John LeMasney (lemsy) is an artist, graphic designer, and technology creative. He is located in beautiful Nelson County, VA, but works remotely with ease. Contact him at: lemasney@gmail.com to discuss your next creative project.
A bowl of noodles by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #food #illustration
A very good friend who reached out for help losing weight asked me where to start. I asked her if she had read my recent post on my nutritional methods, and she said she had not. I asked her to start there.
In the mean time, I asked her some questions about her body, and she was brave enough to share the answers. With the answers, I was able to give her a plan. The plan looks like this:
She is 31, 5’2″, sedentary, and 192 pounds, which means that:
Her BMI is 35. BMI of 30 and above indicates a higher frequency of heart disease and other ailments, and is commonly called obesity. I am obese as well, and it means that we should both weigh less than we do for health.
Her Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is 1614 calories and her Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is 1631 calories. This means that if she were in a coma, her body would still burn over 1600 calories.
Her Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is 1957 calories. This means that this is what she burns in an average day, with all of her walking, driving, and living.
A reasonable deficit to lose weight, about a pound a week, is 500 calories per day below TDEE, so 1957-500 = 1457 calories. If she eats only 1457 calories a day, she will lose about a pound a week. With exercise, it will be more, but exercise is not necessary, just recommended.
So, using the analogy of money I refer to in my post above, she is walking around with $1450 in calories to spend each day.
Here are some common fast food items that will use most of this allowance.
The 7-layer Taco Bell burrito she ate the other day is about a third of her daily calories. is worth about $500 in calories.
Alternatively, she can get a lot more for her money by eating vegetables and fruits. Most servings of a cup are less than 100 calories each. She could either eat one large fast food sandwich, 3 burritos, or 14 cups of vegetables in a day, and no matter which of these she chooses, she would be under her calorie goal, though there are great mental and energy benefits to the latter. http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.html
The key is to know how many calories she is eating, and how many she should eat. If she stays below her goal, she will lose. It’s that simple.
If you’d like me to help you with your nutritional profile, contact me at lemasney@gmail.com. I’d love to help you get healthy.
Hey, so I’ve gotten some feedback that people like the mental heath posts I’ve been putting up, and asked me to keep doing that, but that they really miss my food photos and calorie information, which makes sense, given the name of this blog. I agree. I’ll try harder to keep it balanced, just like my bodily and mental health, k? Love you all, by the way.
Here’s lunch today. Calorie and other info below.
I visited a local farm outlet yesterday, and got all of this food, enough for this meal every day, and a lot more for about 10 bucks. Anyone who argues that eating whole foods is impossible on a small budget is not shopping at a farmer’s market. It was delicious, rich food, whole, raw in most cases, and incredibly nutritious. Let’s look at the numbers.
lunch on July 22nd, 2012
I’ll just say here, I satisfied my hunger, though not uncomfortably so. I could eat more, because I have over 1300 calories left for the day, but I wouldn’t want to. Satiation is key, as I’ve written here before. And fresh, raw foods are the key to satiation with a low-calorie count. I would have trouble finding this amazing meal at any restaurant anywhere, at certainly not at a low price. It took 15 minutes to make, and I was able to sit and enjoy it, savoring each bit with reflection and intent.
This here is one of the things that I love about my nutritional lifestyle. I am able to have delicious nutritious meals, that are unique and which relate to me and my personal needs. Also, cooking asparagus in a pan is an easy thing to know how to do. You should learn how.
Trim off the woody ends by snapping off one and cutting at that snapline for the rest. Spray the bunch with a little oil, add salt and pepper and turn it in a hot pan for 5 minutes. To say that you’ll enjoy it is an understatement. You’ll love it, like candy.
In the interest of mental health to match my bodily health, I have been meditating. In talking to others about meditation, which need not be religious, many of my conversations have turned to religion, and in particular, the Buddhist idea of reincarnation, and inevitably, my formerly Catholic training in eternal life.
