Fun with math- surprising results

"WT Brooks" wrote in message
. ..
I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do
some
basic calculations about my dieting history. At age 18, I was finished
growing and pretty much had my adult body in place. I weighed 160 lbs.
then. This past year, 16 years later, I was up to 220 lbs. My weight
gain
was pretty steady and even the whole way, and an extra 60 lbs. over 16
years
amounts to a gain of 3.75 lbs./year. Not much, huh? I went further,
using
the standard figure that gaining or losing 1 lb. amounts to 3500 total
calories in either direction. Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I
overate
by 13,125 calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25
(accounting for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories.
I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of
a
plain rice cake every day. I know this is all oversimplifying to some
extent, and there are different things to take into account involving how
many daily calories you need based on your current weight, but it has to
make you think. What if I could do it all over and just eat a little less
every day? Just skip that extra helping of mashed potatoes, have a few
less
Doritos, get the burger without cheese. Just one thing like that every
day
could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

William
210/205/160


Nice post, and good job with the numbers (despite what the quibblers say)!

FWIW, I've seen a similar calculation on various weight-related web sites,
and yours agrees with it.

Apparently, the average American woman gains about 1 lb per year during the
20 years following high school. Running the numbers like you did, this
works out to a surplus of a mere 10 calories per day (equal to 2/3rds of a
teaspoon of sugar)!

The good news is that even small calorie deficits, if maintained over time,
can result in substantial weight loss. Unfortunately, too many people think
they can go on some "secret diet", or pop some "revolutionary all-natural
fat-burning pill", and lose 20 lbs in 30 days.

--
GG
http://www.WeightWare.com
Your Weight and Health Diary

"WT Brooks" wrote in message
. ..
I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do
some
basic calculations about my dieting history. At age 18, I was finished
growing and pretty much had my adult body in place. I weighed 160 lbs.
then. This past year, 16 years later, I was up to 220 lbs. My weight
gain
was pretty steady and even the whole way, and an extra 60 lbs. over 16
years
amounts to a gain of 3.75 lbs./year. Not much, huh? I went further,
using
the standard figure that gaining or losing 1 lb. amounts to 3500 total
calories in either direction. Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I
overate
by 13,125 calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25
(accounting for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories.
I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of
a
plain rice cake every day. I know this is all oversimplifying to some
extent, and there are different things to take into account involving how
many daily calories you need based on your current weight, but it has to
make you think. What if I could do it all over and just eat a little less
every day? Just skip that extra helping of mashed potatoes, have a few
less
Doritos, get the burger without cheese. Just one thing like that every
day
could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

William
210/205/160


Nice post, and good job with the numbers (despite what the quibblers say)!

FWIW, I've seen a similar calculation on various weight-related web sites,
and yours agrees with it.

Apparently, the average American woman gains about 1 lb per year during the
20 years following high school. Running the numbers like you did, this
works out to a surplus of a mere 10 calories per day (equal to 2/3rds of a
teaspoon of sugar)!

The good news is that even small calorie deficits, if maintained over time,
can result in substantial weight loss. Unfortunately, too many people think
they can go on some "secret diet", or pop some "revolutionary all-natural
fat-burning pill", and lose 20 lbs in 30 days.

--
GG
http://www.WeightWare.com
Your Weight and Health Diary

"WT Brooks" wrote in message
. ..
I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do
some
basic calculations about my dieting history. At age 18, I was finished
growing and pretty much had my adult body in place. I weighed 160 lbs.
then. This past year, 16 years later, I was up to 220 lbs. My weight
gain
was pretty steady and even the whole way, and an extra 60 lbs. over 16
years
amounts to a gain of 3.75 lbs./year. Not much, huh? I went further,
using
the standard figure that gaining or losing 1 lb. amounts to 3500 total
calories in either direction. Multiplying 3.75 by 3500 shows that I
overate
by 13,125 calories per year on average. 13,125 divided by 365.25
(accounting for leap year) gives me a daily overage of about 36 calories.
I
had to redo it 3 times to convince myself that was right. What I thought
was 16 years of pigging out really amounts to overeating by the amount of
a
plain rice cake every day. I know this is all oversimplifying to some
extent, and there are different things to take into account involving how
many daily calories you need based on your current weight, but it has to
make you think. What if I could do it all over and just eat a little less
every day? Just skip that extra helping of mashed potatoes, have a few
less
Doritos, get the burger without cheese. Just one thing like that every
day
could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

William
210/205/160


Nice post, and good job with the numbers (despite what the quibblers say)!

FWIW, I've seen a similar calculation on various weight-related web sites,
and yours agrees with it.

Apparently, the average American woman gains about 1 lb per year during the
20 years following high school. Running the numbers like you did, this
works out to a surplus of a mere 10 calories per day (equal to 2/3rds of a
teaspoon of sugar)!

The good news is that even small calorie deficits, if maintained over time,
can result in substantial weight loss. Unfortunately, too many people think
they can go on some "secret diet", or pop some "revolutionary all-natural
fat-burning pill", and lose 20 lbs in 30 days.

--
GG
http://www.WeightWare.com
Your Weight and Health Diary

"WT Brooks" wrote in message ...
I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do some
basic calculations about my dieting history.

I've done the same calculations (excel is my sandbox), and
calculated my gain from 200 - 236.5 from 2000 to 2002 was an average
of 146kcal/day, ie if I had just substituted water instead of Mt Dew
when eating out I wouldn't have gained at all. d'oh!

could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

Basically calories are stored if they're not used, so gorging late at
night may result in more fat gains than eating more regularly
throughout the day.

Plus there's some theory that the fructose in high-fructose corn syrup
gets changed into fats by the liver differently, and thus becomes
belly / organ fat more easily, than other calories. I've read that the
first 50g/day of fructose can be metabolized into glucose, but after
that the fructose becomes triglycerides (fat).

"WT Brooks" wrote in message ...
I've always been kind of a math nut, and I was just sitting down to do some
basic calculations about my dieting history.

I've done the same calculations (excel is my sandbox), and
calculated my gain from 200 - 236.5 from 2000 to 2002 was an average
of 146kcal/day, ie if I had just substituted water instead of Mt Dew
when eating out I wouldn't have gained at all. d'oh!

could have kept me at a normal weight, possibly. Is it all really this
simple, or does anyone see any big holes in this theory?

Basically calories are stored if they're not used, so gorging late at
night may result in more fat gains than eating more regularly
throughout the day.

Plus there's some theory that the fructose in high-fructose corn syrup
gets changed into fats by the liver differently, and thus becomes
belly / organ fat more easily, than other calories. I've read that the
first 50g/day of fructose can be metabolized into glucose, but after
that the fructose becomes triglycerides (fat).