It's been fourteen days, and I'm proud to announce that I've lost...a pound.

*sigh*

The epic weight losses of the middle of this past week evaporated into a steaming pile of fail. I finished out the week without making it back to the gym. I didn't eat particularly well. So I guess the fact there is any loss at all from last week to this week is a good thing.

In looking at information about weight loss, the basic premise is simple. One pound of weight is worth 3,500 calories. When you burn 3,500, you will lose one pound. But here's where it becomes more challenging. That 3,500 calories is BEYOND what your body needs to sustain its own weight. For example, the average person, according to the studies, needs approximately 2,000 calories daily to maintain whatever weight he or she is currently at, and that's for someone who has an average activity level (so not a hardcore gym rat and not a couch potato). In order for that average person to lose a pound of weight, he or she must either reduce the number of calories taken in each day, or increase the amount of calories burned through exercise each day. That means, if I eat about 2,000 calories per day, I need to burn, say, 500 calories a day at the gym. After five days of that, theoretically I should have a weight loss of one pound. I could also keep my activity level the same, but decrease the amount of food I eat so that I eventually earn my one pound loss.

Now, of course, there are all kinds of variables involved in this. It's hard to guarantee that you've consumed EXACTLY a certain number of calories, or that you really burned the number of calories that the treadmill claims you did. That's why the best form of weight loss is to combine a reasonable, low-calorie diet with as much exercise as possible, every day.

Which is why all I've lost, in two whole weeks, is one pound. All it takes is a bit of backsliding, either eating or not working out, to undo all the hard work of previous days.

I've gotta do better than this...