I refer to myself as a naturalist. I believe and trust, spiritually speaking, in what I find in nature. Morality, life, death, recovery, and spiritual inspiration all come from nature for me, and nature provides answers to my questions through observation, experiment, and evidence. My church is a park, and my sabbath is daily, and my prayers are small, kind acts for improvement of natural, observable life. But that is another post.
I only know what I can sense, and I can not now sense reincarnation in the same way that I can sense a tree, aside from the literal reincarnation through the reuse of elements, like carbon, iron, calcium, when they change from making up one object to making up another.
In this, reincarnation exists. But I disperse, in my everyday life, the literal electricity of my thought, which is recordable evidence of my mental activity. Thoughts exist only in the brain’s bio-electrical function of storage, retrieval, and experiential record. When the brain ceases to exist, I believe I will not exist as a thinking, acting entity.
The same way that carbon in my former body is the same carbon in a tree, but not a functioning part of ‘me’ any longer, the electricity and impulse of thought that was formerly a part of ‘me’ and is now electricity in the air, water, and so on is no longer me, but simply air, water and so on.
My skin dies off, as will my brain, and so my thoughts, and I will no longer exist but in the memories of others and evidence of products. Hence, I choose to focus on what I can do to create good products and memories of me in others now, such as my boys, and perhaps you. I can live on in the minds and thoughts and inspired acts of others.
In this, one’s life exists posthumously. I wonder what your thoughts are on these ideas? I’m open to discussion, as none of us knows what we all know separately.
I’ve sparked considerable interest in my weight loss journey after shedding about 50 pounds in 11 weeks, transitioning from obesity to being slightly overweight and now heading towards a healthy weight range. As of July 2012, I stand at 6’2″, weighing 239 lbs, with a 40-inch waist and 25% body fat, down from 290 lbs and a 50+ inch waist. My goal is a weight of 200 pounds, a waist of 36 inches or less, and a body fat percentage around 15%. I’m on track to achieve this in the next three months if my progress continues.
People often ask if my rapid weight loss is safe, if I’m using supplements, if I’m unwell, or if it’s a difficult process. So, I’ve decided to outline my method here, though I recommend consulting with a healthcare provider to ensure any weight loss plan is medically sound.
Here’s a concise summary of my approach:
I understand my caloric needs by knowing my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). I consume 1600 calories daily, less than my TDEE, ensuring at least a 2-pound loss weekly, further augmented by exercise.
I monitor my weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), and Body Fat Percentage (BFP), using scales and calculators to focus on objective metrics rather than subjective self-image.
I count every calorie like a financial budget, recording it diligently to avoid ‘caloric debt,’ which equates to fat.
I don’t exclude any foods based on ideology but prioritize real, unprocessed, and preferably organic foods for their low-calorie and high-nutrient profiles.
Happiness is crucial to my plan. Emotional instability often leads to erratic eating patterns, so I seek positive company and professional help when necessary and use exercise as a mood enhancer.
I exercise by walking daily without straining myself, and I don’t consume the extra calories I burn.
I use reliable, free tools like MyFitnessPal and Fitbit to track my progress, which offers community support and syncs with my exercise devices.
I’ve confronted personal obstacles, like alcohol, which previously derailed my weight management efforts.
I prepare my own meals to control what I eat or choose dining options where the content and calorie count are clear.
I drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated and support my weight loss.
To sum up my method: I’m aware of my current and target weight, I know my caloric needs, I track my food intake rigorously, I choose nutritious foods, and I stay hydrated. That’s how I’m successfully losing weight.
Tiny House Backyard Studio (Photo credit: Earthworm)
In this country, and with our common contemporary lifestyle here, having a simple life is anything but simple. We are constantly reminded by billboards, television, the internet, and all the objects and spaces around us that (success)==(things), and things take money, and the struggle to earn and succeed and profit, at any cost, is just a necessary part of it, and that those who don’t struggle or suffer are not worthy of love, respect, and compassion.
With all due respect to those who choose to struggle in life, that’s just utter nonsense. I believe, though I do not practice yet satisfactorily, that happiness comes from simplicity, and simplicity comes from reduction. Reducing the things, wants, expectations, needs, and desires in life, in my opinion, will lead to more of my happiness, the one thing worth wanting. This is not a new idea, but an idea worth refocusing upon. It just so happens, I have some new-found clarity to use.
I recently got divorced, which is not important for this post except for the fact that it means that I continue to have monetary responsibilities for things I no longer get to enjoy, like a single home and insuring a van, for the next seven years. Out of necessity, I am now living in a studio apartment, which has its charms. The space is a revelation and provides insight in and of itself. The idea that I no longer need to mow the grass, or deeply satisfy the neighbors, or worry about the fixes that need fixing, for instance, are all great reasons to have a small rented space. But it could be simpler yet.
I have a love for environmental sustainability, clean air and space. I seldom use paper or print on paper, I used electric, rather than gasoline powered yard devices (back when I needed them), I bought offshore wind energy in trade to counter my CO2 footprint when it was an option, and I drive a fuel-efficient car, when I’m not walking or biking. I was on a committee for sustainability at my former institution, and they all used to roll my eyes when I would protest at the idea that we would give out brand new t-shirts, water bottles, and other non-recycled, un-used, non-exemplar objects at events. I try to use as little non-renewable energy as possible in my everyday life. I strive to have low impact.
But my effort is nothing compared to Jim Merkel, documented in a film on Netflix watch now called “Radically Simple”. In the film, you get to see someone who truly has not only a non-negative impact, but rather a positive impact on his environment, and he truly understands and freely shares how his choices and our choices affect the world. He bikes 30 miles a day to work, he builds his living space from the trees on his plot, and he gathers, carries, and filters water from a nearby stream, he cooks with a wood stove and a solar oven. He spends a lot of his free time lecturing in small groups on how to do what he has. I think going his route is not really doable, sustainably, for everyone. It is perhaps too radical in its completeness of selflessness. I do know that I could get closer to what he’s doing in his example, and go further down the path I’m already going towards simplicity and sustainability.
So, recently, I had a friend on Facebook announce that there was a plot of land, a few acres, for sale in the Poconos. $35,000 for the lot. At some point, hopefully within the 7 years mentioned above, we will sell the house that I am paying for but not living in, and I’ll hopefully get something like $100,000 from the sale. Other lots exist outside of the Poconos, and those would likely have easier access to Internet and other signals I like in my life.
Between these ideas is a nugget of possibility. I could live more like Jim Merkel. I could have a garden, a small non-traditional home for somewhere around $30,000, and a comfortable, paid-for living space with similar interior square footage to my apartment for another $40k, but without the living on top of each other part, as well as an amazing, wild ‘yard’. I could give to the space around me, and it could give back. Also, I want to work because I like to work, not because I have to pay debts or impress neighbors. I want to live free of debt and obligation, and be able to focus on the things that matter. I want to live more simply.
A long-lasting friend named Kaz once explained this idea to me, in surprising completeness, and I thought of it as dreamlike. He devised an interconnected set of sheds on a lot like the one we’re discussing here, each acting as rooms with plenty of space and functional ability. I could have my dedicated studio and workshop, a comfortable place to live and enjoy media, a place to cook and eat, and a beautiful space to sleep with a great view of nature. He suggested a compost toilet and that solution even shows up in the Tiny House post suggested above.
So, I haven’t worked it all out yet, and I couldn’t change things as they are anyway, but I’m thinking I ave a new thing to save for, a new thing to look forward to, and a new thing to move towards. I wonder, how would you like to have a tiny house, with a big yard, and no bills to speak of?
I weighed myself today to a special treat: 240 pounds, which was my second goal from 295 to 260 to 240 to 220 to 200. I am finally starting to really *feel* different, instead of relying on the scale to tell me I *am* different. And that’s a very welcomed change.
