30-Day Shred – Day 18

I got up this morning and did 45 minutes on the treadmill, then Level 2 with Jillian.  It felt pretty good.  I think it actually helped me to have a day off yesterday.  My muscles weren’t as sore and I felt stronger. 

I also found a new way to keep my food journal and track my exercise.  Calorie Count is a free website that helps you set goals for weight loss.  You input specifics about your body type and activity level, then it figures out how many calories you need to lose, maintain, or gain weight.  At the end of every day, I quickly input my food and exercise and it tells me my calorie deficit for the day.

For example, if you need 2800 calories per day to maintain your weight, the idea is to burn more calories than you consumed by the end of the day.  It automatically figures all this for you.  Scientifically, I should be losing one pound for every 3500 calorie deficit.  Today I had a 2000 calorie deficit.  In order to lose two pounds this week, I would need a total calorie deficit of 7000.  I’m really curious to see if my weekly calorie deficit matches up with my pounds lost when I weigh in on Monday. 

The program also analyzes your diet and gives you a “grade” at the end of each day for how you ate…which suits my Type A personality to a tee.  (So far my average is “A”!)