Title: Cake
Author: Harper Kingsley
Genre: contemporary fiction
Character: Dahlia Quinzant
They say that the first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge it. Dahl wished her problem wasn’t that she was fat, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Problems were what they were.
After a day at work where she self-consciously felt as if everyone was looking at her–judging her–she came home to begin doing some online research. She wanted to know the best way that she could lose weight and not completely blow her monthly budget.
If she’d had the money she would have gotten a gym membership, maybe even a professional trainer to help her. As it was, she was losing weight on her own without even any meal replacement plans (she’d checked the prices. Way too expensive for her.)
There was so much information out there. It made her head want to spin. But she kept bullheadedly googling different things.
By the time she forced herself away from the computer and stumbled to bed, she had the beginnings of a plan.
From what she’d read, to lose weight she needed to figure out her basal metabolic rate, or BMR. It was basically the number of calories her body needed to function. Using that number, she needed to create a calorie deficit through diet and exercise to lose weight.
So if her BMR was 1642, as long as she ate less calories than that she would begin to lose weight. It wouldn’t be much, but it would be something.
Part of her wanted to immediately cut her calorie intake to 1000, but from everything she’d read that would be a big mistake. Below 1200 calories a day, the body went into starvation mode and tried to hold onto as much fat as possible just in case. Which would be good if she ever ended up like Christian Bale’s character in “Empire of the Sun,” but made starving herself to lose weight a dumb idea.
Every site recommended that she eat 1200 calories a day minimum. They also suggested that she consult a doctor before starting her weight loss plan, but she just snorted. Her job didn’t provide medical, and she’d missed the cut off for ObamaCare.
She’d lose the weight on her own, but she’d be smart about it. She would do the math, plan things through, and set reasonable, attainable goals for herself.
Dahl curled up on her bed and couldn’t help liking the warm glow of hope and determination building inside her. It had been a long time since she’d felt anything at all.
She promised not to fail herself.
/END
* * *
BMR calculator for women: 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x your age)
BMR calculator for men: 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x your age)
Multiply results by 1.2 if you’re sedentary; 1.375 if you’re lightly active; 1.55 if you’re moderately active: 1.725 if you’re very active; or 1.9 if you’re extremely active.
*
Example: woman, 165 pounds, 5 feet 4 inches, 22 years old, lightly active.
(Checking the Standard BMI (Body Mass Index) calculator, at 165 pounds, our 22 year old has a BMI of 28.3. Unless she is somewhat muscular, she would most likely be overweight.)
5 x 12 = 60 + 4 = 64 inches tall.
655 + (4.35 x 165 = 717.75) + (4.7 x 64 = 300.8) – (4.7 x 22 = 103.4) = 1570.15 x 1.375 = 2158.9562
So our fictional 22 year old woman could eat 2158 calories a day and stay 165 pounds. Or, if she cut 500 calories a day, she would lose 1 pound a week. (500 x 7 = 3500)
1 pound of fat = 3500 calories
