Weight Loss (Part 4) - How does our body dispose of excess calories?

So have you been following my post on Weight Loss? some of you might not be interested in following the tedious calculation of calorie in my post for the calorie deficit subject, but it actually very helpful for you to understand how the whole things work.

It will definitely benefits those to who are seriously wanted to loss weight. Anyhow if you are confuse you may try this link to help on have a quick glimpse of how much calorie you should take to achieve your goal or refer below table (table guidelines below is for women, for men the number is usually higher) which is a general guideline to your maximum calories needs according to your height: 

(LBM stand for Lean Body Mass meaning everything in your body except fats, above table LBM is in pounds; RMR  stand for Resting Metabolic Rate meaning the number of calories your body consumes at rest): 

What does the term calorie mean? (if you don't already know)

Calorie is unit of energy, for example when you see label on canned food at the Supermarket written 250 calories, it means 250 is the unit of energy your body could get from eating or drinking it. 3,500 calories equal to 0.45kg (1 pound).

Your body needs calories for energy, but eating too much calories and not burning enough of them through activities can lead to weight gain. Yes! extra calories stored as fat. 

So now that you roughly know how much is the maximum calories you need, try to stick to it or if you enjoy eating so much try to burn the extra calories to maintain / achieve calorie deficit which can help you to loss weight. Below info is calories burned by walking a flight of stairs:

There are many other activities that can help you burn calories such as cleaning the house, cooking, walking, running etc. Do which ever activities that you enjoy and start burning calories.

To help you to be motivated to your journey to weight loss, set a target of your ideal weight. There are many applications online that you can utilize to help plan your diet and keep track of your weight loss journey, if you have a smart phone even better as now days they have application that you can download to your smart phone and use for free. You may check out this link.

Stay tuned for next post on weight loss subject. Anyeong!

Weight Loss (Part 3) - Snack Ideas under 100 calories

Hungry in between meal time? eat frequent small meal and count calorie that you need for weight loss.

1. Yogood muesli bar (97 calorie per bar)

2. Hard boil egg (78 calorie)

3. An Orange (60 calorie)

4. 8 baby carrots with low fat dressing (100 calorie)

5. Half cup sunflower seeds (100 calorie)

6.  3/4 cup honey dew (50 calorie)

7. 20 pistachio nuts (80 calorie)

8. 3/4 cup cereal & 1/2 cup low fat milk (98 calorie)

9. 1 cup pumpkin boil mashed with salt (60 calorie)

10. 1/2 cup vegetables mix salad with low fat dressing (40 calorie)

For more ideas and count calorie in food check it from here. 

400 calorie of mix vegetables fill your tummy, and 400 calories of chicken not filling your stomach even half:

Weight Loss (Part 2) - Calorie Deficit

In the previous post was a general overview and introduction of Herbalife weight loss program. 

After reading the first post some might be thinking, wow I only got to eat one meal a day, and think that it will be difficult. Well you can actually eat frequent small meal when you feel hungry. Don't starve your self and call it diet as it won't actually help you to loss weight. I will write another post on this later part. Today I will write about calorie deficit and weight loss.

(click to enlarge image)

In average women need about 2000 calorie a day, if however she consume less calorie, it is call deficit calorie and will lead to weight loss. Deficit calorie is when the food of amount energy / calorie you consume is less than the calorie you use. Below is guide to calculate calorie deficit, below is the example:

Height     : 5'1"

Weight    : 110 lbs 

Age          : 33

Gender   : Female

Step 1

Figure out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) or TDEE (Toral Daily Energy Expenditure). BMR is the number of calories your body burns within 24 hours by just being alive (breathing, sleeping, digesting etc) This BMR calculator will tell you how many calorie you need per day by doing absolutely nothing. The calculator will ask for your height, weight, age and gender. For me, my BMR is 1260 calories per day. It is not recommended to take less than 1200 calorie per day for women and not less than 1500 calorie per day for men. 

Step 2

Now that you know your BMR, calculate how many calorie you need to eat per day using this calculator. Enter all the information requested, you need to fill in info of exercise level, select the options from doing little/no exercise etc and you will find out the calorie needed. For me would be I do exercise 3 times a week, so my normal calorie needed / maintenance is 1571:

Maintenance:  1571 calories per day

Fat loss : 1257 calories per day 

Step 3

Find your calorie deficit. A calorie deficit is when the amount of food energy calorie you use is less than the the total calorie you use. Take the total calorie you consume per day and subtract the TDEE (calorie you burn by doing nothing). My TDEE is 1260 (doing nothing), my normal calorie rate to consume per day is 1571  including my activities. 

1571 - 1260 = 311

Then take the calorie you burn if you work out, add it to 311.

Let say if I burn 400 calorie for 45 minutes of exercise. Thus:

-400 + 311 = -89

Thus my calorie deficit is -89. This is the calorie I burn throughout the day. 

Step 4

Every pound is 3500 calories. So if you just want to loss one pound, you have to burn 3500 calories. 

-89 (my deficit calorie) x 7 (7 days a week) = 623 calories

So I am burning 623 a week assuming I eat 1571 calorie a day and exercise 45 minutes.

If you  divide 623 (calorie burn per week) by 3500 (calorie per pound) I got 0.178 pound, which is the amount I loss per week. 

(source from about.com)

To check the calorie of food you eat, use this calculator if don't already know one. 

Stay tuned for post part 3 coming soon. 

