Decision time and my first “green” smoothie

I have made a decision.

For now, I am staying with the shakes but I will slowly exchange one of my daily shakes with a smoothie.

There will not be any soy milk for me. Occasionally perhaps but I am not going to change from milk to soy milk entirely.

I am feeling good with the HL shakes and my body gets everything it needs. I have a doctor who is following my progress HL is not really difficult for me. Being at a balance with me weight loss method keeps me focused and centered.

Since I still have some two years to go, the change from HL to ‘normal’ food will eventually happen but slowly. I am actually quite happy with my decision.

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By the way, I tried my first green smoothie today…well, it turned out rather brown I guess, but what to expect when mixing green and red?

1 cup of strawberries

2 bananas

1 hand full of spinach

2 cups of water

Also you will need a real good blender… well, either mine is no good or tiny pieces of spinach are supposed to be visible. Or I just didn’t blend long enough.

Green-ish smoothie

The fact that this smoothie is water-based is clear upon tasting. Since I added no sugar or honey, the only sweetness comes from the bananas and the strawberries. This is most certainly a healthy smoothie, compared to the ones I prepared before. It tastes like strawberries and banana. 😉

When drinking this one, have enough calories left for banana and strawberry and you may also feel free of sin. At least I did.

All is well…

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Soymilk?? Basal metabolic rate?? All the math!

When I got up this morning there were two fundamental questions bungy jumping in my brain.

Do I really want to start using soy milk instead of normal milk?

and the other

WTH is my basal metabolic rate?

The first questions might have been answered all by itself. I had one shake this morning, using soymilk. I hardly drank half of it due to the huge lumps of clustered powder.

…and I mean huge!!!

I guess I could live with that by using a blender instead of a shaker, but I am most certainly not as forgiving when it comes to acid reflux. About one hour after I had my shake, I realized that I had acid reflux.

Made the decision quite easy. No more soymilk for me!! I never got acid reflux from milk, actually drinking milk is what helps me when I am having acid reflux.

You might think, well Janet, don’t you want to try it one more time? Maybe the soymilk wasn’t responsible. … … … NO, I won’t try it again, at least not now. I have a cold induced asthma, which FORCED me to stop smoking 5 days ago and I am feeling quite unbalanced at the moment.

Imagine, you are at your dining table and you just had two bites of your favorite dish when the door bell rings. You get up and answer the door. When you return your plate is gone and you know that you will never ever again be allowed to eat that favorite food. And you haven’t even eaten your fill.

I know the comparison is a little bit tacky, but that how I feel. I wasn’t prepared, when I suddenly had to stop smoking. After all it’s an addiction. 😦

As for the second question, I looked near and far, up and down. Seriously I thought I was going bananas!! 

 

All these equations almost killed me. The internet, pure joy… 😉 Open one door and there is another one right behind it…

Anyhoo, I searched everywhere in order to find the answer without the help of a dietician. So I calculated my BMI, this way…

then my normal weight and ideal weight. Then I read that the basal metabolic rate decreases depending on the weight. Meaning; the higher the weight, (BMI >30) the less calorie intake one will be allowed…  

Also the calculation changes. The moment your BMI is higher than 30, the calorie consumption or basal metabolic rate has to be calculated with an adjusted weight. Whatever does that means, you think?? So did I!!

The adjusted weight, is necessary, since all those formulas become inaccurate the higher or lower a weight. Using the adjusted weight basically straightens out those problems. Here comes the Harris-Benedict equation. This is the formula. It basically considers the necessary variations of a BMI>30.

Adjusted weight [kg] = Ideal weight [kg] + ((Real weight [kg] – Ideal weight [kg]) × 0,25)

Okay, let’s go slow. You need your real weight, ideal weight, normal weight and your adjusted weight. I use kilograms here, divide the lbs by 2.2 and you have the kgs.

In order to calculate your normal and ideal weight you use the Broca formula  like this

Normal weight = (Height – 100 cm)

For the ideal weight you have to add a little extra… 😉

Ideal weight (Men) in kg = (Height in cm – 100) * 0,9

Ideal weight (women) in kg = (Height in cm – 100) * 0,85

Let’s return to what we came for, calculating the basal metabolic rate. Meaning, I need to calculate the adjusted weight. I use my data, just as an example.

• Normal weight= 68
• Ideal weight = 57.8
• Real weight=132

Adjusted weight [kg] = 57.8 [kg] + ((132 [kg] – 57.8 [kg]) × 0,25)

 -> Adjusted weight = 57.8 + (74,2 x 0,25)

 -> Adjusted weight = 57.8 + 18.55

 -> Adjusted weight = 76,35

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Now search for a basal metabolic rate calculator or use this German one here, and enter your adjusted weight, in my case it is 76.35 where you are supposed to enter your real weight.

OR –

Calculate it with the Imperial BMR Formel

FEMALE: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)
MALE: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in lbs) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) – (6.8 x age in years)

My result is:

 This means that my body needs 1513.10 calories a day in order to keep the current weight. To lose weight I need to eat 500 calories less than what I am allowed to.

Okay – that was a long way to get there… Why all the math?? I am thinking about leaving HerbaLife and try things a more natural way… like healthy and counting. 😉

I am still thinking about it. What do you think?

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Milk vs. Soy milk

A couple of days ago, when I went to a meeting of  Herbalife (read here), I was told that using milk in order to prepare my shakes … *TADA* was wrong…

HELLO??? I don’t get it, I am eating it for more than one year and my distributor never even told me that I can use other stuff apart from milk. Never even told me that I am actually not supposed to use milk. Interestingly enough, the instructions on the package demand milk.

It clearly says 250 ml fat reduced milk, 1.5%

My supervisor (the only contact I actually have to HL) said she didn’t even know herself that you are not meant to use milk. Interesting!! Proves one more time that HL is no mass movement in Germany, hardly anyone knows about it, thus there are no group meetings like with WW.

Now, due to the fact that one of the speakers even explained that using milk can actually reduce weight loss, she actually said:

Milk is for calves not for humans!

I feel urged to research for myself and compare milk to soy milk. I have actually started using soy milk and apart from the fact that the shakes turn out thicker and that they contain more clumps, I am quite okay with it. At the moment, I can’t taste though due to my mayor cold.

Let’s compare my usual milk to soy milk and find out whether soy milk is better, for me anyway…

Some studies actually suggest that consuming milk may increase the risk of suffering from certain health problems.

• Cow milk allergy
• Inadequate claims that casomorphin can cause autism
• Men at slightly increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease
• Correlation between high calcium intake and prostate cancer
• Possible link between milk consumption and Crohn’s disease or Hirschsprung disease.

Concerning soy milk

• Enriched with calcium carbonate.
• Has little saturated fat and no cholesterol
• The American Academy of Pediatrics claim that it can be used as a milk substitute for infants but in Germany soymilk is not suitable for infants
• Suitable for lactose-intolerant people
• No association between soy intake and health benefits such as cardiovascular health or cancer rates, and no benefit for women undergoing menopause due to reduction of ‘bad cholesterol’.
• According to wiki research has refuted claims that soy affects sperm quality and bone mineral density.

Unbelievable – I get the impression that unless you know a dietician yourself, don’t bother searching the net. I even left out what I read at The truth about since they were basically killing soy. They actually speak of Health risks!!! It basically sounds as if the milk producing companies sat down and thought “Now, how can we kill soy products once and for all?”

 I have the feeling I am not reaching any conclusion, unless I actually contact a dietician.

What do you guys think. Can you help me out here?

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