Exercise - Day 21

I was out of office for most of yesterday afternoon running errands here, there and everywhere so hitting my 10k step count for the day was easy and passed with no real effort.

So after work last night there was no real need for me to go out for a walk, or was there?

Sat on the bed reading my fitness app stats for the day i could see i had indeed hit 10,000 steps but my activity minutes were very low for the day, below the 30 minutes of light to moderate activity per day recommended by The American Heart Institution.

How does my app know that i have not completed enough activity minutes for the day? By measuring Metabolic Equivalents (METs)...

What are METs?

A MET is a unit representing the amount of oxygen used by the body during any physical activity, 1 MET is equal to the amount of oxygen used by the body whilst in a sedentary state of lying in bed and surviving for 1 hour, to calculate how many calories burned by 1 MET we have to go back to my blog Meals - Day 9 and calculate our Basel Metabolic Rate (BMR).

My BMR as i am right now is 2991.51 per day and to find my BMR per hour i divide that figure by 24 hours

2991.51/24 = BMR 124.65p/h

So with a sedentary MET of 1 the amount of calories i burn per hour being alive and doing not much else are 124.65 calories.

For me to work out my BMR per minute i divide BMR p/h by 60 minutes:

124.64/60 = BMR 2.08p/min

I now know i burn 2.08 calories per minute in a sedentary state.

So now i go about my daily business of getting dressed, brushing my teeth, commuting, working, walking etc i move out of sedentary and into categories such as:

Light intensity activities.
Moderate intensity activities.
Vigorous intensity activities.

Luckily for us Dr Bill Haskell from Stanford University in the USA devised a basic chart which shows the various METs and to which activity they are associated with:

Light intensity activities such as;
Sleeping: 0.9
Watching television: 1.0
Writing, desk work, typing: 1.8
Walking, 2.7km/h on level ground, strolling, very slow: 2.3
Walking, 4km/h: 2.9

Moderate intensity activities;
Bicycling, stationary, 50 watts, very light effort: 3.0
Walking, 4.8km/h: 3.0
Calisthenics, home exercise, light or moderate effort: 3.5
Walking, 5.5km/h: 3.6
Bicycling, 16km/h, leisure, to work as pleasure: 4.0
Bicycling, stationary, 100 watts, light effort: 5.5

Vigorous intensity activities;
Jogging, general: 7.0
Calisthenics (e.g. push ups, sit ups, pull ups, jumping jacks), heavy, vigorous effort: 8.0
Running jogging, in place: 8.0
Rope jumping: 10.0

There are many other categories from ironing clothes to mountaineering, gardening to deep sea diving, use a search engine and search for "The Compendium of Physical Activities Guide" for an extensive .pdf file available for download.

So how many calories am i burning when completing tasks or exercises on the activities guide? I multiply my BMR/min by the minutes i spend in the activity zones for example if i was to walk for 30 minutes at a consistent speed of 4.8km/h i would calculate my calorie burn as follows:

(2.08 BMR/min x 3.0 MET) x 30min = 187 calories burned per 30 minutes of walking.

Back to the matter in hand, my activity minutes, i could see i was 17 minutes short at 1800 hours last night, so i went out took a good 30 minute walk with Ryan, i even did a bit of running!!! (a very small bit mind!), i'll save that story for another day.

Exercise - Day 17

What is BMI?

It was pointed out to me yesterday that i am mis-representing BMI as a % when in fact it is a number, so never one to take an individuals word for it i did a bit of research and i think i have got to the bottom of it now.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) and its equation was the brainchild of a Belgian social physicist Adolphe Quetelet who in 1835 published a book titled in English as 'Treatise on Man' which explained his take on a type of social physics regarding what he thought to be the average man, by using various statistical data and equations Adolphe was able to explain that variables linked to social factors contributed to crime, marriage and suicide rates, his research led him to the conclusion that a population produces enough variables for both artificial selection (selective breeding) and natural selection to occur side by side.

BMI a simple means of classifying a persons weight relative to an ideal weight for their height was originally intended to be used as a measure of a populations overall risk of health problems due to weight gain or loss.  Now used in individual cases BMI gives us a fair indication of the thickness or thinness of a person compared to the national average of sedentary persons who are considered to have an average body composition.  Once calculated BMI can be compared to a sliding scale of ratios which can give a person a rough idea of which health issues they may experience based on historical statistical data collected from others of similar height and weight.

