First, you need to know what BMR stands for!  BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate.  This is the amount of energy (calories) that your body needs to function on a daily basis.  In other words, this is the number of calories you can consume and maintain your current weight.  

It might seem obvious why this is important since it gives you the number of calories you can consume and not gain weight.  While it may seem logical to just consume fewer calories in order to lose weight, the important part is to know by HOW many calories you should reduce your daily intake.

Enter in the Harris-Benedict Principle.  This formula is a fairly simple calculation that helps you determine your ‘maintenance calories’.

They say you never forget your first love.  Mine became a lifelong mistress.  At the height of our love affair, she greeted me every morning…my Silver Tin-Foiled Beauty.  It was a match made in Heaven.  It was also a homemade biscuit at the convenience store on my way to work everyday.   It had freshly cooked real bacon, a heaping helping of scrambled egg, melted cheese all on a grandma-baked buttermilk biscuit and wrapped in a beautiful, flavor-saving tin foil wrap.  On those special mornings, it would be complemented with a deep-fried hash brown packed in a grease-soaked pouch.  I had those “special mornings” at least three times a week…and sometimes on weekends as well.

By now you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about.  What I’m talking about is my days  pre-FFB (before I became a Former Fat Boy…a.k.a. when I was just a Fat Boy) and the indescribable urge to placate my cravings on almost a daily basis without any regard for what I was doing to my body.  Looking back now, I can only guess how many calories one of those bad boys had.  Combined with the hash browns, my estimate would be around 1000  calories.  That was just on my way to work!

I’m sitting here watching TV today and I see a commercial for some kind of ab roller.   They had some GREAT before and after pictures that I can guarantee were NOT the result of using this product.   You want  a six pack?  Situps and crunches aren’t going to get you there by themselves no matter how many you do.

Here is the sobering reality.  In order to get those abs to ‘pop’, you have to burn off the fat that is covering them.  Is your body fat over 12%?  You probably aren’t going to see them.  To get them as defined as those you see in magazines, you’re really looking at around 7-10% body fat.  Before worrying about if you’re doing enough hanging leg raises or crunches, make sure your diet is in order and that you’re burning the fat you need to burn to get your body fat down.  Don’t get me wrong, working your abs is important but it shouldn’t be the first thing you do to lose that spare tire.

Let’s face it.  There’s a reason most gyms use contracts (usually a year or two) instead of month-to-month memberships.  They know that most people cannot maintain the motivation needed to make fitness a way of life so having a month-to-month, or pay as you go, membership option is much less profitable!  So, how do you take advantage of that membership you just paid to use their facilities for the next year or two?  How do you get and stay motivated? 

Let’s face it.  What motivates one person may not motivate another.  I have even heard the claim that people who are able to sustain their motivation do so because of a significant event in their life that motivated them to get started.  I would like to share a few things that keep me going back, day after day, to my gym and constantly counting calories.  Hopefully you will find some of these suggestions helpful.

When I first started working out a few years back, I was told, “You gotta eat egg whites!” I would even see guys at the gym bring liquid egg whites in the carton and storing them in the gym fridge to cook later. I ate them, but I never REALLY new why I should.

Do you know?

As it turns out, egg whites have no cholesterol, no fats, no transfats, and no carbs…only protein! This makes them VERY low in calories as well. Protein, as you know, is the key building block in building muscle. Not only does the egg white have protein, but it has THE ONLY protein (albumen) that is absorbed into your system immediately with a 100% absorption rate. No other food has this protein! In fact, experts have been trying to recreate this protein in protein bars and protein drinks but have not even come close to accomplishing their goal.

So there you have it!  The next time you make an omlette, seperate out the yolks and make it healthier!