To me, good health is more than just exercise and diet.

It’s really a point of view and a mental attitude you have about yourself.

-Albert Schweitzer

 

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This is the continuation of Season 2 Episode 3. We were discussing "How did I lose 40 pounds in 16 weeks?"

This is a great quote as we discuss the second part of our episode on How did I lose 40 pounds in 16 weeks? Good health is more than just diet and exercise. To really have good health we should also be mentally healthy. As Albert Schweitzer says, good health is a point of view. It's really dependent on the mental attitude you have about yourself. There are many physically healthy people that are mental negativity that keeps them from being in good health. The mind itself can take these mental thoughts and even with you in good physical health, make you sick. There are many people that have nothing physically wrong with them. However, their mental beliefs and attitudes about themselves prevent them from living a healthy life.

While you are striving for your #WorkOnWellness goal, keep you mental attitude sharp, and strong. Exercise that brain muscle with good, positive thoughts. Remember what I've said before. "Thoughts become things. Choose the good ones." That's one of my favorite thoughts from Tut.com.

 

How many calories do you burn per day?

I didn't exercise at all. I got up in the morning. I got dressed. I went to work. I sat in a desk, went to meetings and lead a pretty sedentary lifestyle. The most exercise I had during that time was walking from the rental car to the gate at the airport, carrying a 20 pound computer bag and rolling a carry on.

If I burned 2000 calories in a day, I was lucky.

I had a severe calorie overage.

How do I lose weight?

Losing weight is a simple equation. Eat Less + Exercise More = Weight Loss

It takes 3500 calories to burn ONE POUND OF FAT.

If I want to lose one pound, I have to burn 3500 more calories than I consume.

40 Pounds times 3500 calories is 140,000 Calories

If I want to lose 40 pounds in 16 weeks I have to burn 8750 Calories more than I eat in 16 weeks.

The recommended daily caloric intake for men my age was 1800 calories or 12,600 per week or a total of 201,600 in 16 weeks.

Do you see the recommended weekly amount? 12,600 calories in a week. I was eating close to that in a day.

To lose the weight I wanted to lose in the 16 weeks, I would have to burn 210,350 calories or 13, 147 calories per week. That is 1878 calories PER DAY.

Depending on your daily activity, you can naturally burn some calories. If your extent of movement in a given day is limited, You will HAVE TO CHANGE IT.

Just to give you an idea; an hour on the elliptical at level 1 will burn close to 900 calories according to My Fitness Pal. According to the LifeFitness Elliptical machine, it's much less, from my experience.  I would estimate 600 calories per hour.  If you use that number, you would need to spend just over 3 hours on the elliptical, 7 days per week.

Do you have 3 hours per day to spend on the elliptical every day?

I didn't.

I spoke to my doctor and I insist you do so with yours before you start a #WorkOnWellness program. I had to modify my caloric requirements to be able to accomplish my goal.

My doctor put me on a 1200 Calorie per day eating plan. The 1200 calories per day was broken into this:

300 Calories for Breakfast

400 Calories for Lunch

300 Calories for Dinner

200 Calories for Snacks