The equation for calculating BMI is as follows:

Metric
(Weight kg/height m) / height m = BMI
Imperial
(Weight lb/height inches) / height inches x 703 = BMI

My metric equation looks like this:
(161.1/1.80) = 89.5
89.5/1.80 = a BMI of 49.72

My imperial equation looks like this:
(355.17/70.87) = 5.0116
5.0116/70.87 = 0.0707
0.0707x703 = a BMI of 49.70

Now as a western male i can compare my result to the data held by my local health authority of choice which in my case is the UK National Health Service (NHS), their ratios are as follows:

BMI score below 18.5 = underweight
BMI score between 18.5-24.9 = healthy weight
BMI score between 25-29.9 = overweight
BMI score between 30 and above = Obese

With a BMI of 49.7 i am classified as obese compared to normal height to weight ratio of what is considered the norm for people of a healthy weight.  Due to my classification falling above 25 i am statistically more at risk from developing heart related diseases, type II diabetes or experiencing a stroke.  A BMI below 18.5 could show signs of eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia.  In all ranges it is advised people eat a well balanced diet and partake in some form of exercise to maintain a healthy BMI between 18.5 and 24.9.

The one problem with BMI is the fact that the number does not take into account the physical composition of fat v muscle nor does it give us a clear indication of the norms within a certain age range or bone density therefore the results can be misleading in children, the elderly or athletes, to combat this there are many ways to calculate body fat some more accurate than others, from underwater weighing to the more modern techniques such as duel energy X-ray absorptiometry but not everyone has access to a science lab or can afford such procedures to be carried out, the US Navy has a system using logarithms which can determine a persons overall fat content determining the criteria for entry into the armed forces which uses measurements such as neck, waist, hip size but again to manually use the equation can be a bit taxing for us mere mortals, so for us we can stick to the following equation formulated by nutritionist Paul Deurenberg for calculating an estimated Body Fat Percentage (BF%):

Adult BF% = (1.2 x BMI) + (0.23 x Age) - (10.8 x sex) - 5.4
sex = 1 for males and 0 for females.

My equation looks like this:

(1.2 x 49.7) + (0.23 x 39) - (10.8 x 1) - 5.4

So my BF% is calculated as follows:

59.64 + 8.97 - 10.8 - 5.4 = 52.41

My calculated BF% is 52.41, now lets compare with data again collected from the my local health authority of choice the NHS:

Essential fat

• Women 10-13%
• Men 2-5%

Athletes

• Women 14-20%
• Men 6-13%

Fitness

• Women 21-24%
• Men 14-17%

Average 

• Women 25-31%
• Men 18-24%

Obese

• Women 32%+
• Men 25%+

Essential fat levels are the bare minimum we need to be at to not negativly impact our health but it is important to mention that athletes such as bodybuilders may compete at even lower ranges as recommended to them by certified personal trainers.  Female ranges are higher due to the effects of childbearing and other hormonal functions. 

Now i know where i need to be with my BMI and BF% and the person who corrected me yesterday on my reporting of BMI was indeed correct BMI is a number and BF is a percentage. 

So on that note exercise yesterday consisted of 14,778 steps from my daily routine, a lunch time walk and after work stroll with Ryan on his green machine (bicycle)

Once month one has been completed i am contemplating adding to my walks with some beginners aerobics combined with light weights, stay tuned...

In the beginning there was a chubber.

I weigh 167kg, disgraceful i know,

It has taken some real dedication to eating to get this big, a lot of sitting down and plenty of late night snacking, I've eaten until full, bursting even and ate more on top of that.

I am the ripe old pre-nervous breakdown midlife crisis age of 39 now, 2 boys Ryan 4 and Ethan 6 months, married to Shannon and full of excuses.

No more eating junk

No more 2 sausage roll breakfasts washed down with a half litre coke.

No more fad Hollywood diets.

I am doing what we are already biologically programmed to do and that is basically not be greedy, apparently to maintain my weight right now i should consume over 3600 calories per day, wow that is hectic, the recommended amount for a normal mildly active male is 2200, i popped my stats into an online diet generator and apparently because i do zilch exercise, have a BMI of 50% (Ronaldo's is 10) and should weigh in around 85kg (what?) i need to consume no more than 1700 calories a day, so that's what i am going to do.

No more daft lo carb, high fat, lose a load of weight only to stop the eating plan and put it all back on again plus 10%.

No more boring boring egg breakfasts, mayo salads for lunch and a rack of lamb chops for dinner (fine though hey).

Nope i am going to follow the age old advice of, lo calorie coupled with portion control, plenty of water, five meals a day, proper breakfast and for now a wee bit of exercise, i am going to blog about how i get on, upload pics, at times talk rubbish, i will try to update as much as i can, any encouragement, support or even abuse will be much appreciated, we'll see how the blog develops, 12 months initially i will follow the eating/exercise plan, goals will be set, achieved and reset.... Here we go, fasten your seatbelts (tune) i'm on the blast pad, strapped in ready to tackle this mother head on, join me if you like....

Andrew