Suzy's Miss A Skin Care Secret

Suzy Miss A revealed her skin care secret in Get it beauty. I am so impressed by her 10 minutes cleansing routine. Her skin is flawless and she is just 19 but no skin problems such as acne which teenagers usually experience at her age. For those who don't know who Suzy is - she is a well known Korean star. 

Now her 424 face washing routine is famous, wanna get clear skin like her maybe you can try this routine. 

• 4 minutes massage using cleansing oil
• 2 minutes washing with facial foam cleanser
• 4 minutes washing with water (warm water then cold water to minimize pores)

The cleansing oil is to ensure the dirt and make up is thoroughly washed off your face, work it from your chin to forehead. If you have oily skin I suggest to use milk cleanser instead of oil cleanser.

Bubble wash for further cleansing only for 2 minutes, longer than that will dry up your face.

Wash your face with warm water first then cold water to minimize pores. 

Another tips from Suzy is - never dry your face with a towel, gently tap your face - this allow your face to absorb moisture.  

I am not sure this is a good routine in the end, I just think that over washing your face could be very drying. Maybe different outcome for different individual I guess.

The Face Shop BB Cream Review

Anyeong~

The Face Shop was having buy one free one promotion so I purchased the BB cream Clean Face since it is oil free cons is no SPF like most BB Cream have, in the same range though they have Oil Free Sun Cream SPF35 PA++... This range suitable for oily skin or acne prone skin. So it's RM46 for two bottle of these, other wise without promotion would be about RM40+ per item.  

The Face Shop Clean Face Oil Free BB Cream Review

& The Face Shop Clean Face Oil Free Sun Cream Review

The packing

Description behind

Swatch of The Face Shop Oil Free BB Cream

Right side with the BB cream, left side no BB Cream

The Swatch of Oil Free Sun Cream

The Oil Free Sun Cream on top and Oil Cream BB Cream at the bottom

Description on the packing for the Oil Free Sun Cream

• Tea Tree Oil
• Aloe Vera Gel
• Blocks both UVA UVB with upgraded formula that leaves skin feeling fresher and matte

My thoughts: The color is white and texture very light, after using it for few hours my face slightly oily. I believe all SPF products have certain degree of oil. Quite decent sun cream for those who have skin problem.

Description on the packing for Oil Free BB Cream

• Chamomile extract
• Quick clear complex
• New and improved quick clear complex treats oily or problem skin more quickly and effectively

The sun cream actually white color and BB cream tinted light brown slightly grayish, the texture is light and coverage very minimal, cannot cover any marks or spots you might have on your face. Matte finish. Nice pleasant smell. This is a very nice BB cream for those who really have a lot of pimples. I rate both 4/5.

Blotting Paper or Film?

Do you use blotting paper based or blotting film based? Here is a review on the Body Shop blotting tissues versus Clean & Clear blotting film (Clean & Clear under Johnson & Johnson brand).

Blotting tissues or film is highly absorbent type of paper or film, it is used to absorb excess oil and excess makeup residues   

Why blotting?

1. To remove excess oil from your face
2. Remove shine due to excess oil from your face
3. Create matte finish on your face

I have the Body Shop blotting tissues and Clean & Clear blotting film, my thoughts on the products...

The Body Shop Blotting Tissues Review

It's actually not the conventional tissues as what you imagine, I would describe it as more of a paper based; 50 sheets per pack at RM11.90. The Ingredients contained oil.. don't be surprise.. it is not oily at all.

I would rate this product at 2/5, don't like paper based blotting tissues, just doesn't feels right on skin, the finish is matte but after a while it the matte finish is gone. I have combination oily dry skin (T zone oily).

the Ingredients 

Clean & Clear Blotting Film Review

This is film based blotting sheets; 60 sheets for RM9.90 per pack. Absolutely love this blotting film, you can see the oil absorb clearly on the sheets, so you can actually differentiate parts of the sheets that still can be used to absorb excess oil, see what I mean from the pictures comparison below. The film also feels softer compare to paper based blotting sheets. Finishing is matte and last long. 

You see the Body Shop blotting sheet after used compare to Clean & Clear after used, I tested this only not long after washing my face thus the oil absorb is not much. I like the Clean & Clear film because you can see clearly the oil on it and you can see the clean part of the film you can identify easily which part of the film you can still use up to blot your face, instead of the Body Shop one, a bit difficult to notice. I rate Clean & Clear Oil Control Film 4/5. 

Avene Face Mist Review

Anyeong~

Last few days I posted a review on the Body Shop Vitamin E face mist, after using it for few days, I found it to be leaving slight cast of shiny finish on my skin, I believe the Body Shop Vitamin E face mist contained some oil based ingredients - see the ingredients on the picture I posted on the review for this product here.

I am quite disappointed, this reminds me that I used to use Avene Face Mist many years back, but some how stop because I was only a student back then you see. I remembered it was quite good. Thus here is the Avene Face Mist review:

Comparison of  the packaging the Body Shop 100ml vs Avene 50ml Face Mist

The Body Shop face mist is in a plastic bottle and Avene in an aerosol bottle.

In a aerosol bottle packing 

The description on the back of the bottle

The Avene face mist packing is cute and price is also reasonable, I bought from Watson for RM35 for 3 bottles (50ml) at discounted price it's about RM11.60 (about USD3.90 per bottle of 50ml) per bottle. Avene is well known as the sensitive skin care expert; and this face mist is actually Thermal Spring water so is high in mineral, unless you are sensitive to water this face mist should be suitable for you. Ingredients is water and nitrogen. Very simple huh. 

I like the dewy finish Avene face mist does on my skin... love this product.