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!

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!

I am an admitted recovering Diet Coke-aholic.  I am ashamed to admit it but I was drinking a minimum of 6 Diet Cokes a day.  If I had to take a guess, I would say a normal intake for me was 9-10 per day.  I had convinced myself that Diet Cokes were a “freebie”.  I mean, they have no calories and they are very low in sodium.  What’s bad about that, right?

The truth is that nobody really knows.  However, there are a number of studies that have shown a correlation between drinking diet sodas and weight gain.  Want to hear something that’s going to sound completely counterintuitive?  In these studies, those that drank the diet sodas were proven to be at more of a risk for “Metabolic Syndrome” than those that drink regular sodas.  The theory is that the sweetness of the diet sodas desensitizes your tastes and makes it difficult for you to guage your caloric intake. 

I’m sure you may be asking, “What is Metabolic Syndrome?”  Well, I’m going to try to answer that.  Metabolic Syndrome isn’t a disease or sickness but rather a group of symptoms which includes insulin resistance (precursor for Diabetes), high blood pressure (hypertension), and Cholesterol abnormalities.  There isn’t a consensus on diagnosis for Metabolic Syndrome but there are two generally accepted guidelines: one from the WHO (World Health Organization) and one from the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel (now THAT is a mouthful).  In a nutshell, you are at risk if you:

–  Have a large waistline (over 40 inches for a males, 35 for females)
– High Triglycerides
– Eleveated fasting blood glucose level
– Blood pressure of 140/90 or above

So, there you have it.  As I said, nobody really knows why drinking diet sodas places you at a higher risk…only that studies have shown this to be true.  I finally came to this realization about a month ago.  I’ve had people telling me for years that diet sodas are bad but they couldn’t point to anything concrete and say, “Here’s why!”  Now they can and I’m convinced.  I dropped the diet soda and started drinking water and sparkling water flavored with fresh lime. 

Last night I had a diet soda for the first time in 4 weeks and I couldn’t believe how sweet it tasted…horrible!  In my opinion, once you kick the habit, you’ll probably never go back!

There is so much contradicting information out there on this topic that it is no surprise why this is a question where answers are plentiful but consensus is lacking.  The government took a stab with its practically useless BMI calculation (Body Mass Index) in which almost all bodybuilders are considered obese.  If you do a google search for “ideal weight” you will get a plethora of results that will leave you even more confused than when you first started.  Many just ask for your sex and height.  Others add an extra dimension such as “frame type”.  The general rule of thumb is the more information you can enter, the more accurate the result.

So, being the guinea pig that I am, I tested out at least 10 different ideal weight calculators and found out that my ideal weight (male, large frame, six feet) is anywhere between 164 and 206 pounds!  Shewww!!  That’s a relief!  I am so glad I found this information!  (I hope you can read the sarcasm).

Ok, so now that we have established that the internet can’t really answer this question for us, that leaves us with two options:  choose the best calculator to get an approximation or rely on the mirror.   Really, the best solution is a combination of the two.  I have looked at numerous ideal weight calculators and the best one I’ve found is HERE.   Don’t let the really bad web page design throw you.  This page gives you a number of different calculations and brings a number of calculators into one place to compare them.