Every month it seems the recommended daily amount of exercise changes. It’s 10,000 steps.

No, wait, it’s an hour.

Oh, no, 30 minutes is plenty, and you can even take breaks.

While few people really believe 10 minutes of daily exercise is enough, it turns out that for most of us trying to lose weight, 30 minutes isn’t enough, either.

A study published July 28 in the Archives of Internal Medicine adds to the burgeoning scientific consensus: when it comes to exercise for weight loss, more is better. It suggests that obese people would have to exercise at least an hour at a time to see any significant difference in their weight.

The study, led by John Jakicic at the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, followed nearly 200 overweight or obese women ages 21 to 45 through a two-year weight-loss program. The women were given free treadmills to use at home, regular group meetings and telephone pep talks to help keep them on track. Participants were also asked to restrict their food intake to between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day, and were randomized to one of four physical activity intervention groups based on energy expenditure (either 1,000 calories or 2,000 calories burned per week) and exercise intensity (high vs. moderate).

By the end of the 24-month intervention, the women who managed to lose at least 10% of their starting body weight (which was, on average, about 193 lbs.) — and keep it off — were exercising twice as long as health authorities typically recommend and expending more than twice as many calories through exercise as women who had no change in body weight. The biggest weight losers were active a full 68 minutes a day, five days a week (about 55 minutes a day more than they had been before the trial began), burning an extra 1,848 calories a week.

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Food eaten:

Number of people nearly killed due to PMS: 4

Most of my friends are already married, so I have little experience with the type of “Bridezilla” that’s now in fashion. Oh, sure, I know most brides try to lose weight before their wedding day. I vaguely recall doing that for my own wedding, although back then I had only 10 lbs. to shed. (Oh, those were the days.)

But brides who tell their bridesmaids they need boob jobs? That takes some massive chutzpah, if you ask me. Kudos to the woman who declined that, even if the bride found a doctor willing to do four bridesmaids for the price of two.

Call me old fashioned if you will, but I don’t think I’d want to know the kind of woman who considered chemical peels and botox to be thoughtful bridesmaid gifts. Seems to me the only one she’s really thinking about is herself. A couple of years down the road when none of those women are talking to her she’ll have only herself to blame.

I didn’t get around to posting this last night like I’d planned, so here’s the stats for yesterday.

Food eaten:

• Breakfast: 2 scrambled egg whites, 2 tbsp. Pace Chunky salsa, 1/2 sliced avocado, 2 cups coffee. Calories: 265.
• Lunch: Large salad with mushrooms, broccoli, green onions, peas, baby corn, 1 oz. shredded cheese and vinaigrette dressing. Calories: 344.
• Dinner: 6 oz. baked chicken breast, brown rice pilaf, small side salad with artichoke-Parmesan dressing and pumpkin pie pudding. Calories: 620.
• Snacks: 2 sesame brown rice cakes; 2 stalks of celery with cream cheese. Calories: 220.

Exercise:

• Cleaning, vigorous – 65 minutes. Calories burned: 280.
• Walk around neighborhood – 15 minutes. Calories burned: 54.

Calories consumed (1449) – [(BMR (1580) + calories burned (280)] = -411

My calorie consumption was bass-ackwards yesterday, with the biggest meal coming at the end of the day. I know better. Long before the big breakfast diet became a fad, I’d seen that a larger breakfast and a smaller dinner make a huge difference in weight loss.

No doubt that accounts for the lack of movement on my scale this morning. Grumble.

Today I’ll adding a slow jog into my treadmill time. I’m so out of shape that I’ll be happy to just manage a couple of 1-minute intervals interspersed by walking, sweat soaking through my Ping Golf workout shirt. . Now let’s just hope my chest doesn’t give me a black eye in the process.

New research studying whether there’s a genetic basis for obesity has turned up a surprising find: for some, feeling constantly hungry might be in their genes. The researchers discovered that a gene, FTO, affects patients’ appetites. When a person has one copy of the gene they tend to weigh more than someone without it, while those with two copies way significantly more.

Lead researcher Professor Jane Wardle said: “It is not simply the case that people who carry the risky variant of this gene automatically become overweight, but they are more susceptible to overeating.

“This makes them significantly more vulnerable to the modern environment which confronts all of us with large portion sizes and limitless opportunities to eat.”

Of course, assuming there’s a genetic basis for an appetite that’s always on “high”, wouldn’t there be more people who’ve been fat all their lives, dating back to the days when they rolled around on baby bedding? Or is that what our “childhood obesity epidemic” is about?

Although it has nothing to do with the genetic research itself, I found another bit to be particularly interesting: the “limitless opportunities to eat.” That’s something I’ve become increasingly conscious of since my diagnosis: ours is a society that’s practically built around food. Want to celebrate? Have a cookie. Feel bad? Have cookie dough ice cream. Need to keep the kids entertained on a rainy day? Make cookies together. Want to sell your house? The aroma of freshly baked cookies sure helps.

Of course, it’s not all about the cookies.

These days I can’t go to a grocery store without someone offering me free samples of foods I can’t have: baguette slices laden with dips, crackers smeared with spreads, even tiny little cocktail sausages skewered on brightly colored toothpicks. It all contains gluten so I’m just not interested. When friends want to get together, they usually want to go to a restaurant. It’s easy enough to get out of that — most have understood when I explain that I can’t risk gluten contamination. But, as I’ve learned, the risk of getting glutenated at other peoples’ homes is high, too.

Want to know just how much food has taken over your life? Try going gluten-free a couple of weeks. It’s been a real eye-opener for me. Snacks aren’t something I grab without thinking about anymore; now I have to pause and read the ingredient list to know if something is safe, or else just opt for fruit or veggies, which is so much easier. Meals take planning now instead of simply whipping up convenience foods, and that means actually thinking about what’s going into them (and, hence, in to me). That candy bar I used to grab at the grocery store to eat on the drive home? It’s a thing of the past now that I’ve always got a small bag of raw almonds in my purse.

So, has it helped? You tell me:

Minutes exercised today: 85 – Pounds lost so far: 7 – Pounds to lose: 33

After looking over one of my food and exercise logs, Donna B. wondered what BRM was. Well, it’s a typo. I meant to type BMR, which stands for basic metabolic rate. That’s the number of calories your body needs just to live and maintain minimum functions, assuming you didn’t move a muscle all day (e.g., you slept).

Although I’d answered Donna in the comments, she pointed out that this is useful information for those of us trying to diet rationally. So, at her suggestion, I’m sharing that here with you, too.

When it comes to dieting, your individual BMR is the single most important number to determining how many calories you should be getting (or not) per day. Many of us have a tendency to cut calories back too far in the hope of speeding up weight loss. But when you understand your BMR is what’s needed just to keep your lungs and heart working, well, you can see why your body’s metabolism will slow down if you aren’t eating enough calories for those functions along with your other activities.

Ultimately, calculating BMR is a complicated mathematical equation that’s well beyond me:

Yeah. Er, I just use a BMR calculator.

Once you know your BMR it’s easy to figure out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight at your current level of activity:

• Sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
• Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
• Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
• Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
• Extremely active (rigorous hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

So, if you’re trying to lose weight you take your BMR x (whatever your number is) and subtract 15-20% to get the number of calories you should eat in a day. Cut back beyond that and you’ll stall your metabolism, along with putting your health at risk. Eat too much more than that and, well, you just aren’t going to lose weight no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise.

Just keep in mind it’s not safe to go below 1200 calories per day for women, or 1800 calories per day for men. If that’s where your BMR x (whatever your number) – 15-20% takes you then it’s time to give serious thought to upping your activity level.

It’s not very often that my husband and I get to spend an evening out of the house with other adults. So, when a friend who knows about my Celiac Disease diagnosis invited us over for dinner I quickly accepted the invitation.

She was wonderful about my dietary restrictions, too, running every item on the menu past me for safety. Since I’m still learning what I can and can’t have myself, this meant I had to look almost everything up with both of us becoming increasingly frustrated.

Finally I told her, “Look, if a food is more than one step away from requiring water or sunlight I probably can’t eat it.” That certainly seemed to simplify things. She came up with a fantastic menu, too: corn on the cob with butter, salad, baked potatoes and grilled ribeye steaks. No gluten worries on that menu, right?

I knew I was in for problems when we walked in to find she’d made a gorgeous spread of appetizers. The first thing I saw: a platter of crackers and toast rounds sitting next to a bowl of dip and plates of sliced cheese and celery sticks. Well, cool, I’d have the latter two and steer as far clear of the others as possible.

And I did steer clear, too, or at least as much as possible. Still, I felt like a jerk when I’d back away from her toddler who kept running around with a cracker in his hand and when I had to ask my husband to wipe the crumbs off my chair before we sat down for dinner. I skipped the butter on my corn, too, because I know people who don’t have to live GF don’t realize that crumbs in the stuff from that morning’s toast can mean a night of misery for someone with CD.

Oh, it was heart-breaking to skip the two beautiful desserts she’d made: an Oreo pie and some strawberry fluffy thing in a graham cracker crust. But having felt so much better over these past couple of weeks without eating gluten I wasn’t going to risk it. (Not to mention that I’ve enjoyed having lost 6 pounds in two weeks, a faster and easier loss than any weight loss pill has ever delivered.)

Still, despite her best efforts and mine, I got glutenated.

Within moments after finishing dinner I felt the bloat coming on. A gluten reaction-style bloat isn’t like a PMS bloat or even one triggered by eating too much salt. It’s painful, it’s sudden, and it signals the need to have a bathroom well away from polite society soon. I looked to my husband and told him we needed to go – now! – and he simply nodded then went back to his conversation. He, too, is still learning what it’s like for me to get glutenated now otherwise he would’ve understood the urgency.

Moments later my son began acting grumpy. He’d had very little sleep the night before and, despite my best efforts to get him to nap he hadn’t, so I somewhat expected he’d begin acting out later in the evening. Ordinarily I would’ve responded with a quiet one-on-one talk and dire threats of losing his PlayStation privileges if he didn’t snap out of it. But because I needed to get home and he’d provided me with the perfect excuse — one which wouldn’t offend my hostess — I could’ve kissed him (except he’d eaten the crackers).

Halfway home I began itching. Then the stomach cramps grew excruciating. By the time we pulled into the driveway my head was throbbing and I couldn’t think straight. Just getting out of the van and walking toward the bathroom was exhausting. Then the sneezing and hacking started and I felt like I couldn’t possibly hock up all the mucous in my throat, but that was okay since I was soon throwing up into the trash can (the toilet being occupied by my other end already).

It was miserable, to say the least. The saddest part is that I now realize my days of dining out are over. Oh, maybe someday my body will have healed enough that I won’t be so sensitive, but for now any risk of even the smallest gluten contamination isn’t worth it.

On a positive note, though, having witnessed the severity of my reaction last night, my husband said this morning, “Man, I don’t know how we’re going to be able to visit my family if you react like this to accidental exposure. I guess we’ll have to stay at a hotel whenever we go up there, huh?”

Mixed blessing, this Celiac stuff.

Food eaten:

• Breakfast: 2 scrambled egg whites, 3 pieces turkey bacon, 1/2 tomato roasted and topped with 2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese. Calories: 265
• Lunch: Baked potato topped with 2 tbsp. shredded cheddar, 1/4 c. non-fat refried beans, 2 chopped green onions and 2 tbsp. salsa. Calories:
• Snacks: 2 stalks celery stuffed with 1 tbsp. cream cheese each, 2 c. watermelon chunks. Calories: 203.
• Dinner: 6 oz. glazed ham steak, 1 c. steamed broccoli and cauliflower, 1/2 c. green beans, glass of white wine. Calories: 409.
• Total calories consumed: 1,224.

Exercise:

• Light house cleaning, 30 minutes. Calories burned: 108.
• 15 minutes on treadmill at 3 mph. Calories burned: 71
• 15 minute walk around neighborhood, 2 mph. Calories burned: 54.
• 15 minutes calisthenics (squats, crunches, side lunges and push-ups). Calories burned: 75.
• Total calories burned: 308.

Calories Out - Calories In = Weight Loss
1580 (My BRM) + 308 (Calories burned exercising) = 1888 (Calories Out)
1888 – 1224 = 664 (Calorie deficit).

Food eaten:

• Breakfast: Scrambled eggs (1 whole egg, 2 egg whites) topped with 2 tbsp. salsa and 1/2 avocado, sliced; 2 cups coffee. Calories: 284
• Lunch: Massive bowl of homemade pho soup. Calories: 384.
• Snacks: 2 c. watermelon chunks; 2 brown rice cakes; non-fat latte (16 oz.). Calories: 311.
• Dinner: Grilled sirloin (4 oz.), vegetables cooked in packet with Pam (1/2 c. each zucchini, mushrooms, onions, green pepper), 2 c. fruit salad dressed with lemon juice and 1 tsp. honey. Calories: 485.
• Total calories consumed: 1,464.

Exercise:

• 1 hour light house cleaning, 65 minutes. Calories burned: 222.
• 20 minutes on treadmill at 3 mph. Calories burned: 95
• 15 minutes calisthenics (squats, crunches, side lunges and push-ups). Calories burned: 75.
• Total calories burned: 392.

Calories Out - Calories In = Weight Loss
1580 (My BRM) + 392 (Calories burned exercising) = 1972 (Calories Out)
1972 – 1464 = 508 (Calorie deficit).

Since I didn’t particularly know the best way to bring it up, I’ve mentioned on the sly that I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease (CD) last week. CD is an autoimmune disorder which causes the body to destroy its own tissues in response to gluten intake.

It starts with destruction of the villi in the small intestine – those little “hairs” which help ferry nutrients to the bloodstream. Due to this destruction, folks with CD are usually either quite thin from malnutrition or, as in my case, rather large due to an enormous appetite that can’t be satiated since the body’s not correctly processing the foods it consumes. The condition also brings with it a whole host of other unpleasant symptoms, including abdominal discomfort and distension, anemia, GI problems, mental confusion, fatigue and joint pain.

The only cure available is to completely eliminate gluten from one’s diet, which is exactly what I’ve been dealing with all week.

Yes, I still have fibromyalgia, but as I’ve learned recently is often concurrent with CD. With fibro, exercise is almost indispensable. With CD, my health depends on eliminating all sources of gluten in my diet. (As a side note, Sarah K. was the first to recognize my symptoms. Hopefully she won’t charge me for the diagnosis!)

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