The Weighting Game; And Size Matters

Yes, I have been obsessing on my weight. And no the scale has not been kind. And yes I am keeping in mind the many whys as to this frustrating phenomena.
I have been hovering in the 196 lbs to 198 lbs zone for a while. I have been less than strict in my diet. Part of it is that I hate dieting, and another is that it seems I should be able to eat whatever I want with all of my physical activity. Intellectually I know the numbers but still it just doesn't seem to make since. So maybe it's a good time to review some basic numbers.

There are 3,500 calories in one pound of body fat.

Walking 400 calories per hour
Weeding 400 calories per hour
Jogging, 6 mph (10 min./mile) 920 calories per hour
Jumping rope 1140 calories per hour

Thusly you must expend 3,500 calories in excess as you normally would to shed a pound of fat.

Here's another interesting way to look at it. A person with 15 percent body fat has approximately 90,000 calories of stored fat. However the body can only store about 1,200 to 1,800 carbohydrate calories for energy and exercise. What that means is basically at a steady jog you're good to go a couple of hours before you get even close to torching of any fat.

This is a gross simplification and more importantly it is isolating the activity as opposed to looking at the days caloric intake and output. But in a nutshell, while all of my FUN activity is getting me in shape and that is really the ultimate goal, it is taking time to lose pounds.

You factor in that muscle weighs more than fat and I should be thrilled by my progress. I mean I see the changes in the mirror and in the ways my clothes fit. But I am still in a shade away from being classified as a "Clydesdale" in many running events and that tends to make one feel a bit hefty.

Size Matters
So in the running community I am seen and classified as being large, towards the heavy end of the scale. However, I just purchased a pair of swimming trunks. I held up the XL and they seemed ridiculous. I tried on the Large and still way too much room. The Mediums fit. They fit well. I thought is was a fluke, maybe just the brand or that pair of shorts, something. Until I tried on a pair of yoga pants, different store, way different brand, but the same conclusion. Now I know I have been slimming but I haven't fit into mediums since probably high school. I then looked at one of the sizing charts and realized they had basically changed the scale. A large was now a medium, an XL would be a large and XXL would lose one X and simply be an XL. Because of America's growing waistlines, we've had to change what constitutes being small, medium, and large.

Wow! That was eye opening.