Thursday, February 26, 2009

Calories - Double Double etc.

Today's warm weather inspired me to restart regular running. Having recently recovered from a horrible cold and a brutal winter, I really wasn't being as physically active as in previous years.  The added responsibilitues at home and work doesn't help either, but I have to stop making excuses.  

I had written in a previous blog post that I was determined to drop 10lbs. That did happen but only because I got sick. It's not easy to loose 10lbs and keep it off, which brings me to the subject of this post- Calories. 

Being less active means that something has to give in order to maintain a healthy weight. It's pretty obvious that food is my main culprit. I eat out almost everyday.  But I never had I really taken an interest in counting calories until recently. Based on my age, weight and activity most calorie calculators says I need approximately 2400 calories to maintain my current weight. So theoretically if I consume less calories and increase my activity I should loose weight.

Each day I used to consume 2 large double-double coffees. According to the Tim Horton's nutritional calculator (http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/menu/nutrition-calculator.html) that works out to 230x2=460 calories in just coffee alone!!! I got smart about this a couple of month's ago and started getting 1 sugar and 2 cream 185x2=370.   If I go for mediums it works out to 115x2=230.   I've tried to convince my better half but all I get is a smug shrug of the shoulders. Muffins are BAD too, each blueberry muffin is 330 calories, delicious but pure evil. 

So what's the point? Only that, now that I'm 39 and not 29 I have to put in that extra effort to be kind to my body. Unfortunately I only have one body so I'd like to keep it for as long as I can. Looking forward to the days I go running with Aidan.





No comments: