One Week

I didn't have an image for my blog post today and this one was floating around FB, so I decided to use it. I have no idea where it originated, so I can't give credit, but BLOODY HELL!! My friend and I decided we're going to try it. She wants to be the one on top and I am going for the spot on the bottom. Anyone want to volunteer to be the girl in the middle? OUCH.

Ok, where was I? Oh yes. We hadn't started yet. Sorry.

Yesterday marked one full week of CrossFit. Right now I'm only signed up to go 3x per week (yea, we've already discussed upgrading our membership to unlimited. What can I say? It's fun.) Yesterday also marked the day I planned to start weighing myself again. My workouts didn't stay exactly as planned during the last several weeks and I have to admit I cheated a bit. I weighed myself right before we started CrossFit because I wanted to know where I stood. It wasn't pretty.

I started CrossFit at 225(ish), I can't remember the exact number. After one week, I'm at 223.4. Not too shabby, eh? I will now resume my weekly weigh ins from this point forward (until the next wild hair up my you know what and I switch it up again!)

I've also started counting calories again. It's tough to get started, but once I reestablished the habit, it really is fairly simple. I use the Livestrong website & App. When I first started this blog, Livestrong gave me around 2000 calories (and I was consistently losing weight). I don't know what numbers I plugged in to get that amount, but when I came back and replugged in all of my numbers, it gave me around 1400 cals. I'm sorry, but that's simply not enough.

Amber, over at Go Kaleo, (how many times can I mention her on this blog? I know. But she really is that cool!) posted this calorie calculator on her Facebook page the other day and it's the most detailed, accurate one I've ever seen. Here's the thing: our bodies need fuel. Starving them doesn't work.

I entered in all of my data using the dials on the calculator. It gave me two numbers: the top number is what my body burns for basic metabolic function. This means that if I did nothing but lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. If I did nothing but exist, this is what my body burns. This is the number of calories my body needs to simply function. No one should ever, ever, ever eat below their top number. The bottom number is what my body burns once I add in my daily activities: how much I work out, the intensity of my workouts, how long I spend each day doing moderate chores, how long I spend standing (doing dishes, cooking, etc), even how long I spend sleeping (and the rest of the day, it is assumed, I am sitting. Existing.) So, to lose weight, I took the bottom number and subtracted about 500-1000 calories and that is where I am eating.

I figured out my CrossFit days and I figured out my non CrossFit days. Surprisingly they were all that different (my non XFit days are the days I spend cleaning house, doing bigger chores, etc....) so rather than get caught up in the minutiae of a few calories from day to day, I just averaged the two types of days and that's what I plugged into Livestrong.

I currently aim to eat about 2200 calories a day. On my off days, I don't usually make it. I went to bed last night with over 200 calories uneaten. I'm ok with that. I wasn't hungry.

So, this is where I am right now. I can already feel changes in my body. I can't wait until I can see them!