The (ideal world) math behind weight loss...

All of the below is under ideal conditions and will definitely vary based on what you eat, when you eat, what you’ve eaten days before, liquid intake, bowel movements, etc. Also, most calorie counts for food and exercise are estimates. You have to allow for a fudge factor when doing the math.

From http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-lose-weight.php

You use energy no matter what you're doing, even when sleeping. The BMR Calculator will calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day.

Calorie Needs to lose weight
There are approximately 3500 calories in a pound of stored body fat. So, if you create a 3500-calorie deficit through diet, exercise or a combination of both, you will lose one pound of body weight. (On average 75% of this is fat, 25% lean tissue) If you create a 7000 calorie deficit you will lose two pounds and so on. The calorie deficit can be achieved either by calorie-restriction alone, or by a combination of fewer calories in (diet) and more calories out (exercise). This combination of diet and exercise is best for lasting weight loss. Indeed, sustained weight loss is difficult or impossible without increased regular exercise.

If you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. For people with only a small amount of weight to lose, 1000 calories will be too much of a deficit. As a guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men. Even these calorie levels are quite low.

The math:

• Calculate your BMR. http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
• Figure your intake. Use the database at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
• Do the math to figure out your calories burned or gained for the day.
• 0 calories to start the day after sleep – BMR calories – Exercise calories + Food Intake calories = Daily calories burned/gained
• Do the math to remove from or add calories to the 3500 per pound total
• 3500 + daily calories = calorie surplus or deficit
• Once the above number reached 0 or below, you should have lost one pound

My example for Sunday given that my BMR is 1800ish, I exercised for 1400ish, and ate 2200ish. Remember that this all resets per day after a good night’s sleep.


0 – 1850 – 1400 + 2200 = -1050 deficit


3500 + -1050 = 2460 calories left before one pound loss is registered

All of the above is under ideal conditions and will definitely vary based on what you eat, when you eat, what you’ve eaten days before, liquid intake, bowel movements, etc. Also, most calorie counts for food and exercise are estimates. You have to allow for a fudge factor when doing the math.

80's TV shows and movies that could be re-made.

You know, I grew into maturity during the 80's. My TV tastes developed during that time as well. Here are a few shows from the 80's that should probably get a re-visit, or at least a movie of the week of SyFy.

1. Airwolf.  Hi-tech helicopter, villian of the week, vehicular destruction.  It's quite easy to see why this was one of my favorite shows during the 80's.

2. Automan.  Computer generated crime fighter that drove a neon covered Lamborghini Countach.

3. Street Hawk.  More vehicular fun.  Super bike that could go hundreds of miles an hour.  Sensing the trend here?

4. The Highwayman. 18-wheeler that is a transformer that can also cloak. 

5. M.A.S.K..  More transforming vehicles as well as powered masks.  That works for me.

6.  Megaforce.  Hi-tech mercenary force full of 80's camp and spandex. 

7. Buckaroo Banzai.  Peter Weller before Robocop.  In the vein of Ice Pirates and Spacehunter.
8. Krull.  Epic fantasy.  Interesting premise.  Very cool weapon in the Glaive.

Now, there have already been some less-than-successful remakes.  Knight Rider and GI Joe come to mind.  However, if Hollywood is truly out of ideas, the 80's are ripe for the picking.

Labor Day

From the Department of Labor:


Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.