Day 1 on New Rules of Lifting for Women is actually the day before I start lifting. Today I finally used the equations in the book to calculate my BMR and my daily calorie needs.

I was feeling discouraged before I started today because I weighed myself this morning and, according to the Scale That Measures All, I’ve gained 2 lbs of fat. What??! That’s not supposed to happen. The actual total number on the scale doesn’t really interest me; only that body fat percentage. And it went up. My lean muscle mass measurement stayed the same. Ugh.

Anyway, using the Owen equation: 795 + (7.18 * body weight in kg) = 795 + (7.18 * 60 kg) = 1225 calories, BMR.

If I did nothing all day (not even eat!), I’m supposed to need that many calories. The next step is to calculate my BMI (24) and then use the chart to find my multiplier for workout and non-workout days. (The book readily admits that BMI is not a good indication of much of anything except Average People, but it works for making you pick a number from the chart.)

So my non-workout days, 1962 calories, and workout days, 2207 calories.

Over on SparkPeople, I’m already an oddity among many of the people because I already aim to keep my calories higher (1400-1800). Many of them stay at 1200-1400 calories per day from food and then add on exercise to burn extra calories. So their bodies are probably left with too few calories each day for the heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, and liver to operate at full throttle. (P.S. That is bad.) Calories aren’t evil; your body needs them in order to keep you alive.

And yet, they’re losing weight. I’m not.

Then I look over Lucho’s nutrition info, and he has this:

• Gain/maintain in muscle, Loss in fat = perfectly designed meal plan
• Gain in muscle, Gain in fat = too many calories
• Loss in muscle, Gain in fat = not enough calories
• Loss in muscle, Loss in fat = not enough protein

No “Maintain in muscle, Gain in fat.” Gah. The two “Gain in fat” bullets tell me it’s either too many or not enough calories. Wonderful… Well, since NROLFW says I’m not eating enough, and Lucho can have me going up or down, I’ll go with up. And we’ll see how it goes…

More food? How in the world am I going to eat more food? I already feel as if I’m constantly eating…