myself things will bound to fail.

This is where the engineer in me kicks in to maintain my weight I need x amount of calories simple biology and thermodynamics.  A machine need energy to run  any more than that is wasted or in my account stored.  That what is stored is fat to be burned off at a later date.  If I take in less than what the body (engine) needs it will pull on that stored energy or the fat.  Apparently from all of the reading I have done a pound of fat is 3,500 calories.

Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you'd lose about 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories).

Therefore I need to have 7,000 less calories per week to lose 2 pounds per week which is what all the current think says is safe.  This I prove true when I lost 125 pounds about 5 years ago.
Ok back to the internet I found the following calculator:

Weight loss Calculator

I figured I would use the one from the American Cancer Society because they have are more interested in you having a healthy life that sell a diet.

        Current weight 387.2 lbs
Current age 57
       Height    6'2"

So according to their calculator I need approximately 3767 calories per day to maintain my weight so losing 2 pounds per week will mean I currently need to have 2700 calories per day.  Of course that changes as I get older and way lees but for now that is my goal.  Any exercise will be a bonus.

According to WebMD;

Severely slashing calories may lead to weight loss, but the lost weight includes precious muscle  and lowers metabolism. Drastic calorie restriction also causes a shift toward a higher percentage of body fat, which increases the risk for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
Unless medically supervised, don’t cut calories below 1,200 per day. Otherwise, you will struggle to get enough nutrients to fuel your activities and satisfy your hunger. Keep in mind that when you lose weight quickly, you may be at risk to pack it back on -- with more fat and less muscle -- especially if you're over 50.

I am over 50, don't want to risk metabolic syndrome (whatever that is) and currently are not diabet I think I will follow that advise.

So that's the plan.

I also checked my BMI and I am under 50!

That all for now

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