Man Woman Big Small - Originally posted 9.21.2007

One of the things that got me focused on writing a little bit here about the arithmetic of weight loss was an email I got this week.

“I’m a 50-something woman and I’ve been in pretty good shape most of my life, sometimes real good. But the scale has been creeping upward and I don’t like that one bit,” wrote Diane.

“I’m 5’8” and I would like to be back at 125 where I belong. This 142 business must be a typo on the scale! I walk for 30 or 40 minutes most days, and try to eat right, but it seems to be two steps forward and one step back.

“Any suggestions, Big Man?”

Well, Diane, I do like to be called Big Man, or even Big Mon, so let’s see if I can help you apply the arithmetic of weight loss to your situation.

I recommend using the website I use called My-Calorie-Counter.com for 2 main things. I'll focus on one of them today and the other one tomorrow.

They have a nice tool for calculating the daily calories count that would maintain your present weight.

I entered your information using this tool: 5-foot-8, woman, 142 pounds, and since you didn’t disclose your exact age I banged in 55. The magic number for maintaining your present weight, also known as your Basal Metabolic Rate, is 2067 calories per day. At 125 pounds, your magic number would be 1953 calories per day.

Since we know that 3,500 calories equals one pound of weight for us humans, we also know that anyone can lose 1 pound a week by consuming 500 calories less than their Basal Metabolic Rate each day. (500 x 7 = 3500)

So let’s take the average between 2067 and 1953 and round it off to 2000 calories a day. Subtract 500 from that and you get 1500 calories a day.

It’s September 21. If you consume 1500 calories a day, maintain your current walking regimen even when it gets cold outside, and stick to that consistently between now and the end of January, the scale will read 125. If you ratchet up the exercise a little you might even get there a week of two earlier.

Then you can swing back up to 1900 calories a day and maintain that weight forever! (Actually, you’ll have to cut the daily allotment by a few calories each year as you get older).

I understand if you say “easier said than done” here. And certainly we are quickly moving beyond my expertise, which for these purposes is pretty much limited to my considerable skill at arithmetic.

How you do it is your business. But tomorrow I will make a few suggestions based on the experience that has worked for me during my long 3-week history here at Big Man Getting Smaller.

So, I’ll see you then, Diane?